CORINTHIANS

1Paul, an 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: ²Grace be to you and peace from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ. ³Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and the God of all comfort, ⁴who comforts us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them who are in any trouble by the comfort by which we ourselves are comforted of God. ⁵For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also abounds by Christ.
⁶And whether we are afflicted, it is for your consolation and salvation, which is effectual in the enduring of the same sufferings which we also suffer; or whether we are comforted, it is for your consolation and salvation. ⁷And our hope of you is steadfast, knowing that as you are partakers of the sufferings, so shall you be also of the consolation. ⁸For we would not, brethren, have you ignorant of our trouble which came to us in Asia — that we were pressed out of measure, above strength, insomuch that we despaired even of life. ⁹But we had the sentence of death in ourselves that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God who raises the dead, ¹⁰who delivered us from so great a death, and does deliver, in whom we trust that he will yet deliver us. ¹¹You also helping together by prayer for us, that, for the gift bestowed upon us by the means of many people, thanks may be given by many on our behalf.
¹²For our rejoicing is this: the testimony of our conscience that in simplicity and godly sincerity — not with fleshly wisdom, but by the grace of God — we have had our conduct reversed in the world, and more abundantly toward you. ¹³For we write no other things unto you than what you read or acknowledge, and I trust you shall acknowledge even to the end, ¹⁴as also you have acknowledged us in part — that we are your rejoicing, even as you also are ours, in the day of the Lord Jesus. ¹⁵And in this confidence I was determined to come unto you before, that you might have a second benefit, ¹⁶and to pass by you into Macedonia, and to come again out of Macedonia unto you, and of you to be brought on my way toward Judea.
¹⁷When I therefore was thus minded, did I use lightness? Or the things that I purpose, do I purpose according to the flesh, that with me there should be yea, yea, and nay, nay? ¹⁸But as God is true, our word toward you was not yea and nay, ¹⁹for the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who was preached among you by us, even by me and Silvanus and Timothy, was not yea and nay, but in him was yea; ²⁰for all the promises of God in him are yea, and in him amen, unto the glory of God by us. ²¹Now he who establishes us with you in Christ, and has anointed us, is God, ²²who has also sealed us and given the earnest payment of the spirit in our hearts.
²³Moreover, I call God for a record upon my soul, that to spare you I came not as yet unto Corinth. ²⁴Not that we have dominion over your faith, but are helpers of your joy, for by faith you stand. 2But I determined this with myself: that I would not come again to you in heaviness; ²for if I make you sorry, who is he then that makes me glad but the same who is made sorry by me? ³And I wrote this same unto you, lest when I came I should have sorrow from them of whom I ought to rejoice, having confidence in you all, that my joy is the joy of you all. ⁴For out of much affliction and anguish of heart, I wrote unto you with many tears — not that you should be grieved, but that you might know the love which I have more abundantly unto you.
⁵But if any have caused grief, he has not grieved me but in part, that I may not burden you all. ⁶Sufficient to such a man is this punishment which was inflicted of many, ⁷so that contrariwise you ought rather to forgive him and comfort him, lest perhaps such an one should be swallowed up with too much sorrow. ⁸Wherefore, I implore you that you would confirm your love toward him.
⁹For to this end also did I write: that I might know the proof of you, whether you are obedient in all things. ¹⁰To whom you forgive anything, I forgive also. For if I forgave anything, to whom I forgave it, for your sakes I forgave it in the person of Christ, ¹¹lest Satan should get an advantage of us, for we are not ignorant of his devices.
¹²Furthermore, when I came to Troas to preach Christ’s gospel, and a door was opened unto me of the Lord, ¹³I had no rest in my spirit because I found not Titus my brother. But taking my leave of them, I went from there into Macedonia. ¹⁴Now thanks be unto God, who always causes us to triumph in Christ and makes manifest the savor of his knowledge by us in every place; ¹⁵for we are unto God a sweet savor of Christ, in them that are saved and in them that perish — ¹⁶to the one we are the savor of death unto death, and to the other, the savor of life unto life.
