Murdock - II Corinthians

Chapter 1

1:1  PAUL a legate of Jesus the Messiah, by the good pleasure of God; and Timothy a brother; to the church of God that is at Corinth, and to all the saints that are in all Achaia.

1:2  Grace be with you, and peace, from God our Father, and from our Lord Jesus the Messiah.

1:3  Blessed be God, the Father of our Lord Jesus the Messiah, the Father of mercies, and the God of all consolation;

1:4  who comforteth us in all our afflictions, that we also might be able to comfort those who are in all afflictions, with the consolation wherewith we are comforted by God.

1:5  For, as the sufferings of the Messiah abound in us, so also our consolation aboundeth by the Messiah.

1:6  And whether we be afflicted, it is for your consolation and for your life that we are afflicted; or whether we be comforted, it is, that ye may be comforted; and that there may be in you an eagerness, wherewith ye may endure those sufferings which we also suffer.

1:7  And our hope concerning you is steadfast: for we know, that if ye partake of the sufferings, ye will also partake of the consolation.

1:8  But, my brethren, we wish you to know, respecting the affliction that was upon us in Asia, that we were afflicted exceedingly, beyond our strength, insomuch that our life was ready to terminate.

1:9  And we passed a sentence of death upon ourselves, that our confidence might not be in ourselves, but in God, who raiseth up the dead;

1:10  who rescued us from imminent death: and we hope that he will again rescue us,

1:11  by the aid of your prayers in our behalf; so that his gift to us may be a favor done for the sake of many, and many may praise him on our account.

1:12  For our rejoicing is this, the testimony of our conscience, that in simplicity and purity, and by the grace of God, and not in the wisdom of the flesh, we have conducted ourselves in the world, and especially towards you.

1:13  We write no other things unto you, than those which ye know and acknowledge. And I trust, ye will acknowledge them to the end:

1:14  as ye have also partially acknowledged that we are your rejoicing, as ye also are ours, in the day of our Lord Jesus the Messiah.

1:15  And in this confidence, I was before disposed to come to you, that ye might receive the grace doubly;

1:16  and to pass by you into Macedonia, and again to come to you from Macedonia, and so ye would accompany me to Judaea.

1:17  When therefore I thus purposed, did I purpose as one inconsiderate? Or, were the things I purposed, things of the flesh; so that there should be in them Yes, yes, and No, no?

1:18  God is the witness, that our word to you was not Yes and No.

1:19  For the Son of God, Jesus the Messiah, who was preached to you by us, namely, by me, by Sylvanus, and by Timotheus, was not Yes and No; but it was Yes in him.

1:20  For all the promises of God in him, the Messiah, are Yes; for which cause, we through him give our Amen, to the glory of God.

1:21  Now it is God who establisheth us, with you, in the Messiah, and hath anointed us,

1:22  and hath sealed us, and hath given the earnest of his Spirit in our hearts.

1:23  Moreover, I call God for a witness on my soul, that it was in order to spare you, that I came not to Corinth.

1:24  Not that we are lords over your faith, but we are helpers of your joy; for it is by faith ye stand.

Chapter 2

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

2:2  For if I should make you sad, who would make me joyful, unless he whom I had made sad?

2:3  And I wrote that very thing to you, lest when I came, those persons whom I ought to make joyful, should make me sad. For I have confidence concerning you, that my joy is the joy of you all.

2:4  And in much affliction, and in anguish of heart, I wrote those things to you, with many tears; not that ye might have sorrow, but that ye might know the exceeding love I have for you.

2:5  And if one hath caused grief, he hath not grieved me only, but,-that the declaration may not bear too hard on you-in a measure, all of you.

2:6  And sufficient for him, is this rebuke proceeding from many:

2:7  so that, on the other hand, ye ought to forgive him and console him; lest he who is such a man, should be swallowed up with excessive grief.

2:8  I therefore beseech you, that ye confirm to him your love.

2:9  For it was for this also that I wrote to you, that I might learn by a trial, whether ye would be obedient in every thing.

2:10  And whom ye forgive, I also forgive: for that which I forgave to any one, for your sakes I forgave it, in the presence of the Messiah;

2:11  lest Satan should overreach us; for we know his devices.

