| New King James Version | New International Version |
| 1Now I, Paul, myself am pleading with you by the meekness and gentleness of Christ—who in presence am lowly among you, but being absent am bold toward you. | 1By the humility and gentleness of Christ, I appeal to you--I, Paul, who am "timid" when face to face with you, but "bold" toward you when away! |
| 2But I beg you that when I am present I may not be bold with that confidence by which I intend to be bold against some, who think of us as if we walked according to the flesh. | 2I beg you that when I come I may not have to be as bold as I expect to be toward some people who think that we live by the standards of this world. |
| 3For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. | 3For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. |
| 4For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, | 4The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. |
| 5casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ, | 5We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. |
| 6and being ready to punish all disobedience when your obedience is fulfilled. | 6And we will be ready to punish every act of disobedience, once your obedience is complete. |
| 7Do you look at things according to the outward appearance? If anyone is convinced in himself that he is Christ’s, let him again consider this in himself, that just as he is Christ’s, even so we are Christ’s. | 7You are judging by appearances. If anyone is confident that they belong to Christ, they should consider again that we belong to Christ just as much as they do. |
| 8For even if I should boast somewhat more about our authority, which the Lord gave us for edification and not for your destruction, I shall not be ashamed— | 8So even if I boast somewhat freely about the authority the Lord gave us for building you up rather than tearing you down, I will not be ashamed of it. |
| 9lest I seem to terrify you by letters. | 9I do not want to seem to be trying to frighten you with my letters. |
| 10“For his letters,” they say, “are weighty and powerful, but his bodily presence is weak, and his speech contemptible.” | 10For some say, "His letters are weighty and forceful, but in person he is unimpressive and his speaking amounts to nothing." |
| 11Let such a person consider this, that what we are in word by letters when we are absent, such we will also be in deed when we are present. | 11Such people should realize that what we are in our letters when we are absent, we will be in our actions when we are present. |
| 12For we dare not class ourselves or compare ourselves with those who commend themselves. But they, measuring themselves by themselves, and comparing themselves among themselves, are not wise. | 12We do not dare to classify or compare ourselves with some who commend themselves. When they measure themselves by themselves and compare themselves with themselves, they are not wise. |
| 13We, however, will not boast beyond measure, but within the limits of the sphere which God appointed us—a sphere which especially includes you. | 13We, however, will not boast beyond proper limits, but will confine our boasting to the sphere of service God himself has assigned to us, a sphere that also includes you. |
| 14For we are not overextending ourselves (as though our authority did not extend to you), for it was to you that we came with the gospel of Christ; | 14We are not going too far in our boasting, as would be the case if we had not come to you, for we did get as far as you with the gospel of Christ. |
| 15not boasting of things beyond measure, that is, in other men’s labors, but having hope, that as your faith is increased, we shall be greatly enlarged by you in our sphere, | 15Neither do we go beyond our limits by boasting of work done by others. Our hope is that, as your faith continues to grow, our sphere of activity among you will greatly expand, |
| 16to preach the gospel in the regions beyond you, and not to boast in another man’s sphere of accomplishment. | 16so that we can preach the gospel in the regions beyond you. For we do not want to boast about work already done in someone else's territory. |
| 17But “he who glories, let him glory in the LORD.” | 17But, "Let the one who boasts boast in the Lord." |
| 18For not he who commends himself is approved, but whom the Lord commends. | 18For it is not the one who commends himself who is approved, but the one whom the Lord commends. |
| The Holy Bible, New King James Version, Copyright © 1982 Thomas Nelson. All rights reserved. | 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. |
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