And who is sufficient for these things? ¹⁷For we are not as many who corrupt the word of God, but as of sincerity. But as of God, in the sight of God, we speak in Christ. 3Do we begin again to commend ourselves? Or do we need, as some others, epistles of commendation to you? Or letters of commendation from you? ²You are our epistle, written in our hearts, known and read of all men, ³forasmuch as you 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 tablets of stone but in fleshy tablets of the heart. ⁴And such trust have we through Christ toward God. ⁵Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think anything as of ourselves, but our sufficiency is of God, ⁶who also has made us able ministers of the new covenant — not of the letter, but of the spirit; for the letter kills, but the spirit gives life.
⁷But if the ministration of death (written and engraved in stones) was glorious — so that the children of Israel could not steadfastly behold the face of Moses for the glory of his countenance, which glory was to be done away — ⁸how shall not the ministration of the spirit be rather glorious? ⁹For if the ministration of condemnation is glory, much more does the ministration of righteousness exceed in glory. ¹⁰For even that which was made glorious had no glory in this respect, by reason of the glory that excels; ¹¹for if that which is done away was glorious, much more that which remains is glorious.
¹²Seeing then that we have such hope, we use great plainness of speech, ¹³and not as Moses, who put a veil over his face that the children of Israel could not steadfastly look to the end of that which is abolished. ¹⁴But their minds were blinded, for until this day remains the same veil, untaken away in the reading of the old covenant, which veil is done away in Christ; ¹⁵but even unto this day, when Moses is read, the veil is upon their heart. ¹⁶Nevertheless, when their heart shall turn to the Lord, the veil shall be taken away. ¹⁷Now the Lord is that Spirit, and where the spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. ¹⁸But we all, with open face beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image, from glory to glory, even as by the spirit of the Lord.
4Therefore, seeing we have this ministry, as we have received mercy, we faint not, ²but have renounced the hidden things of dishonesty, not walking in craftiness nor handling the word of God deceitfully, but by manifestation of the truth, commending ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God. ³But if our gospel is hidden, it is hidden to them that are lost, ⁴in whom the god of this world has blinded the minds of them who believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ (who is the image of God) should shine unto them. ⁵For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord, and ourselves your servants for Jesus’ sake.
⁶For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, has shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. ⁷But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us. ⁸We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; ⁹persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed; ¹⁰always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body. ¹¹For 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. ¹²So then it works death unto us, but life unto you.
¹³We having the same spirit of faith according as it is written: I believed, and therefore have I spoken. We also believe and therefore speak, ¹⁴knowing that he who raised up the Lord Jesus shall raise us up also by Jesus, and shall present us with you; ¹⁵for we bear all things for your sakes, that the abundant grace might, through the thanksgiving of many, return to the glory of God, ¹⁶for which cause we faint not. But though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day; ¹⁷for our light affliction (which is but for a moment) works for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, ¹⁸while 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.
5For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the Heavens. ²For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from Heaven, ³that being clothed we shall not be found naked; ⁴for we that are in this tabernacle do groan, being burdened — not that we would be unclothed, but clothed upon, that mortality might be swallowed up of life. ⁵Now he that has wrought us for the selfsame thing is God, who also has given unto us the earnest payment of the spirit; ⁶therefore, we are always confident, knowing that while we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord (⁷for we walk by faith, not by sight). ⁸We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord.
⁹Wherefore, we labor that, whether present or absent, we may be accepted of him. ¹⁰For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that everyone may receive a reward of the deeds done in the body — things according to what he has done, whether good or bad.
¹¹Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men. But we are made manifest unto God, and I trust also are made manifest in your consciences; ¹²for we commend not ourselves again unto you, but give you opportunity to glory on our behalf, that you may have somewhat to answer them who glory in appearance and not in heart. ¹³For we bear record that we are not beside ourselves. For whether we glory, it is to God, or whether we are sober, it is for your sakes. ¹⁴For the love of Christ constrains us because we thus judge: that if one died for all, then are all dead, ¹⁵and that he died for all, that they who live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him who died for them and rose again.