2:12  Moreover, when I came to Troas in announcing the Messiah, and a door was opened to me by the Lord,

2:13  there was no quietude in my spirit, because I found not Titus my brother: and I took leave of them, and went into Macedonia.

2:14  But thanks be to God, who always procureth us a triumph in the Messiah, and manifesteth by us the odor of the knowledge of him in every place.

2:15  For, through the Messiah, we are unto God a sweet odor, in them that live and in them that perish:

2:16  to these, an odor of death unto death; and to those, an odor of life unto life. And who is adequate to these things!

2:17  For we are not like others, who dilute the words of God; but as of the truth, and as of God, we speak in the Messiah before God.

Chapter 3

3:1  Do we begin again to show you who we are? Or do we, like others, need that letters recommendatory of us should be written to you? Or, that ye should write recommendations of us?

3:2  Ye are our epistle, written on our hearts, and known and read by every man.

3:3  For ye know that ye are an epistle of the Messiah, ministered by us; not written with ink, but by the Spirit of the living God; not on tables of stone, but on the tablets of the heart of flesh.

3:4  And such confidence have we in the Messiah towards God.

3:5  Not that we are sufficient to think any thing as of ourselves; but our efficiency is from God:

3:6  who hath fitted us to be ministers of the new Testament, not in the letter, but in the Spirit; for the letter killeth, but the Spirit giveth life.

3:7  Now if the ministration of death was engraved upon stones in writing, and was so glorious that the children of Israel could not look on the face of Moses, on account of the glory upon his face which vanished away;

3:8  how then shall not the ministration of the Spirit be still more glorious?

3:9  For if there was glory in the ministration of condemnation, how much more shall the ministration of justification excel in glory?

3:10  For that which was glorious, was as if not glorious, in comparison with this which excelleth in glory.

3:11  For if that which is abolished was glorious, much more must that which abideth be glorious.

3:12  Seeing therefore we have this hope, we the more speak with boldness;

3:13  and are not like Moses, who threw a vail over his face, that the children of Israel might not behold the termination of that which was abolished.

3:14  But they were blinded in their understanding; for until this day, when the old Testament is read, the same vail resteth upon them; nor is it manifest to them, that it is abolished by the Messiah.

3:15  And unto this day, when Moses is read, a vail is thrown upon their hearts.

3:16  But when any of them is turned unto the Lord, the vail is taken from him.

3:17  Now the Lord himself is the Spirit. And where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.

3:18  And we all, with uncovered faces, behold as in a mirror the glory of the Lord; and are transformed into the same likeness, from glory to glory, as by the Lord the Spirit.

Chapter 4

4:1  Therefore, we are not weary in this ministry which we have received, according to the mercies that have been upon us:

4:2  But we have renounced the concealments of dishonor, and we walk not in craftiness, nor do we treat the word of God deceitfully; but by the manifestation of the truth, we exhibit ourselves to all the consciences of men before God.

4:3  And if our gospel is vailed, it is vailed to them that perish;

4:4  to them whose minds the God of this world hath blinded, in order that they might not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of the Messiah (who is the likeness of God) should dawn upon them.

4:5  For it is not ourselves that we preach, but the Messiah, Jesus our Lord; and, as to ourselves, that we are your servants for Jesus' sake.

4:6  Because God, who commanded the light to arise from darkness, hath himself shined in our hearts, that we might be illuminated with the knowledge of the glory of God on the face of Jesus the Messiah.

4:7  But we have this treasure in an earthen vessel, that the excellency of the power might be from God, and not from us.

4:8  And in every thing we are oppressed, but not suffocated; we are corrected, but not condemned;

4:9  we are persecuted, but not forsaken; we are prostrated, but perish not.

4:10  For we bear in our body, at all times, the dying of Jesus; that the life also of Jesus might be manifested in our body.

4:11  For if we are delivered over alive unto death, for Jesus' sake, even so also will the life of Jesus be manifested in this our mortal body.

4:12  Now therefore, in us death is active, but in you, life.

4:13  Having therefore the same spirit of faith, (as it is written, I believed, therefore also have I spoken,) we also believe, and therefore speak;

4:14  knowing that he, who resuscitated our Lord Jesus, will also resuscitate us by Jesus, and will receive us, with you, to himself.

