Jubilee2000 - II Corinthians

Chapter 1

1:1  Paul, apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, and Timothy [our] brother, unto the church of God which is at Corinth, with all the saints who are in all Achaia:

1:2  Grace [be] to you and peace from God our Father, and [from] the Lord Jesus Christ.

1:3  Blessed [be] the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort;

1:4  who comforts us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.

1:5  For in the [same] manner that the sufferings of the Christ abound in us, so also our consolation abounds by Christ.

1:6  And if we are afflicted, [it is] for your consolation and saving health, which is effected in the enduring of the same sufferings which we also suffer; or if we are comforted, [it is] for your consolation and saving health.

1:7  And our hope of you [is] steadfast, being certain, that as ye are partakers of the sufferings, so [shall ye be] also of the consolation.

1:8  Because, brothers, we would not have you ignore our tribulation which was done unto us in Asia, that we were burdened beyond our strength, in such a manner that we despaired even of life:

1:9  But we had the sentence of death in ourselves that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God who raises the dead;

1:10  who delivered us from so great a death and does deliver; in whom we trust that he will yet deliver [us];

1:11  ye also helping us with prayer, that for the gift [bestowed] upon us by the means of many persons, thanks may be given by many on our behalf.

1:12  For our rejoicing is this, the testimony of our conscience, that in simplicity and godly sincerity, not with carnal wisdom, but by the grace of God, we have had our conversation in the world and more abundantly towards you.

1:13  For we write no other things unto you than what ye read or also know, and I trust ye shall know them even to the end

1:14  as also ye have known in part, that we are your rejoicing, even as ye also [are] ours in the day of the Lord Jesus.

1:15  And in this confidence I was minded to come unto you before that ye might have a second grace

1:16  and to pass by you into Macedonia and to come again out of Macedonia unto you and of you to be sent forward to Judaea.

1:17  When I, therefore, was thus minded, did I use lightness? or the things that I purpose, do I purpose according to the flesh, that of me there should be yes, yes, and no, no?

1:18  But God [is] faithful that our word toward you has not been yes and no.

1:19  For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who was preached among you by us, [even] by me and Silvanus and Timothy, has not been yes and no, but in him was yes.

1:20  For all the promises of God [are] yes in him, and in him Amen, by us for the glory of God.

1:21  Now he who confirms us with you unto Christ and has anointed us [is] God;

1:22  who has also sealed us and given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts.

1:23  Moreover I call God for a witness upon my soul that I have not yet come unto Corinth to spare you.

1:24  Not for that we have dominion over your faith, but are helpers of your joy, for by faith ye stand.:

Chapter 2

2:1  But I determined this with myself, that I would not come again to you in grief.

2:2  For if I make you grieve, who is he then that shall make me glad, but the same who is grieved by me?

2:3  And I wrote this same unto you, lest when I came, I should have grief from those of whom I ought to rejoice; having confidence in you all, that my joy is [the joy] of you all.

2:4  For out of much affliction and anguish of heart I wrote unto you with many tears; not that ye should be grieved, but that ye might know how much more charity I have towards you.

2:5  But if any have caused [me] grief, he has not grieved me, but in part, that I may not put a burden on you all.

2:6  Sufficient to such a one [is] this reprehension, which [was inflicted] of many.

2:7  So that contrariwise ye [ought] rather to forgive [him] and comfort [him], lest perhaps such a one should be swallowed up with too much grief.

2:8  Therefore I beseech you that ye would confirm [your] charity toward him.

2:9  For to this end also I wrote, that I might know the proof of you, whether ye are obedient in all things.

2:10  To whom ye forgive any thing, I [forgive] also; for if I forgave any thing, to whom I forgave [it], for your sakes [I forgave it] in the person of Christ,

2:11  lest Satan should deceive us, for we do not ignore his devices.

2:12  Having come to Troas for the gospel of the Christ, even though [a] door was opened unto me in the Lord,

2:13  I had no rest in my spirit because I did not find Titus my brother, but taking my leave of them, I went from there into Macedonia.

