| New American Standard Bible 1995 | New Living Translation |
| 1Paul, 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 throughout Achaia: | 1This letter is from Paul, chosen by the will of God to be an apostle of Christ Jesus, and from our brother Timothy. I am writing to God’s church in Corinth and to all of his holy people throughout Greece. |
| 2Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. | 2May God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ give you grace and peace. God Offers Comfort to All |
| 3Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, | 3All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is our merciful Father and the source of all comfort. |
| 4who comforts us in all our affliction so that we will be able to comfort those who are in any affliction with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. | 4He comforts us in all our troubles so that we can comfort others. When they are troubled, we will be able to give them the same comfort God has given us. |
| 5For just as the sufferings of Christ are ours in abundance, so also our comfort is abundant through Christ. | 5For the more we suffer for Christ, the more God will shower us with his comfort through Christ. |
| 6But if we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation; or if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which is effective in the patient enduring of the same sufferings which we also suffer; | 6Even when we are weighed down with troubles, it is for your comfort and salvation! For when we ourselves are comforted, we will certainly comfort you. Then you can patiently endure the same things we suffer. |
| 7and our hope for you is firmly grounded, knowing that as you are sharers of our sufferings, so also you are sharers of our comfort. | 7We are confident that as you share in our sufferings, you will also share in the comfort God gives us. |
| 8For we do not want you to be unaware, brethren, of our affliction which came to us in Asia, that we were burdened excessively, beyond our strength, so that we despaired even of life; | 8We think you ought to know, dear brothers and sisters, about the trouble we went through in the province of Asia. We were crushed and overwhelmed beyond our ability to endure, and we thought we would never live through it. |
| 9indeed, we had the sentence of death within ourselves so that we would not trust in ourselves, but in God who raises the dead; | 9In fact, we expected to die. But as a result, we stopped relying on ourselves and learned to rely only on God, who raises the dead. |
| 10who delivered us from so great a peril of death, and will deliver us, He on whom we have set our hope. And He will yet deliver us, | 10And he did rescue us from mortal danger, and he will rescue us again. We have placed our confidence in him, and he will continue to rescue us. |
| 11you also joining in helping us through your prayers, so that thanks may be given by many persons on our behalf for the favor bestowed on us through the prayers of many. | 11And you are helping us by praying for us. Then many people will give thanks because God has graciously answered so many prayers for our safety. Paul’s Change of Plans |
| 12For our proud confidence is this: the testimony of our conscience, that in holiness and godly sincerity, not in fleshly wisdom but in the grace of God, we have conducted ourselves in the world, and especially toward you. | 12We can say with confidence and a clear conscience that we have lived with a God-given holiness and sincerity in all our dealings. We have depended on God’s grace, not on our own human wisdom. That is how we have conducted ourselves before the world, and especially toward you. |
| 13For we write nothing else to you than what you read and understand, and I hope you will understand until the end; | 13Our letters have been straightforward, and there is nothing written between the lines and nothing you can’t understand. I hope someday you will fully understand us, |
| 14just as you also partially did understand us, that we are your reason to be proud as you also are ours, in the day of our Lord Jesus. | 14even if you don’t understand us now. Then on the day when the Lord Jesus returns, you will be proud of us in the same way we are proud of you. |
| 15In this confidence I intended at first to come to you, so that you might twice receive a blessing; | 15Since I was so sure of your understanding and trust, I wanted to give you a double blessing by visiting you twice— |
| 16that is, to pass your way into Macedonia, and again from Macedonia to come to you, and by you to be helped on my journey to Judea. | 16first on my way to Macedonia and again when I returned from Macedonia. Then you could send me on my way to Judea. |
| 17Therefore, I was not vacillating when I intended to do this, was I? Or what I purpose, do I purpose according to the flesh, so that with me there will be yes, yes and no, no at the same time? | 17You may be asking why I changed my plan. Do you think I make my plans carelessly? Do you think I am like people of the world who say “Yes” when they really mean “No”? |
| 18But as God is faithful, our word to you is not yes and no. | 18As surely as God is faithful, our word to you does not waver between “Yes” and “No.” |
| 19For the Son of God, Christ Jesus, who was preached among you by us-- by me and Silvanus and Timothy-- was not yes and no, but is yes in Him. | 19For Jesus Christ, the Son of God, does not waver between “Yes” and “No.” He is the one whom Silas, Timothy, and I preached to you, and as God’s ultimate “Yes,” he always does what he says. |
| 20For as many as are the promises of God, in Him they are yes; therefore also through Him is our Amen to the glory of God through us. | 20For all of God’s promises have been fulfilled in Christ with a resounding “Yes!” And through Christ, our “Amen” (which means “Yes”) ascends to God for his glory. |
| 21Now He who establishes us with you in Christ and anointed us is God, | 21It is God who enables us, along with you, to stand firm for Christ. He has commissioned us, |
| 22who also sealed us and gave us the Spirit in our hearts as a pledge. | 22and he has identified us as his own by placing the Holy Spirit in our hearts as the first installment that guarantees everything he has promised us. |
| 23But I call God as witness to my soul, that to spare you I did not come again to Corinth. | 23Now I call upon God as my witness that I am telling the truth. The reason I didn’t return to Corinth was to spare you from a severe rebuke. |
| 24Not that we lord it over your faith, but are workers with you for your joy; for in your faith you are standing firm. | 24But that does not mean we want to dominate you by telling you how to put your faith into practice. We want to work together with you so you will be full of joy, for it is by your own faith that you stand firm. |
| New American Standard Bible Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation, La Habra, Calif. All rights reserved. For Permission to Quote Information visit //www.lockman.org | Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved. |
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