4:15  For all things are for your sakes, that while grace aboundeth by means of many, thanksgiving may abound to the glory of God.

4:16  For this cause we faint not; for though our outward man perish, yet the inner man is renovated day by day.

4:17  For the affliction of the present time, though very small and light, prepareth for us great glory, without end, for ever and ever;

4:18  while we look not at these seen things, but at those not seen; for these seen things are temporary, but those not seen are eternal.

Chapter 5

5:1  For we know that, if our house on earth-this of the body, were dissolved, yet we have a building of God, a house not made with hands, eternal in heaven.

5:2  And on this account also, we groan, and wish to be clothed with our house from heaven:

5:3  if indeed, when clothed, we shall not be found naked.

5:4  For while we are here in this house, we groan under its burden; yet ye desire, not to throw it off; but to be clothed over it, so that its mortality may be absorbed in life.

5:5  And he that prepareth us for this thing, is God: who hath given us the earnest of his Spirit.

5:6  Therefore, because we know and are persuaded, that while we lodge in the body we sojourn away from our Lord;

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

5:8  therefore we are confident, and desirous to be away from the body, and to be with our Lord.

5:9  We are assiduous, that whether we are absent, or whether at home, we may please him.

5:10  For we are all to stand before the judgment-seat of the Messiah, that each may receive retribution in the body, for what he hath done in it, whether of good, or whether of evil.

5:11  Therefore because we know the fear of our Lord we persuade men; and we are made manifest unto God; and I hope also, we are made manifest to your minds.

5:12  We do not again laud ourselves to you; but we give you occasion to glory in us, to them who glory in appearance and not in heart.

5:13  For if we are extravagant, it is for God: and if we are discreet, it is for you.

5:14  For the love of the Messiah constraineth us to reason thus: One died for all; therefore are all dead.

5:15  And he died for all, that they who live should not live to themselves, but to him who died for them and rose again.

5:16  And therefore, we know no person after the flesh: and if we have known the Messiah after the flesh, yet henceforth we know him no more.

5:17  Whoever therefore is in the Messiah, is a new creature: old things have passed away;

5:18  and all things are made new, by God; who hath reconciled us to himself by the Messiah, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation.

5:19  For God was in the Messiah, who hath reconciled the world with his majesty, and did not reckon to them their sins; and who hath placed in us the word of reconciliation.

5:20  We are therefore ambassadors for the Messiah, and it is as if God was beseeching you by us. In behalf of the Messiah, therefore, we beseech you, be ye reconciled to God.

5:21  For, on your account, he hath made him who knew no sin to be sin, that we might by him become the righteousness of God.

Chapter 6

6:1  And as aiders we entreat of you, that the grace of God which ye have received, may not be ineffectual in you.

6:2  For he hath said, In an acceptable time have I heard thee, and in the day of life I have aided thee. Behold, now is the acceptable time! and behold, now is the day of life!

6:3  Give ye no occasion of offence to any one in any thing, that there may be no reproach on our ministry.

6:4  But we, in all things, would show ourselves to be the ministers of God, in much endurance, in afflictions, in necessity, in distresses,

6:5  in scourgings, in imprisonments, in tumults, in toil, in watching, in fasting;

6:6  by purity, by knowledge, by long suffering, by benignity, by the Holy Spirit, by love unfeigned,

6:7  by the speaking of truth, by the energy of God, by the armor of righteousness on the right hand and on the left;

6:8  amid honor and dishonor, amid praise and contumely; as deceivers, and yet true;

6:9  as not known, and yet we are well known; as dying, and behold, we live; as chastised, yet not killed;

6:10  as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as indigent, yet enriching many; as possessing nothing, yet having all things.

6:11  O ye Corinthians, our mouth is opened towards you, and our heart expanded.

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

6:13  I speak as to my children, Pay me the debt which ye owe, and expand your love towards me.

6:14  And be ye not yoke-fellows with them that believe not: for what fellowship hath righteousness with iniquity? or what communion hath light with darkness?

6:15  or what concord hath the Messiah with Satan? or what part hath a believer with an unbeliever?

6:16  or what agreement hath the temple of God with that of demons? For ye are the temple of the living God; as it is said, I will dwell among them, and walk among them, and will be their God, and they shall be my people.