2:14  Now thanks [be] unto God, who always causes us to triumph in the Christ and makes manifest the savour of his knowledge by us in every place.

2:15  For we are unto God a sweet savour of Christ, in those that are saved and in those that perish;

2:16  to the one [we are] the savour of death unto death and to the other the savour of life unto life. And who [is] sufficient for these things?

2:17  For we are not as many, false merchandisers of the word of God, but as of sincerity, but as of God, in the sight of God we speak in Christ.:

Chapter 3

3:1  Do we begin again to commend ourselves? or do we need, as some [others], epistles of commendation to you or [letters] of commendation from you?

3:2  Ye are our epistle written in our hearts, known and read of all men:

3:3  [Forasmuch as ye are] manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ ministered by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tables of stone, but in fleshy tables of the heart.

3:4  And such trust we have through the Christ towards God:

3:5  Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think anything as of ourselves, but our sufficiency [is] of God,

3:6  who also has made us able ministers of the new testament, not of the letter, but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.

3:7  But if the ministry of death in the letter engraved in stones was glorious, so that the sons of Israel could not steadfastly behold the face of Moses for the glory of his countenance which [glory] was to fade away,

3:8  How shall not the ministry of the Spirit be for greater glory?

3:9  For if the ministry of condemnation [had] glory, much more shall the ministry of righteousness abound in glory.

3:10  For even that which was [so] glorious had no glory in this respect, in comparison with the glory that excels.

3:11  For if that which fades away [was] glorious, much more shall that which remains [be] glorious.

3:12  Seeing then that we have such hope, we speak with great confidence,

3:13  And not as Moses, [who] put a veil over his face, that the sons of Israel could not steadfastly look to the end of that [glory] which was to fade away:

3:14  (And thus their senses became hardened, for until this day remains the same veil not uncovered in the reading of the old testament, which [veil] is taken away in Christ.

3:15  But even unto this day when Moses is read, the veil is upon their heart.

3:16  Nevertheless when they convert to the Lord, the veil shall be taken away.)

3:17  For the Lord is the Spirit, and where that Spirit of the Lord [is], there [is] liberty.

3:18  Therefore we all, beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord with uncovered face, are transformed from glory to glory into the same likeness, [even] as by the Spirit of the Lord.:

Chapter 4

4:1  Therefore seeing we have this ministry, according to the mercy we have received, we fault not,

4:2  but remove [from ourselves] every hidden shameful thing, not walking in craftiness, nor adulterating the word of God, but in the manifestation of the truth, commending ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God.

4:3  But if our gospel is hid, it is hid to those that are lost,

4:4  In whom the god of this age has blinded the understanding of those who do not believe, that the light of the gospel of the glory of the Christ, who is the image of God, should not shine [in] them.

4:5  For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord, and ourselves your servants for Jesus' sake.

4:6  For the God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, has shined in our hearts to [bring forth] the light of the knowledge of the clarity of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

4:7  But we have this treasure in clay vessels that the excellency of the virtue may be of God, and not of us.

4:8  [We are] troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are unsure [of our lives], but not in despair;

4:9  persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed;

4:10  always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body.

4:11  For we who live are always delivered unto death for Jesus' sake that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh.

4:12  So then death works in us, but life in you.

4:13  We having the same Spirit of faith, according as it is written, I believed and, therefore, I have spoken; we also believe and, therefore, speak;

4:14  knowing that he who raised up the Lord Jesus shall raise us up also by Jesus and shall present [us] with you.

4:15  For [we suffer] all these things for your sakes that the grace abounding through many [may] in the thanksgiving redound to the glory of God.

4:16  Therefore we fault not; but though our outward man is wearing out, yet the inward [man] is renewed day by day.

