| New International Version | English Standard Version |
| 1This, then, is how you ought to regard us: as servants of Christ and as those entrusted with the mysteries God has revealed. | 1This is how one should regard us, as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God. |
| 2Now it is required that those who have been given a trust must prove faithful. | 2Moreover, it is required of stewards that they be found faithful. |
| 3I care very little if I am judged by you or by any human court; indeed, I do not even judge myself. | 3But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged by you or by any human court. In fact, I do not even judge myself. |
| 4My conscience is clear, but that does not make me innocent. It is the Lord who judges me. | 4For I am not aware of anything against myself, but I am not thereby acquitted. It is the Lord who judges me. |
| 5Therefore judge nothing before the appointed time; wait until the Lord comes. He will bring to light what is hidden in darkness and will expose the motives of the heart. At that time each will receive their praise from God. | 5Therefore do not pronounce judgment before the time, before the Lord comes, who will bring to light the things now hidden in darkness and will disclose the purposes of the heart. Then each one will receive his commendation from God. |
| 6Now, brothers and sisters, I have applied these things to myself and Apollos for your benefit, so that you may learn from us the meaning of the saying, "Do not go beyond what is written." Then you will not be puffed up in being a follower of one of us over against the other. | 6I have applied all these things to myself and Apollos for your benefit, brothers, that you may learn by us not to go beyond what is written, that none of you may be puffed up in favor of one against another. |
| 7For who makes you different from anyone else? What do you have that you did not receive? And if you did receive it, why do you boast as though you did not? | 7For who sees anything different in you? What do you have that you did not receive? If then you received it, why do you boast as if you did not receive it? |
| 8Already you have all you want! Already you have become rich! You have begun to reign--and that without us! How I wish that you really had begun to reign so that we also might reign with you! | 8Already you have all you want! Already you have become rich! Without us you have become kings! And would that you did reign, so that we might share the rule with you! |
| 9For it seems to me that God has put us apostles on display at the end of the procession, like those condemned to die in the arena. We have been made a spectacle to the whole universe, to angels as well as to human beings. | 9For I think that God has exhibited us apostles as last of all, like men sentenced to death, because we have become a spectacle to the world, to angels, and to men. |
| 10We are fools for Christ, but you are so wise in Christ! We are weak, but you are strong! You are honored, we are dishonored! | 10We are fools for Christ’s sake, but you are wise in Christ. We are weak, but you are strong. You are held in honor, but we in disrepute. |
| 11To this very hour we go hungry and thirsty, we are in rags, we are brutally treated, we are homeless. | 11To the present hour we hunger and thirst, we are poorly dressed and buffeted and homeless, |
| 12We work hard with our own hands. When we are cursed, we bless; when we are persecuted, we endure it; | 12and we labor, working with our own hands. When reviled, we bless; when persecuted, we endure; |
| 13when we are slandered, we answer kindly. We have become the scum of the earth, the garbage of the world--right up to this moment. | 13when slandered, we entreat. We have become, and are still, like the scum of the world, the refuse of all things. |
| 14I am writing this not to shame you but to warn you as my dear children. | 14I do not write these things to make you ashamed, but to admonish you as my beloved children. |
| 15Even if you had ten thousand guardians in Christ, you do not have many fathers, for in Christ Jesus I became your father through the gospel. | 15For though you have countless guides in Christ, you do not have many fathers. For I became your father in Christ Jesus through the gospel. |
| 16Therefore I urge you to imitate me. | 16I urge you, then, be imitators of me. |
| 17For this reason I have sent to you Timothy, my son whom I love, who is faithful in the Lord. He will remind you of my way of life in Christ Jesus, which agrees with what I teach everywhere in every church. | 17That is why I sent you Timothy, my beloved and faithful child in the Lord, to remind you of my ways in Christ, as I teach them everywhere in every church. |
| 18Some of you have become arrogant, as if I were not coming to you. | 18Some are arrogant, as though I were not coming to you. |
| 19But I will come to you very soon, if the Lord is willing, and then I will find out not only how these arrogant people are talking, but what power they have. | 19But I will come to you soon, if the Lord wills, and I will find out not the talk of these arrogant people but their power. |
| 20For the kingdom of God is not a matter of talk but of power. | 20For the kingdom of God does not consist in talk but in power. |
| 21What do you prefer? Shall I come to you with a rod of discipline, or shall I come in love and with a gentle spirit? | 21What do you wish? Shall I come to you with a rod, or with love in a spirit of gentleness? |
| New International Version (NIV) Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. | ESV Text Edition: 2016. The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®) copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. The ESV® text has been reproduced in cooperation with and by permission of Good News Publishers. Unauthorized reproduction of this publication is prohibited. All rights reserved. |
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