6:17  Wherefore, come ye out from among them, and be ye separate from them, saith the Lord; and come not near the unclean thing, and I will receive you;

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

Chapter 7

7:1  Seeing, therefore, we have these promises, my beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all defilement of the flesh and of the spirit; and let us work righteousness, in the fear of God.

7:2  Bear with us, my brethren; we have done evil to no one; we have corrupted no one; we have wronged no one.

7:3  I speak thus, not to condemn you; for I have said before, that ye are treasured in our hearts, to die and to live together.

7:4  I have great assurance before you, and have much glorying in you; and I am full of comfort. And joy greatly aboundeth to me, in all my afflictions.

7:5  For, after we came to Macedonia, there was no rest for our body, but we were distressed in every thing; without was conflict, and within was fear.

7:6  But God who comforteth the depressed, comforted us by the arrival of Titus.

7:7  And not merely by his arrival, but also by the refreshing with which he was refreshed by you. For he told us of your love towards us, and of your grief, and of your zeal in our behalf: and when I heard it, my joy was great.

7:8  And although I made you sad by the epistle, I do not regret it, though I did regret it; for I see that that epistle, though for a time it made you sad,

7:9  yet it procured me joy, not because ye had sorrow, but because your sorrow brought you to repentance; for ye sorrowed in godly sorrow; so that ye received no detriment from us.

7:10  For, sorrowing on account of God, worketh a conversion of the soul which is not reversed, and a turning unto life: but the sorrowing of the world worketh death.

7:11  For behold this same thing, that ye were distressed on account of God, what solicitude it wrought in you, and apologizing and indignation, and fear, and love, and zeal, and revenge? And in all things ye have shown, that ye are now pure in that matter.

7:12  And it will be seen that I wrote to you, not for the sake of him who did the wrong, nor for the sake of him who received the wrong, only, but that your solicitude in respect to us might be known before God.

7:13  Wherefore we were comforted; and with our consolation, we were the more joyful for the joy of Titus, because his spirit was refreshed by you all:

7:14  so that I was not ashamed of that in which I had gloried to him, respecting you; but as in every thing we spoke the truth to you, so also our glorying before Titus, is found to be in truth:

7:15  and also his bowels are the more enlarged towards you, while he remembereth the submission of you all, and how ye received him with fear and trembling.

7:16  I rejoice, that in every thing I have full confidence in you.

Chapter 8

8:1  And, my brethren, we make known to you the grace of God which was conferred on the churches of the Macedonians;

8:2  that in the great trial of their affliction, there was an abounding to their joy, and the depth of their poverty was exuberant in the riches of their liberality.

8:3  For I testify that, according to their ability, and beyond their ability, in the spontaneity of their mind,

8:4  they besought us, with much entreaty, that they might participate in the beneficence of the ministration to the saints.

8:5  And not only as we had expected, but they first gave themselves unto the Lord, and to us by the will of God.

8:6  So that we requested Titus, that as he had begun, so he would perfect in you also the same beneficence.

8:7  And as ye are enriched in every thing, in faith, and speech, and knowledge, and in all diligence, and in our love towards you, so abound ye in this beneficence also.

8:8  I do not actually command you, but by the promptitude of your fellow disciples, I would test the sincerity of your love.

8:9  For ye know the goodness of our Lord Jesus the Messiah, who when he was rich, for your sakes became poor, that by his poverty ye might be made rich.

8:10  And I urgently recommend to you, that which is for your advantage; inasmuch as ye began, a year ago, not only to purpose, but also to perform.

8:11  And now complete ye by action, what ye purposed; that as ye had a promptitude in your purposing, so ye may fulfill it in action, according to your ability.

8:12  For if there is a willingness, a person is accepted according to what he hath, and not according to what he hath not.

8:13  For it is not, that others may have easement, and you pressure;

8:14  but that ye may be on equality at the present time; and that your abundance may be a supply to their want; that their abundance likewise may be a supply to your want; that there may be equality.

8:15  As it is written, He who gathered much, had nothing over; and he that gathered little, was not deficient.

8:16  But thanks be to God, who put into the heart of Titus this solicitude for you.

8:17  For he received our exhortation; and, because he was very anxious, he cheerfully set out to visit you.