4:17  For our tribulation, which is momentary and light, prepares an exceeding [and] eternal weight of glory unto us;

4:18  while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen, for the things which are seen [are] temporal, but the things which are not seen [are] eternal.:

Chapter 5

5:1  For we know that if the earthly house of this our habitation were dissolved, we have a building of God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.

5:2  For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven,

5:3  if so be that we shall be found clothed and not naked.

5:4  For we that are in [this] tabernacle do groan, being burdened, for we do not desire to be unclothed, but to be clothed upon with life swallowing up that which is mortal.

5:5  Now he that has made us for this same thing [is] God, who has likewise given unto us the earnest of the Spirit.

5:6  Therefore [we are] always confident, knowing that while we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord

5:7  (for we walk by faith, not by sight).

5:8  We are confident, [I say], and willing rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord.

5:9  Therefore we also procure, whether present or absent, that we may please him.

5:10  For we must all appear before the judgement seat of Christ that each one may receive according to that which they have done in the body, good or evil.

5:11  Therefore being certain of that terror of the Lord, we persuade men; but we are made manifest unto God, and I trust also are made manifest in your consciences.

5:12  For we do not commend ourselves again unto you, but give you occasion to glory on our behalf that ye may have something to [answer] those who glory in appearance, and not in heart.

5:13  For whether we are fools, [it is] unto God; or whether we are sane, [it is] for your cause.

5:14  For the charity of the Christ constrains us because we judge thus: that if one died for all, then all are dead:

5:15  And [that] he died for all that those who live should not live from now on unto themselves, but unto him who died and rose again for them.

5:16  Therefore from now on we know no one according to the flesh: and even if we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know [him] no longer.

5:17  Therefore if anyone [is] in Christ, [they are] a new creation: old things are passed away; behold, all things are made new.

5:18  And all this by God, who reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and gave us the ministry of reconciliation;

5:19  for certainly God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them and having placed in us the word of reconciliation.

5:20  Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did exhort [you] by us; we beseech [you] in Christ's name, be ye reconciled to God.

5:21  For he has made him [to be] sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.:

Chapter 6

6:1  We then, [as] workers together [with him], exhort [you] also that ye have not received the grace of God in vain.

6:2  (For he saith, I have heard thee in an acceptable time, and in the day of saving health I have succoured thee; behold, now [is] the acceptable time; behold, now [is] the day of saving health.)

6:3  Giving no offense in anything, that the ministry not be blamed,

6:4  But in all [things] showing ourselves as the ministers of God in much patience, in tribulations, in necessities, in distresses,

6:5  in stripes, in imprisonments, in tumults, in labours, in watchings, in fastings,

6:6  in chastity, in knowledge, in meekness, in kindness, in [the] Holy Spirit, in unfeigned charity,

6:7  in the word of truth, in the power of God through the weapons of righteousness on the right hand and on the left,

6:8  through honour and dishonour, through evil report and good report; as deceivers, and [yet] as men of the truth;

6:9  as unknown, and [yet] well known; as dying, but, behold, we live; as chastened, but not killed;

6:10  as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and [yet] possessing all things.

6:11  O [ye] Corinthians, our mouth is open unto you, our heart is enlarged.

6:12  Ye are not straitened in us, but ye are straitened in your own bowels.

6:13  Now for a recompense in the same (I speak as unto [my] children), be ye also enlarged.

6:14  Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers, for what fellowship does righteousness have with unrighteousness? and what communion does light have with darkness?

6:15  And what concord does Christ have with Belial? or what part do the faithful have with the unfaithful?

6:16  And what agreement does the temple of God have with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God has said, I will dwell in them and walk in [them] and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.

6:17  Therefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and do not touch the unclean [thing]; and I will receive you

6:18  and will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.:

Chapter 7

7:1  Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.

7:2  Receive us; we have wronged no man, we have corrupted no man, we have defrauded no man.

7:3  I speak [this] not to condemn [you], for I have said before that ye are in our hearts to die and live together with [us].

