| Holman Christian Standard Bible | Berean Study Bible |
| 1Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by God's will, and Timothy our brother: To God's church at Corinth, with all the saints who are throughout Achaia. | 1Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother, To the church of God in Corinth, together with all the saints throughout Achaia: |
| 2Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. | 2Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. |
| 3Praise the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and the God of all comfort. | 3Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, |
| 4He comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any kind of affliction, through the comfort we ourselves receive from God. | 4who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God. |
| 5For as the sufferings of Christ overflow to us, so through Christ our comfort also overflows. | 5For just as the sufferings of Christ overflow to us, so also through Christ our comfort overflows. |
| 6If we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation. If we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which is experienced in your endurance of the same sufferings that we suffer. | 6If we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation; if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which accomplishes in you patient endurance of the same sufferings we experience. |
| 7And our hope for you is firm, because we know that as you share in the sufferings, so you will share in the comfort. | 7And our hope for you is sure, because we know that just as you share in our sufferings, so also you will share in our comfort. |
| 8For we don't want you to be unaware, brothers, of our affliction that took place in Asia: we were completely overwhelmed--beyond our strength--so that we even despaired of life. | 8We do not want you to be unaware, brothers, of the hardships we encountered in the province of Asia. We were under a burden far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired even of life. |
| 9Indeed, we personally had a death sentence within ourselves, so that we would not trust in ourselves but in God who raises the dead. | 9Indeed, we felt we were under the sentence of death, in order that we would not trust in ourselves, but in God, who raises the dead. |
| 10He has delivered us from such a terrible death, and He will deliver us. We have put our hope in Him that He will deliver us again | 10He has delivered us from such a deadly peril, and He will deliver us. In Him we have placed our hope that He will yet again deliver us, |
| 11while you join in helping us by your prayers. Then many will give thanks on our behalf for the gift that came to us through the prayers of many. | 11as you help us by your prayers. Then many will give thanks on our behalf for the favor shown us in answer to their prayers. |
| 12For this is our confidence: The testimony of our conscience is that we have conducted ourselves in the world, and especially toward you, with God-given sincerity and purity, not by fleshly wisdom but by God's grace. | 12And this is our boast: Our conscience testifies that we have conducted ourselves in the world, and especially in relation to you, in the holiness and sincerity that are from God—not in worldly wisdom, but in the grace of God. |
| 13Now we are writing nothing to you other than what you can read and also understand. I hope you will understand completely-- | 13For we do not write you anything that is beyond your ability to read and understand. And I hope that you will understand us completely, |
| 14as you have partially understood us--that we are your reason for pride, as you are ours, in the day of our Lord Jesus. | 14as you have already understood us in part, so that you may boast of us just as we will boast of you in the day of our Lord Jesus. |
| 15I planned with this confidence to come to you first, so you could have a double benefit, | 15Confident of this, I planned to visit you first, so that you might receive a double blessing. |
| 16and to go on to Macedonia with your help, then come to you again from Macedonia and be given a start by you on my journey to Judea. | 16I wanted to visit you on my way to Macedonia, and to return to you from Macedonia, and then to have you help me on my way to Judea. |
| 17So when I planned this, was I irresponsible? Or what I plan, do I plan in a purely human way so that I say "Yes, yes" and "No, no" simultaneously? | 17When I planned this, did I do it carelessly? Or do I make my plans by human standards, so as to say “Yes, yes” when I really mean “No, no”? |
| 18As God is faithful, our message to you is not "Yes and no." | 18But as surely as God is faithful, our message to you is not “Yes” and “No.” |
| 19For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who was preached among you by us--by me and Silvanus and Timothy--did not become "Yes and no"; on the contrary, a final "Yes" has come in Him. | 19For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who was proclaimed among you by me and Silvanus and Timothy, was not “Yes” and “No,” but in Him it has always been “Yes.” |
| 20For every one of God's promises is "Yes" in Him. Therefore, the "Amen" is also spoken through Him by us for God's glory. | 20For all the promises of God are “Yes” in Christ. And so through Him, our “Amen” is spoken to the glory of God. |
| 21Now it is God who strengthens us, with you, in Christ and has anointed us. | 21Now it is God who establishes both us and you in Christ. He anointed us, |
| 22He has also sealed us and given us the Spirit as a down payment in our hearts. | 22placed His seal on us, and put His Spirit in our hearts as a pledge of what is to come. |
| 23I call on God as a witness, on my life, that it was to spare you that I did not come to Corinth. | 23I call God as my witness that it was in order to spare you that I did not return to Corinth. |
| 24I do not mean that we have control of your faith, but we are workers with you for your joy, because you stand by faith. | 24Not that we lord it over your faith, but we are fellow workers with you for your joy, because it is by faith that you stand firm. |
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