8:18  And we also sent with him that our brother, whose praise in the gospel is in all the churches;

8:19  inasmuch as he likewise had been expressly chosen by the churches, to accompany me with this beneficence which is ministered by us to the glory of God and to our cordiality.

8:20  And we hereby guarded, that no one should cast censure on us, in respect to this abundance which is ministered by us.

8:21  For we are attentive to things commendable, not only before God, but also before men.

8:22  And we also sent with them that brother of ours, who hath often, and in many things, been proved diligent by us; and is now particularly diligent, from the great confidence he hath in you.

8:23  And therefore, if Titus be inquired about, he is my associate and assistant among you: or if our other brethren, they are the legates of the churches of the Messiah's glory.

8:24  Therefore exhibit ye to them, in the presence of all the churches, a demonstration of your love and of our glorying respecting you.

Chapter 9

9:1  And concerning the ministration by the saints, it would be superfluous for me to write to you:

9:2  for I know the goodness of your mind; and therefore I gloried of you before the Macedonians, that Achaia was ready a year ago; and your zeal hath excited many.

9:3  Yet I sent the brethren, lest the glorying with which we have gloried in you in regard to this matter, should prove vain; and that ye, as I said, may be ready;

9:4  so that, if the Macedonians should come with me, and should find you unprepared, we-not to say, ye-should be put to shame for that glorying in which we gloried.

9:5  Therefore I was careful to request these my brethren, to go before me unto you, that they might make up this benefaction, of which ye were advised long before to have it ready, as being a benefaction, and not a matter of cupidity.

9:6  And this I say: He that soweth sparingly, shall also reap sparingly; and he that soweth bountifully, shall also reap bountifully.

9:7  Every man, according to his own views, not with sadness, not by constraint: for the Lord loveth a joyous giver.

9:8  For it is in the power of God, to make all good abound to you, so that ye may have, at all times, and in every thing, what is sufficient for you; and may abound in every good work.

9:9  As it is written, He hath dispersed and given to the poor; and his righteousness is established for ever.

9:10  Now he that giveth seed to the sower, and bread for food, may he give and multiply your seed, and increase the fruits of your righteousness:

9:11  so that in every thing, ye may be enriched unto all liberality, to the completion of our thanksgiving to God.

9:12  For the performance of this ministration, not only supplieth the want of the saints, but is also rich in many thanksgivings to God.

9:13  For on account of the test of this ministration, we glorify God, that ye do subject yourselves to the profession of the gospel of the Messiah, and that in your liberality, ye communicate with them and with all men:

9:14  and they put up prayer for you, with much love, because of the abundance of the grace of God that is upon you.

9:15  Thanks be to God for his unspeakable gift.

Chapter 10

10:1  Now I, Paul, beseech you, by the mildness and gentleness of the Messiah, although I am mild towards you when present, but bold towards you when absent!

10:2  yet I beseech of you that, when I come, I may not be compelled by the boldness that is in me to be daring, as I estimate it, towards the persons who think we walk according to the flesh.

10:3  For, although we walk in the flesh, our warfare is not after the flesh.

10:4  For the arms of our warfare are not those of the flesh, but those of the power of God; by which we subdue rebellious castles.

10:5  And we demolish imaginations, and every lofty thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and subjugate all reasonings to obedience to the Messiah.

10:6  And we are prepared, when your obedience shall be complete, to execute judgment on all the disobeying.

10:7  Do ye look on outward appearances? If any one is confident in himself that he is of the Messiah, let him know, from himself, that as he is of the Messiah, so also are we.

10:8  For if I should glory somewhat more, in the authority which our Lord hath given me, I should not be ashamed; for he gave it to us for your edification, and not for your destruction.

10:9  But I forbear, lest I should be thought to terrify you terribly, by my epistles.

10:10  For there are some who say, His epistles are weighty and forcible, but his bodily presence is weak, and his speech contemptible.

10:11  But let him who saith so, consider this, that such as we are in our epistolary discourse, when absent, such also are we in action, when present.

10:12  For we dare not value, or compare ourselves, with those who vaunt: but they, because they compare themselves with themselves, are not wise.

10:13  But we will not glory beyond our measure, but within the measure of the limits which God hath imparted to us, that we should reach as far as you.