7:4  Great [is] my boldness of speech toward you, great [is] my glorying of you; I am filled with comfort, I am exceeding joyful in all our tribulation.

7:5  For, when we were come into Macedonia, our flesh had no rest, but we were troubled on every side; without [were] fightings, within [were] fears.

7:6  Nevertheless God, who comforts the humble, comforted us by the coming of Titus;

7:7  and not by his coming only, but by the consolation with which he was comforted in you when he told us your earnest desire, your mourning, your zeal for me so that I rejoiced the more.

7:8  For though I made you sorry with a letter, I do not repent, though I did repent; for I perceive that the same epistle has made you sorry, though [it were] but for a season.

7:9  Now I rejoice, not that ye were made sorry, but that ye sorrowed to repentance; for ye were made sorry by God that ye might suffer no loss by us.

7:10  For godly sorrow works repentance to salvation, of which there is no need to repented; but the sorrow of the world works death.

7:11  For behold this same thing, that [when] ye were made sorry by God, what carefulness it wrought in you, [what] clearing of yourselves, [what] indignation, [what] fear, [what] vehement desire, [what] zeal, [what] vindication! In all [things] ye have shown yourselves to be clean in this matter.

7:12  So that, though I wrote unto you, [I did it] not [only] for his cause that had done the wrong, nor for his cause that suffered wrong, but that our care for you in the sight of God might appear unto you.

7:13  Therefore we were comforted in your comfort; yea, and we rejoiced even more exceedingly for the joy of Titus, because his spirit was refreshed by you all.

7:14  For if I have gloried of anything to him of you, I am not ashamed; but as we spoke all things to you in truth, even so our glorying, which [I made] before Titus, was found true.

7:15  And his inward affection is more abundant toward you while he remembers the obedience of you all, how with fear and trembling ye received him.

7:16  I rejoice therefore that I have confidence in you in all [things].:

Chapter 8

8:1  Likewise, brethren, we make known unto you the grace of God bestowed on the churches of Macedonia,

8:2  how that in a great trial of tribulation the abundance of their joy and their deep poverty abounded unto the riches of their liberality.

8:3  For to [their] power, I bear record, and even beyond [their] power [they were] willing of themselves,

8:4  praying us with much intreaty that we would receive the grace and [take upon us] the fellowship of the ministry to the saints.

8:5  And [this they did], not as we hoped, but first gave their own selves to the Lord and [then] unto us by the will of God.

8:6  Insomuch that we exhorted Titus, that as he had begun, so he would also complete among you the same grace also.

8:7  Therefore, as ye abound in every [thing], in faith and in word and in knowledge and in all diligence and in your love to us, [see] that ye abound in this grace also.

8:8  I speak not as commanding, but by occasion of the diligence of others and to prove the sincerity of your charity.

8:9  For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor that ye through his poverty might be enriched.

8:10  And in this I give [my] advice, for this is expedient for you, who began not only to do, but also to be diligent a year ago.

8:11  Now therefore finish the doing [of it] that as [there was] a readiness to will, so [there may] also [be] a performance out of that which ye have.

8:12  For if there is first a willing desire, [it is] accepted according to what a person has [and] not according to what they do not have.

8:13  For [I mean] not that others be eased and ye burdened,

8:14  but by an equality, [that] now at this time your abundance [may be a supply] for their want that their abundance also may be [a supply] for your want, that there may be equality:

8:15  As it is written, He that [had gathered] much had nothing over, and he that [had gathered] little had no lack.

8:16  But thanks [be] to God, who put the same diligence into the heart of Titus for you.

8:17  For indeed he accepted the exhortation, but being more diligent, of his own accord he went unto you.

8:18  And we have sent with him the brother whose praise [is] in the gospel throughout all the churches,

8:19  and not [that] only, but who was also ordained by the churches to travel with us with this grace, which is administered by us to the glory of the same Lord and [declaration of] your ready desire,

8:20  avoiding that anyone should blame us regarding this abundance which is ministered by us,

8:21  providing for honest things, not only in the sight of the Lord, but also in the sight of men.

