| New Living Translation | Berean Study Bible |
| 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. | 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: |
| 2May God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ give you grace and peace. God Offers Comfort to All | 2Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. |
| 3All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is our merciful Father and the source 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 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. | 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 the more we suffer for Christ, the more God will shower us with his comfort through Christ. | 5For just as the sufferings of Christ overflow to us, so also through Christ our comfort overflows. |
| 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. | 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. |
| 7We are confident that as you share in our sufferings, you will also share in the comfort God gives us. | 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. |
| 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. | 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. |
| 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. | 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. |
| 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. | 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, |
| 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 | 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. |
| 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. | 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. |
| 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, | 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, |
| 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. | 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. |
| 15Since I was so sure of your understanding and trust, I wanted to give you a double blessing by visiting you twice— | 15Confident of this, I planned to visit you first, so that you might receive a double blessing. |
| 16first on my way to Macedonia and again when I returned from Macedonia. Then you could send me on my way 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. |
| 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”? | 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 surely as God is faithful, our word to you does not waver between “Yes” and “No.” | 18But as surely as God is faithful, our message to you is not “Yes” and “No.” |
| 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. | 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 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. | 20For all the promises of God are “Yes” in Christ. And so through Him, our “Amen” is spoken to the glory of God. |
| 21It is God who enables us, along with you, to stand firm for Christ. He has commissioned us, | 21Now it is God who establishes both us and you in Christ. He anointed us, |
| 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. | 22placed His seal on us, and put His Spirit in our hearts as a pledge of what is to come. |
| 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. | 23I call God as my witness that it was in order to spare you that I did not return to Corinth. |
| 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. | 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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