10:14  For we do not stretch ourselves, as if not reaching to you; for we do reach as far as you in the annunciation of the Messiah.

10:15  And we do not glory beyond our measure, in the toil of others: but we have the hope, that when your faith shall mature, we shall be magnified by you, as being within our measure;

10:16  and that we shall so abound also, as to make announcements beyond you. It is not in the measure of others, and in things ready prepared, that we will glory.

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

10:18  For not he who praiseth himself, is approved; but he whom the Lord praiseth.

Chapter 11

11:1  I would that ye could bear with me a little, that I might talk foolishly: and indeed, bear ye with me.

11:2  For I am jealous over you, with a godly jealousy : for I have espoused you to a husband as a chaste virgin, whom I would present to the Messiah.

11:3  But I fear, lest, as the serpent beguiled Eve by his craftiness, so your minds should be corrupted from simplicity towards the Messiah.

11:4  For if he that cometh to you, had proclaimed to you another Jesus, whom we have not proclaimed; or if ye had received another Spirit, which ye have not received; or another gospel, which ye have not accepted; ye might well have given assent.

11:5  For, I suppose, I came not short of those legates who most excel.

11:6  For, though I be rude in speech, yet not in knowledge; but in all things we have been manifest among you.

11:7  Did I indeed commit an offence, by humbling myself that ye might be exalted? and by proclaiming the gospel of God to you gratis?

11:8  And I robbed other churches, and I took pay of them for ministering to you.

11:9  And when I came among you and was needy, I was burdensome to none of you; for the brethren who came from Macedonia, supplied my wants: and in all things I kept myself, and I will keep myself, from being burdensome to you.

11:10  As the truth of the Messiah is in me, this glorying shall not be made vain as to me in the regions of Achaia.

11:11  Why? Because I do not love you? God knoweth.

11:12  But what I do, that also I will do; that I may cut off occasion, from them who seek occasion: so that in the thing wherein they glory, they may be found even as we.

11:13  For they are false legates, crafty workers, and feign themselves to be legates of the Messiah.

11:14  And in this there is nothing strange. For if Satan feigneth himself an angel of light,

11:15  it is no great thing if his ministers feign themselves ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works.

11:16  Again I say, let no one think of me, as being a fool: or if otherwise, receive me as a fool, that I may glory a little.

11:17  What I am now saying, I say not in our Lord, but as in folly, in this matter of glorying.

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

11:19  For ye hear with indulgence them who lack reason, seeing ye are wise.

11:20  And ye give ear to him, who putteth you in bondage; and to him, who devoureth you; and to him, who taketh from you; and to him, who exalteth himself over you; and to him, who smiteth you in the face.

11:21  I speak as if under contempt: I speak as if we were impotent, through deficiency of understanding; that in whatever thing any one is presuming, I also am presuming.

11:22  If they are Hebrews, so I also: or if they are Israelites, I also. If they are the seed of Abraham, I also.

11:23  If they are ministers of the Messiah, (in defect of understanding, I say it,) I am superior to them: in toils more than they, in stripes more than they, in bonds more than they, in deaths many times.

11:24  By the Jews, five times was I scourged, each time with forty stripes save one.

11:25  Three times was I beaten with rods: at one time I was stoned: three times I was in shipwreck, by day and by night; I have been in the sea, without a ship.

11:26  In journeyings many, in peril by rivers, in peril by robbers, in peril from my kindred, in peril from Gentiles: I have been in peril in cities; I have been in peril in the desert, in peril in the sea, in peril from false brethren.

11:27  In toil and weariness, in much watching, in hunger and thirst, in much fasting, in cold and nakedness:

11:28  besides many other things, and the thronging around me every day, and my anxiety for all the churches.

11:29  Who becometh weak, and I become not weak? Who is stumbled, and I burn not?

11:30  If I must glory, I will glory in my infirmities.

11:31  God, the Father of our Lord Jesus the Messiah, blessed for ever and ever, he knoweth that I lie not.

11:32  At Damascus, the commander of the army of Aretas the king, guarded the city of the Damascenes, to seize me.

11:33  And from a window, in a basket, they let me down from the wall, and I escaped from his hands.

Chapter 12

12:1  Glorying must be, but it is not profitable: so I proceed to visions and revelations of our Lord.