8:22  And we have sent with them our brother, whom we have oftentimes proved diligent in many things, but now much more diligent, upon the great confidence which [we have] in you.

8:23  Regarding Titus, [he is] my partner and fellowhelper concerning you; or regarding our brethren, [they are] the apostles of the churches [and] the glory of Christ.

8:24  Therefore show ye unto them before the churches, the proof of your charity and of our glorying regarding you.:

Chapter 9

9:1  For regarding the ministering to the saints, it is superfluous for me to write to you:

9:2  For I know your ready desire, for which I gloried of you to those of Macedonia, that Achaia was ready a year ago, and your zeal has provoked many.

9:3  Yet I have sent the brethren lest our glorying of you should be in vain in this behalf; that, as I said, ye may be ready,

9:4  lest haply if those of Macedonia come with me and find you unprepared, we (that we say not, ye) should be ashamed of this our confidence.

9:5  Therefore I thought it necessary to exhort the brethren, that they would first go unto you and prepare beforehand your blessing, of which ye had given notice before that the same might be ready as a blessing, and not as [of] covetousness.

9:6  But this [I say], He who sows sparingly shall reap also sparingly, and he who sows in blessings shall also reap blessings.

9:7  Each one according as they purpose in their heart, [so let them give], not grudgingly or of necessity; for God loves a cheerful giver.

9:8  And God is able to make all grace abound in you that ye, always having all sufficiency in all [things], may abound to every good work:

9:9  As it is written, He has dispersed abroad; he has given to the poor; his righteousness remains for ever.

9:10  Now he that supplies seed to the sower shall also supply bread for food and shall multiply your seed sown and shall increase the growing of the fruits of your righteousness,

9:11  so that being enriched in everything to all generosity, which works out through us thanksgiving unto God.

9:12  For the administration of this service not only supplies the needs of the saints, but also abounds in much thanksgiving unto God;

9:13  that by the experience of this ministration, they glorify God for the obedience of your consent unto the gospel of the Christ and in [your] liberal distribution unto them and unto everyone,

9:14  and in their prayer for you, for they love you because of the eminent grace of God in you.

9:15  Thanks [be] unto God for his indescribable gift.:

Chapter 10

10:1  Now I, Paul, myself beseech you by the meekness and clemency of the Christ (who in presence [am] low among you, but being absent am bold toward you)

10:2  but I beseech [you] that I [need] not be bold when I am present with that confidence, with which I am esteemed to use against some who regard us as if we walked according to the flesh.

10:3  For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh

10:4  (For the weapons of our warfare [are] not carnal, but mighty through God for the destruction of strong holds),

10:5  casting down reasonings and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God and leading captive every thought into the obedience of the Christ

10:6  and having a readiness to avenge all disobedience, when your obedience is fulfilled.

10:7  Do ye look on things after the [outward] appearance? If anyone trusts to himself that he is Christ's, let him of himself think this again, that as he [is] Christ's, even so we [are] Christ's.

10:8  For though I should glory somewhat more of our authority, which the Lord has given us for edification, and not for your destruction, I shall not be ashamed,

10:9  That I may not seem as if I would terrify you by letters.

10:10  For [his] letters, they say, [are] weighty and powerful; but [his] bodily presence [is] weak, and [his] speech contemptible.

10:11  Let such a one think this, that such as we are in word by letters when we are absent, such [will we be] also in deed when we are present.

10:12  For we dare not mix ourselves in with or compare ourselves with some that commend themselves, but they do not understand that they are measuring themselves by themselves and comparing themselves among themselves.

10:13  But we will not glory of things beyond [our] measure, but according to the measure of the rule, of the measure which God has distributed to us, to reach even unto you.