¹⁶Wherefore, henceforth live we no more after the flesh. Yea, though we once lived after the flesh, yet since we have known Christ, now henceforth live we no more after the flesh. ¹⁷Therefore, if any man live in Christ, he is a new creature (old things are passed away; behold, all things have become new), ¹⁸and receives all the things of God, who has reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and has given to us the ministry of reconciliation — ¹⁹namely that God is, in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them — and has committed unto us the word of reconciliation.
²⁰Now then we are ambassadors for Christ as though God did implore you by us. We pray you in Christ’s stead: be reconciled to God; ²¹for he has made him to be sin, who knew no sin, for us, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.
6We then, as workers together with Christ, implore you also that you receive not the grace of God in vain (²for he says, I have heard you in a time accepted, and in the day of salvation have I succored you. Behold now is the accepted time, behold now is the day of salvation), ³giving no offense in anything (that the ministry be not blamed), ⁴but in all things approving ourselves as the ministers of God: in much patience, in afflictions, in necessities, in distresses, ⁵in stripes, in imprisonments, in tumults, in labors, in sleeplessness, in fastings, ⁶by pureness, by knowledge, by long-suffering, by kindness, by the holy ghost, by love unfeigned, ⁷by the word of truth, by the power of God, by the armor of righteousness on the right hand and on the left, ⁸by honor and dishonor, by evil report and good report; as deceivers, and yet true; ⁹as unknown, and yet well-known; as dying, and behold, we live; as chastened, and not killed; ¹⁰as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing all things.
¹¹O you Corinthians, our mouth is open unto you, our heart is enlarged, ¹²you are not restrained in us; but you are restrained in your own affections. ¹³Now for a recompense in the same (I speak as unto my children), you also be enlarged. ¹⁴Be not unequally yoked together with unbelievers, for what fellowship has righteousness with unrighteousness? And what communion has light with darkness? ¹⁵And what concord has Christ with Belial? Or what part has he that believes with an unbeliever? ¹⁶And what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For you 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. ¹⁷Wherefore, come out from among them and be separate, says the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing, and I will receive you ¹⁸and will be a Father unto you, and you shall be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty.
7Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.
²Receive us. We have wronged no man. We have corrupted no man. We have defrauded no man. ³I speak not this to condemn you, for I have said before that you are in our hearts, to die and live with you. ⁴Great is my boldness of speech toward you, great is my glorying of you. I am filled with comfort. I am exceedingly joyful in all our tribulation.
⁵For when we had come into Macedonia, our flesh had no rest, but we were troubled on every side: outside were fightings; within were fears. ⁶Nevertheless, God, who comforts those that are cast down, comforted us by the coming of Titus — ⁷and 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 fervent mind toward me), so that I rejoiced the more. ⁸For though I made you sorry with a letter, I do not regret it — though I did regret. For I perceive that the same epistle has made you sorry, though it was but for a season. ⁹Now I rejoice — not that you were made sorry, but that you sorrowed to repentance; for you were made sorry after a godly manner, that you might receive damage by us in nothing. ¹⁰For godly sorrow works repentance to salvation, not to be repented of, but the sorrow of the world works death. ¹¹For behold, this selfsame thing (that you sorrowed after a godly sort), what concern it wrought in you — yea, what clearing of yourselves, yea, what indignation, yea, what fear, yea, what vehement desire, yea, what zeal, yea, what revenge. In all things you have proved yourselves to be clear in this matter.
¹²Wherefore, though I wrote unto you, I did it not 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. ¹³Therefore, we were comforted in your comfort, yea, and exceedingly the more rejoiced we for the joy of Titus, because his spirit was refreshed by you all. ¹⁴For if I have boasted anything to him of you, I am not ashamed. But as we spoke all things to you in truth, even so our boasting which I made before Titus is found a truth. ¹⁵And his inward affection is more abundant toward you while he remembers the obedience of you all, how with fear and trembling you received him. ¹⁶I rejoice therefore that I have confidence in you in all things.