12:2  I knew a man in the Messiah fourteen years ago, (but whether in a body, or whether out of a body, I know not; God knoweth :) who was caught up to the third region of heaven.

12:3  And I knew this same man; (but whether in a body, or out of a body, I know not; God knoweth ;)

12:4  and he was caught up to Paradise, and heard ineffable words, which it is not permitted a man to utter.

12:5  Of him I will glory: but of myself I will not glory, except in my infirmities.

12:6  Yet if I were disposed to glory, I should not be without reason; for I declare the truth. But I refrain, lest any one should think of me, beyond what he seeth in me and heareth from me.

12:7  And, that I might not be uplifted by the excellency of the revelations, there was imparted to me a thorn in my flesh, the angel of Satan, to buffet me, that I might not be uplifted.

12:8  Respecting this, I thrice besought my Lord, that it might depart from me.

12:9  And he said to me, My grace is sufficient for thee; for my power is perfected in weakness. Gladly, therefore, will I glory in my infirmities, that the power of the Messiah may rest upon me.

12:10  Therefore I have pleasure in infirmities, in reproach, in afflictions, in persecutions, in distresses, which are for the Messiah's sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong.

12:11  Behold, I have become foolish in my glorying, for ye compelled me. For ye ought to bear witness for me; because I was inferior in nothing to those legates who most excel, although I was nothing.

12:12  I wrought among you the signs of the legates, with all patience; and in prodigies, and in wonders, and in mighty deeds.

12:13  For in what fell ye short of the other churches; except in this, that I was not burdensome to you? Forgive me this fault.

12:14  Behold, this third time I am ready to come to you, and I will not burden you; for I seek not yours, but you: for children ought not to lay up treasures for the parents, but the parents for their children.

12:15  And cheerfully will I both pay my expenses, and also give myself for your souls; although the more I love you, the less ye love me.

12:16  But perhaps, though I was not burdensome to you, yet, like a cunning man, I filched from you by craftiness!

12:17  Was it by the hand of some other person whom I sent to you, that I pilfered from you?

12:18  I requested Titus, and with him I sent the brethren: did Titus pilfer any thing from you? Did we not walk in one spirit, and in the same steps?

12:19  Do ye again suppose, that we would apologize to you? Before God, in the Messiah we speak: and all these things, my beloved, are for the sake of your edification.

12:20  For I fear, lest I should come to you and not find you such as I would wish; and lest I also should be found by you, such as ye would not wish; lest there should be contention, and envying, and anger, and obstinacy, and slandering, and murmuring, and insolence, and commotion;

12:21  lest, when I come to you, my God should humble me; and I should mourn over many, who have sinned, and have not repented of the impurity, the whoredom, and the lasciviousness, which they have committed.

Chapter 13

13:1  This is the third time that I have prepare to come to you; that, by the mouth of two or three witnesses, every word may be established.

13:2  I have before said to you, and again I say to you beforehand, (as also I said to you a second time, while I was with you; and now also, while absent, I write to those who have sinned and to the others,) that if I come again, I will not spare:

13:3  because ye demand proof, that it is the Messiah that speaketh by me, who hath not been powerless among you, but powerful among you.

13:4  For, though he was crucified in weakness, yet he liveth with the power of God. We also are weak with him; yet we are alive with him, by that power of God which is among you.

13:5  Examine yourselves, whether ye stand in the faith: prove yourselves. Do ye not acknowledge that Jesus the Messiah is in you? And if he is not, ye are reprobates.

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

13:7  And I beseech God, that there may be no evil in you, so that the proof of us may appear: and yet, that ye may be doers of good things, though we be as reprobates.

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

13:9  And we rejoice, when we are weak and ye are strong. And this also we pray for, that ye may be perfected.

13:10  Therefore, while absent, I write these things; lest when I come, I should act with rigor, according to the authority which my Lord hath given me for your edification, and not for your destruction.

13:11  Finally, my brethren, rejoice, and be perfected, and be comforted: and may harmony and quietness be among you; and the God of love and of peace will be with you.

13:12  Salute ye one another, with a holy kiss. All the saints salute you.

13:13  The peace of our Lord Jesus the Messiah, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all. Amen.