| Christian Standard Bible | New Living Translation |
| 1Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by God's will, and Timothy our brother: To the church of God 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 the 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. |
| 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. | 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 overflow to us, so also through Christ our comfort overflows. | 5For the more we suffer for Christ, the more God will shower us with his comfort through Christ. |
| 6If we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation. If we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which produces in you patient endurance of the same sufferings that we 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 firm, because we know that as you share in the sufferings, so you will also share in the comfort. | 7We are confident that as you share in our sufferings, you will also share in the comfort God gives us. |
| 8We don't want you to be unaware, brothers and sisters, of our affliction that took place in Asia. We were completely overwhelmed--beyond our strength--so that we even despaired of life itself. | 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 felt that we had received the sentence of death, 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. |
| 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 | 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. |
| 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. | 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 |
| 12Indeed, this is our boast: The testimony of our conscience is that we have conducted ourselves in the world, and especially toward you, with godly sincerity and purity, not by human wisdom but by God's grace. | 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 are writing nothing to you other than what you can read and also understand. I hope you will understand completely-- | 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 have partially understood us--that we are your reason for pride, just 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. |
| 15Because of this confidence, I planned to come to you first, so that you could have a second benefit, | 15Since I was so sure of your understanding and trust, I wanted to give you a double blessing by visiting you twice— |
| 16and to visit you on my way to Macedonia, and then come to you again from Macedonia and be helped by you 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. |
| 17Now when I planned this, was I of two minds? Or what I plan, do I plan in a purely human way so that I say "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”? |
| 18As God is faithful, our message 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, Jesus Christ, whom we proclaimed among you--Silvanus, Timothy, and I--did not become "Yes and no." On the contrary, in him it is always "Yes." | 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 every one of God's promises is "Yes" in him. Therefore, through him we also say "Amen" to the glory of God. | 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 it is God who strengthens us together with you in Christ, and who has anointed us. | 21It is God who enables us, along with you, to stand firm for Christ. He has commissioned us, |
| 22He has also put his seal on us and given us the Spirit in our hearts as a down payment. | 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. |
| 23I call on God as a witness, on my life, that it was to spare you that I did not come 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. |
| 24I do not mean that we lord it over your faith, but we are workers with you for your joy, because you stand firm in your faith. | 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. |
| The Christian Standard Bible. Copyright © 2017 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. | 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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