10:14  For we do not overextend ourselves by reaching unto you; for we are also come unto you with the gospel of the Christ,

10:15  Not glorying of things beyond [our] measure in the labours of others; but having hope of the increase of your faith, that we shall be abundantly enlarged among you according to our rule,

10:16  to preach the gospel in the [regions] beyond you, without [entering into] the measure of another to glory in that which has already been made ready.

10:17  But he that glories, let him glory in the Lord.

10:18  For [it is] not he that commends himself [that] is approved, but whom the Lord commends.:

Chapter 11

11:1  I wish ye could bear with me a little in [my] folly and indeed bear with me.

11:2  For I am jealous over you with the jealousy of God, for I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present [you as] a chaste virgin to the Christ.

11:3  But I fear that as the serpent deceived Eve through his craftiness, so your senses should be corrupted in some way, and ye should fall from the simplicity that is in the Christ.

11:4  Therefore if anyone comes preaching another Jesus whom we have not preached or [if] ye receive another spirit from that which ye have received or another gospel from that which ye have accepted, ye bear well with [it].

11:5  I reckon that I have not been inferior in any way to those grandiose apostles.

11:6  But though [I am] rude in speech, yet not in knowledge, but we have been thoroughly made manifest among you in all things.

11:7  Have I committed an offence in humbling myself that ye might be exalted because I have preached to you the gospel of God freely?

11:8  I deprived the other churches, taking wages [of them], to do you service.

11:9  And when I was present with you and had need, I was not a burden to any [of you], for that which was lacking to me was supplied by the brethren which came from Macedonia; and in all [things] I have kept myself from being burdensome unto you, and [so] will I keep [myself].

11:10  It is the truth of Christ in me that this glory shall not be sealed up unto me in the regions of Achaia.

11:11  Why? because I do not love you? God knows.

11:12  But what I do, I will continue to do that I may take away the occasion from those who desire it to be found like unto us in that in which they glory.

11:13  For these false apostles are deceitful workers, transforming themselves into apostles of Christ.

11:14  And it is no marvel, for Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light.

11:15  Therefore [it is] no great thing if his ministers transform themselves as ministers of righteousness, whose end shall be according to their works.

11:16  I say again, Let no one think me a fool if otherwise, receive me as a fool, that I may yet glory a little.

11:17  That which I speak, I speak [it] not according to the Lord, but as it were foolishly, in this confidence of glory.

11:18  Seeing that many glory after the flesh, I will glory also.

11:19  For ye suffer fools gladly, seeing ye [yourselves] are wise.

11:20  For ye suffer it if anyone brings you into bondage, if anyone devours [you], if anyone takes [of you], if anyone exalts himself, if anyone smites you on the face.

11:21  I speak as concerning the reproach, as though we had been weak. Howbeit in that in which another is bold, (I speak foolishly), I am bold also.

11:22  Are they Hebrews? so [am] I. Are they Israelites? so am I. Are they the seed of Abraham? so [am] I.

11:23  Are they ministers of Christ? (I speak as a fool) I [am] more, in labours more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequent, in deaths often.

11:24  Of the Jews five times I received forty [stripes] less one.

11:25  Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned; three times I suffered shipwreck, night and day I have been in the deep;

11:26  [in] journeyings often, [in] perils of waters, [in] perils of robbers, [in] perils by those of my nation, [in] perils of the Gentiles, [in] perils in the city, [in] perils in the wilderness, [in] perils in the sea, [in] perils among false brethren;

11:27  in labour and travail, in many watches, in hunger and thirst, in many fasts, in cold and nakedness.

11:28  Beside those things that are without, my daily combat is the welfare of all the churches.

11:29  Who is sick, and I am not sick? who stumbles, and I burn not?

11:30  If I must needs glory, I will glory of the things which concern my weakness.

11:31  The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who is blessed for evermore, knows that I do not lie.

11:32  In Damascus the governor under Aretas the king kept the city of the Damascenes with a garrison, desirous to apprehend me;

11:33  and through a window in a basket I was let down by the wall and escaped his hands.:

Chapter 12

12:1  Certainly it is not expedient for me to glory, but I will come to [the] visions and [the] revelations of the Lord.