8Moreover, brethren, we would have you to know of the grace of God bestowed on the churches of Macedonia — ²that in a great trial of affliction, the abundance of their joy and their deep poverty abounded unto the riches of their liberality. ³For to their power I bear record, yea, and beyond their power they were willing of themselves, ⁴asking us with much entreaty that we would receive the gift and take upon us the fellowship of the ministering to the saints. ⁵And this they did, not as we required, but first gave their own selves to the Lord, and unto us by the will of God, ⁶insomuch that we desired of Titus that as he had begun, so he would also finish in you the same grace also. ⁷Therefore, as you abound in every thing — in faith, and utterance, and knowledge, and in all diligence, and in your love to us — see that you abound in this grace also. ⁸I speak not by commandment, but by occasion of the earnestness of others and to prove the sincerity of your love.
⁹For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that you through his poverty might be rich. ¹⁰And herein I give my advice, for this is expedient for you who have begun before — not only to do, but also to be desirous a year ago. ¹¹Now therefore perform the doing of it, that as there was a readiness to will, so there may be a performance also out of that which you have; ¹²for if there is first a willing mind, it is accepted according to that a man has, and not according to that he has not. ¹³For I mean not that other men be eased and you burdened, ¹⁴but by an equality — that now at this time your abundance may be a supply for their lack, that their abundance also may be a supply for your lack, that there may be equality, ¹⁵as it is written: He that had gathered much had nothing over, and he that had gathered little had no lack.
¹⁶But thanks be to God, who put the same earnest care into the heart of Titus for you; ¹⁷for indeed he accepted the exhortation, but being more forward, of his own accord he went unto you. ¹⁸And we have sent with him the brother whose praise is in the gospel throughout all the churches, ¹⁹and not that only, but who was also chosen of the churches to travel with us, with this grace which is administered by us, to the glory of the same Lord and declaring of your ready mind, ²⁰avoiding this — that no man should blame us in this abundance which is administered by us, ²¹providing for honest things not only in the sight of the Lord, but also in the sight of men. ²²And we have sent with them our brother whom we have proved diligent in many things, but now much more diligent. Therefore, we send him unto you in consequence of the great confidence which we have in you — that you will receive the things concerning you to the glory of Christ, ²³whether we send by the hand of Titus (my partner and fellow laborer) or our brethren (the messengers of the churches). ²⁴Wherefore, show to them, and before the churches, the proof of your love and of our boasting on your behalf.
9For as touching the ministering to the saints, it is superfluous for me to write to you; ²for I know the readiness of your mind, for which I boast of you to them of Macedonia — that Achaia was ready a year ago; and your zeal has provoked very many. ³Yet have I sent the brethren, lest our boasting of you should be in vain in this behalf, that as I said, you may be ready; ⁴lest if they of Macedonia come with me and find you unprepared, we (that we say, not you) should be ashamed in this same confident boasting. ⁵Therefore, I thought it necessary to exhort the brethren that they would go before unto you, and make up beforehand your bounty whereof you had notice before, that the same might be ready as a matter of bounty and not as of covetousness.
⁶But this I say: he who sows sparingly shall reap also sparingly, and he who sows bountifully shall reap also bountifully — ⁷every man according as he purposes in his heart; so let him give not grudgingly or of necessity, for God ⁸loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that you, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work, ⁹as it is written: He has dispersed abroad, he has given to the poor, his righteousness remains for ever.
¹⁰Now he that ministers seed to the sower both minister bread for your food, and multiply your seed sown, and increase the fruits of your righteousness — ¹¹being enriched in everything to all bountifulness — which causes, through us, thanksgiving to God. ¹²For the administration of this service not only supplies the lack of the saints, but is abundant also by many thanksgivings unto God, ¹³while by the experiment of this ministration they glorify God for your professed subjection unto the gospel of Christ, and for your liberal distribution unto them and unto ¹⁴all men, and by their prayer for you, who long after you for the exceeding grace of God in you. ¹⁵Thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift.
10Now I, Paul, myself implore you (by the meekness and gentleness of Christ), who in presence am base among you, but being absent am bold toward you; ²but I implore you that I may not be bold when I am present with that confidence with which I think to be bold against some who think of us as if we walked according to the flesh. ³For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh, ⁴for the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God, to the pulling down of strong holds, ⁵casting down imaginations and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ, ⁶and having in a readiness to revenge all disobedience when your obedience is fulfilled.
⁷Do you look on things after the outward appearance? If any man trust to himself that he is Christ’s, let him of himself think this again: that as he is Christ’s, even so are we Christ’s. ⁸For though I should boast somewhat more of our authority, which the Lord has given us for edification and not for your destruction, I should not be ashamed, ⁹that I may not seem as if I would terrify you by letters. ¹⁰For his letters (say they) are weighty and powerful, but his bodily presence is weak, and his speech contemptible. ¹¹Let such an one think this: that such as we are in word by letters when we are absent, such will we also be in deed when we are present.
¹²For we dare not make ourselves of the number, or compare ourselves with some that commend themselves; but they, measuring themselves by themselves, and comparing themselves among themselves, are not wise. ¹³But we will not boast of things outside our measure, but according to the measure of the rule which God has distributed to us, a measure to reach even unto you. ¹⁴For we stretch not ourselves beyond our measure (as though we reached not unto you), for we have come as far as to you also in preaching the gospel of Christ, ¹⁵not boasting of things without our measure, that is, of other men’s labors, but having hope (when your faith is increased) that we shall be enlarged by you (according to our rule) abundantly, ¹⁶to preach the gospel in the regions beyond you, and not to boast in another man’s line of things made ready to our hand. ¹⁷But he that glories, let him glory in the Lord, ¹⁸for not he that commends himself is approved, but whom the Lord commends.
11Would to God you could bear with me a little in my folly — and indeed, bear with me. ²For I am jealous over you with godly jealousy, for I have betrothed you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ. ³But I fear, lest by any means as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtlety, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. ⁴For if he that comes preach another Jesus whom we have not preached, or if you receive another spirit which you have not received, or another gospel which you have not accepted, you might well bear with me. ⁵For I suppose I was not a whit behind the very chiefest apostles, ⁶but though I am unrefined in speech — yet not in knowledge. But we have been thoroughly made manifest among you in all things.
⁷Have I committed an offense in abasing myself that you might be exalted, because I have preached to you the gospel of God freely? ⁸I robbed other churches, taking wages of them to do you service. ⁹And when I was present with you and lacked, I was burdensome to no man; for that which was lacking to me, the brethren who came from Macedonia supplied. And in all things I have kept myself from being burdensome unto you, and so will I keep myself. ¹⁰As the truth of Christ is in me, no man shall stop me of this boasting in the regions of Achaia. ¹¹Why? Because I love you not? God knows.
¹²But what I do, that I will do, that I may cut off opportunity from them who desire opportunity that wherein they glory, they may be found even as we; ¹³for such are false apostles, deceitful workers, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ — ¹⁴and no marvel, for Satan himself disguises as an angel of light. ¹⁵Therefore, it is no great thing if his ministers also are disguised as the ministers of righteousness, whose end shall be according to their works.
¹⁶I say again, let no man think me a fool. If otherwise, yet as a fool receive me, that I may boast myself a little. ¹⁷That which I speak, I speak it not after the Lord, but as if it were foolishly in this confidence of boasting. ¹⁸Seeing that many glory after the flesh, I will glory also. ¹⁹For you suffer fools gladly, seeing you yourselves are wise; ²⁰for you suffer if a man bring you into bondage, if a man devour you, if a man take of you, if a man exalt himself, if a man smite you on the face. ²¹I speak as concerning reproach, as though we had been weak.
Nevertheless, in whatever any is bold (I speak foolishly), I am bold also. ²²Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they the seed of Abraham? So am I. ²³Are they ministers of Christ? — I speak as a fool — so am I: in labors more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequent, in deaths oft. ²⁴Of the Jews, five times received I forty stripes save one; ²⁵three times was I beaten with rods; once was I stoned; three times I suffered shipwreck; a night and a day I have been in the deep; ²⁶in journeyings often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils by my own countrymen, in perils by the heathen, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren; ²⁷in weariness and labor, in sleeplessness often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness; ²⁸beside those things that are outside, that which comes upon me daily — the care of all the churches. ²⁹Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is offended, and I anger not?
³⁰If I must glory, I will glory of the things which concern my infirmities. ³¹The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who is blessed for ever, knows that I lie not. ³²In Damascus, the governor under Aretas the king kept the city of the Damascenes with a garrison, desirous to apprehend me, ³³and through a window in a basket was I let down by the wall and escaped his hands.
12It is not expedient for me doubtless to glory. I will come to visions and revelations of the Lord. ²I knew a man in Christ above fourteen years ago (whether in the body, I cannot tell, or whether out of the body, I cannot tell; God knows), such an one caught up to the third Heaven. ³And I knew such a man (whether in the body or out of the body, I cannot tell; God knows), ⁴that he was caught up into paradise and heard unspeakable words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter. ⁵Of such an one will I glory.
Yet of myself I will not glory, but in my infirmities; ⁶for though I would desire to glory, I shall not be a fool, for I will say the truth; but now I refrain, lest any man should think of me above that which he sees of me or that he hears of me.
⁷And lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure. ⁸For this thing, I implored the Lord three times that it might depart from me. ⁹And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for you; for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. ¹⁰Therefore, I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ’s sake; for when I am weak, then am I strong.
¹¹I have become a fool in glorying. You have compelled me, for I ought to have been commended of you, for in nothing am I behind the very chiefest apostles, though I am nothing. ¹²Truly the signs of an apostle were wrought among you in all patience, in signs, and wonders, and mighty deeds. ¹³For what is it wherein you were inferior to other churches, except it be that I myself was not burdensome to you? Forgive me this wrong.
¹⁴Behold, the third time I am ready to come to you, and I will not be burdensome to you; for I seek not yours, but you. For the children ought not to lay up for the parents, but the parents for the children. ¹⁵And I will very gladly spend and be spent for you; though the more abundantly I love you, the less I am loved. ¹⁶But be it so. I did not burden you. Nevertheless, being crafty, I caught you with guile. ¹⁷Did I make a gain of you by any of them whom I sent unto you? ¹⁸I desired Titus, and with him I sent a brother. Did Titus make a gain of you? Did we not walk in the same spirit? Did we not walk in the same steps?
¹⁹Again, do you think that we excuse ourselves unto you? We speak before God in Christ. But we do all things, dearly beloved, for your edifying. ²⁰For I fear lest when I come, I shall not find you such as I wish, and that I shall be found unto you such as you wish not; lest there should be debates, envyings, wraths, strifes, backbitings, whisperings, swellings, tumults; ²¹and lest when I come again, my God will humble me among you, and that I shall bewail many who have sinned already and have not repented of the uncleanness, and fornication, and lasciviousness which they have committed.
13This is the third time I am coming to you. In the mouth of two or three witnesses shall every word be established. ²I told you before, and foretell you as if I were present the second time, and being absent now, I write to them who before now have sinned, and to all other, that if I come again, I will not spare, ³since you seek a proof of Christ speaking in me — who toward you is not weak, but is mighty in you; ⁴for though he was crucified through weakness, yet he lives by the power of God. For we also are weak in him, but we shall live with him by the power of God toward you.
⁵Examine yourselves, whether you are in the faith; prove your own selves. Do you not know your own selves that Jesus Christ is in you, except you are reprobates? ⁶But I trust that you shall know that we are not reprobates. ⁷Now I pray to God that you do no evil — not that we should appear approved, but that you should do that which is good, though we are as reprobates. ⁸For we can do nothing against the truth, but for the truth. ⁹For we are glad when we are weak and you are strong. And this also we wish: even your perfection. ¹⁰Therefore, I write these things being absent, lest being present I should use sharpness — according to the power which the Lord has given me to edification, and not to destruction.
¹¹Finally brethren, farewell. Be perfect, be of good comfort, be of one mind, live in peace, and the God of love and peace shall be with you. ¹²Greet one another with a holy salutation. ¹³All the saints salute you. ¹⁴The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the holy ghost be with you all. Amen.

The second epistle to the Corinthians was written from Philippi of Macedonia by Titus and Lucas.

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THE SECOND EPISTLE TO THE

CORINTHIANS