2 Corinthians, 1

1. Paul, by the will of God an apostle of Christ Jesus, and Timothy, our brother, to the church of God in Corinth and to all God's holy people in the whole of Achaia.

1. Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother. To the church of God which is at Corinth, with all the saints who are in the whole of Acha'ia:

2. Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

2. Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

3. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the merciful Father and the God who gives every possible encouragement;

3. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort,

4. he supports us in every hardship, so that we are able to come to the support of others, in every hardship of theirs because of the encouragement that we ourselves receive from God.

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

5. For just as the sufferings of Christ overflow into our lives; so too does the encouragement we receive through Christ.

5. For as we share abundantly in Christ's sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too.

6. So if we have hardships to undergo, this will contribute to your encouragement and your salvation; if we receive encouragement, this is to gain for you the encouragement which enables you to bear with perseverance the same sufferings as we do.

6. If we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation; and if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which you experience when you patiently endure the same sufferings that we suffer.

7. So our hope for you is secure in the knowledge that you share the encouragement we receive, no less than the sufferings we bear.

7. Our hope for you is unshaken; for we know that as you share in our sufferings, you will also share in our comfort.

8. So in the hardships we underwent in Asia, we want you to be quite certain, brothers, that we were under extraordinary pressure, beyond our powers of endurance, so that we gave up all hope even of surviving.

8. For we do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, of the affliction we experienced in Asia; for we were so utterly, unbearably crushed that we despaired of life itself.

9. In fact we were carrying the sentence of death within our own selves, so that we should be forced to trust not in ourselves but in God, who raises the dead.

9. Why, we felt that we had received the sentence of death; but that was to make us rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead;

10. He did save us from such a death and will save us -- we are relying on him to do so.

10. he delivered us from so deadly a peril, and he will deliver us; on him we have set our hope that he will deliver us again.

11. Your prayer for us will contribute to this, so that, for God's favour shown to us as the result of the prayers of so many, thanks too may be given by many on our behalf.

11. You also must help us by prayer, so that many will give thanks on our behalf for the blessing granted us in answer to many prayers.

12. There is one thing that we are proud of, namely our conscientious conviction that we have always behaved towards everyone, and especially towards you, with that unalloyed holiness that comes from God, relying not on human reasoning but on the grace of God.

12. For our boast is this, the testimony of our conscience that we have behaved in the world, and still more toward you, with holiness and godly sincerity, not by earthly wisdom but by the grace of God.

13. In our writing, there is nothing that you cannot read clearly and understand;

13. For we write you nothing but what you can read and understand; I hope you will understand fully,

14. and it is my hope that, just as you have already understood us partially, so you will understand fully that you can be as proud of us as we shall be of you when the Day of our Lord Jesus comes.

14. as you have understood in part, that you can be proud of us as we can be of you, on the day of the Lord Jesus.

15. It was with this assurance that I had been meaning to come to you first, so that you would benefit doubly;

15. Because I was sure of this, I wanted to come to you first, so that you might have a double pleasure;

16. both to visit you on my way to Macedonia, and then to return to you again from Macedonia, so that you could set me on my way to Judaea.

16. I wanted to visit you on my way to Macedo'nia, and to come back to you from Macedo'nia and have you send me on my way to Judea.

17. Since that was my purpose, do you think I lightly changed my mind? Or that my plans are based on ordinary human promptings and I have in my mind Yes, yes at the same time as No, no?

17. Was I vacillating when I wanted to do this? Do I make my plans like a worldly man, ready to say Yes and No at once?

18. As surely as God is trustworthy, what we say to you is not both Yes and No.

18. As surely as God is faithful, our word to you has not been Yes and No.

19. The Son of God, Jesus Christ, who was proclaimed to you by us, that is, by me and by Silvanus and Timothy, was never Yes-and-No; his nature is all Yes.

19. For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, whom we preached among you, Silva'nus and Timothy and I, was not Yes and No; but in him it is always Yes.

20. For in him is found the Yes to all God's promises and therefore it is 'through him' that we answer 'Amen' to give praise to God.

20. For all the promises of God find their Yes in him. That is why we utter the Amen through him, to the glory of God.

21. It is God who gives us, with you, a sure place in Christ

21. But it is God who establishes us with you in Christ, and has commissioned us;

22. and has both anointed us and marked us with his seal, giving us as pledge the Spirit in our hearts.

22. he has put his seal upon us and given us his Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee.

23. By my life I call on God to be my witness that it was only to spare you that I did not come to Corinth again.

23. But I call God to witness against me -- it was to spare you that I refrained from coming to Corinth.

24. We have no wish to lord it over your faith, but to work with you for your joy; for your stand in the faith is firm.

24. Not that we lord it over your faith; we work with you for your joy, for you stand firm in your faith.