12:2  I know a man in Christ [who] fourteen years ago (whether in the body, I cannot tell; or whether out of the body, I cannot tell; God knows) was caught up to the third heaven.

12:3  And I know such a man (whether in the body, or out of the body, I cannot tell; God knows)

12:4  who was caught up into paradise and heard unspeakable words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter.

12:5  Of such a one I will glory, yet of myself I will not glory, except in my weaknesses.

12:6  Therefore if I should desire to glory [in these things], I should not be a fool; for I would say the truth, but [now] I forbear lest anyone should think of me above that which he sees me [to be] or [that] he hears of me.

12:7  And lest the greatness of the revelations should exalt me above measure, there is given to me a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure.

12:8  For this thing I besought the Lord three times that it might be taken from me.

12:9  And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee; for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly, therefore, I will rather glory in my weaknesses that the power of Christ may dwell in me.

12:10  Therefore I am content in weaknesses, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ's sake, for when I am weak, then am I strong.

12:11  I have been a fool, glorying; ye have compelled me; for I ought to have been commended of you, for in nothing am I behind the grandiose apostles, though I am nothing.

12:12  Truly the signs of the apostle were worked out among you in all patience, in signs and wonders and power.

12:13  For what is it in which ye were inferior to the other churches except in that I myself was not burdensome to you? forgive me this wrong.

12:14  Behold, the third time I am ready to come to you, and I will not be burdensome to you, for I seek not your things, but you; for the children ought not to lay up for the parents, but the parents for the children.

12:15  And I will very gladly spend and be utterly spent for your souls though the more abundantly I love you, the less I am loved.

12:16  But be it so, I did not burden you; nevertheless, being crafty, I caught you with guile.

12:17  Did I make a gain of you by any of those whom I sent unto you?

12:18  I besought Titus and with [him] I sent a brother. Did Titus defraud you? Did we not walk in the same Spirit and in the same steps?

12:19  Again, do ye think that we excuse ourselves unto you? We speak before God in Christ, but [we do] all things, dearly beloved, for your edifying.

12:20  For I fear, lest, when I come, I shall not find you such as I desire and [that] I shall be found unto you such as ye desire not, lest [there be] debates, envyings, wraths, strifes, backbitings, whisperings, rumours, tumults,

12:21  lest, when I come again, my God will humble me among you, and I would have to mourn over many who have sinned already and have not repented of the uncleanness and fornication and lasciviousness which they have committed.:

Chapter 13

13:1  This third time I am coming unto you. In the mouth of two or three witnesses shall every word be established.

13:2  I told you before and foretell you, as if I were present, the second time; and being absent now, I write to those who until now have sinned and to all others that, if I come again, I will not spare,

13:3  Since ye seek a proof of Christ speaking in me, who unto you is not weak, but is mighty in you.

13:4  For though he was crucified through weakness, yet he lives by the power of God. By which we also are weak in him, but we shall live with him by the power of God in you.

13:5  Examine yourselves whether ye are in the faith; prove your own selves. Do ye not know your own selves if Jesus Christ is in you? Unless ye are reprobates.

13:6  But I trust that ye shall know that we are not reprobates.

13:7  Now I pray to God that ye do no evil, not that we should appear approved, but that ye should do that which is good, though we be as reprobates.

13:8  For we can do nothing against the truth, but for the truth.

13:9  By which we are glad that we are weak and ye are strong, and even so we pray for your perfection.

13:10  Therefore I write these things being absent lest being present I should treat you with more severity, according to the power which the Lord has given me for edification, and not for destruction.

13:11  For the rest, brethren, that ye may have joy, be perfected, have consolation, be of one mind, having peace; and the God of peace and charity shall be with you.

13:12  Greet one another with a holy kiss.

13:13  All the saints salute you.

13:14  The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the charity of God and the communion of the Holy Spirit [be] with you all. Amen.: