| International Standard Version | NET Bible |
| 1From: Paul, an apostle of the Messiah Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother. To: God's church in Corinth, and to all the holy people throughout Achaia. | 1From Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother, to the church of God that is in Corinth, with all the saints who are in all Achaia. |
| 2May grace and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus, the Messiah, be yours! | 2Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ! |
| 3Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus, the Messiah! He is our merciful Father and the God of all comfort, | 3Blessed is the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, |
| 4who comforts us in all our suffering, so that we may be able to comfort others in all their suffering, as we ourselves are being comforted by God. | 4who comforts us in all our troubles so that we may be able to comfort those experiencing any trouble with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. |
| 5For as the Messiah's sufferings overflow into us, so also our comfort overflows through the Messiah. | 5For just as the sufferings of Christ overflow toward us, so also our comfort through Christ overflows to you. |
| 6If we suffer, it is for your comfort and salvation. If we are comforted, it is for your comfort when you patiently endure the same sufferings that we are suffering. | 6But if we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation; if we are comforted, it is for your comfort that you experience in your patient endurance of the same sufferings that we also suffer. |
| 7Our hope for you is unshaken, because we know that as you share our sufferings, you also share our comfort. | 7And our hope for you is steadfast because we know that as you share in our sufferings, so also you will share in our comfort. |
| 8For we do not want you to be ignorant, brothers, about the suffering we experienced in Asia. We were so crushed beyond our ability to endure that we even despaired of living. | 8For we do not want you to be unaware, brothers and sisters, regarding the affliction that happened to us in the province of Asia, that we were burdened excessively, beyond our strength, so that we despaired even of living. |
| 9In fact, we felt that we had received a death sentence so we would not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead. | 9Indeed we felt as if the sentence of death had been passed against us, so that we would not trust in ourselves but in God who raises the dead. |
| 10He has rescued us from a terrible death, and he will continue to rescue us. Yes, he is the one on whom we have set our hope, and he will rescue us again, | 10He delivered us from so great a risk of death, and he will deliver us. We have set our hope on him that he will deliver us yet again, |
| 11as you also help us by your prayers for us. Then many people will thank God on our behalf because of the favor shown us through the prayers of many. | 11as you also join in helping us by prayer, so that many people may give thanks to God on our behalf for the gracious gift given to us through the help of many. |
| 12For this is what we boast about: Our conscience testifies that we have conducted ourselves in the world with pure motives and godly sincerity, without earthly wisdom but with God's grace—especially toward you. | 12For our reason for confidence is this: the testimony of our conscience, that with pure motives and sincerity which are from God--not by human wisdom but by the grace of God--we conducted ourselves in the world, and all the more toward you. |
| 13For what we are writing you is nothing more than what you can read and also understand. I hope you will understand completely, | 13For we do not write you anything other than what you can read and also understand. But I hope that you will understand completely |
| 14just as you have already understood us partially, so that on the Day of our Lord Jesus we can be your reason to boast, even as you are ours. | 14just as also you have partly understood us, that we are your source of pride just as you also are ours in the day of the Lord Jesus. |
| 15Because I was confident, I planned to come to you first so you might receive a double blessing. | 15And with this confidence I intended to come to you first so that you would get a second opportunity to see us, |
| 16I planned to leave you in order to go to Macedonia, and then come back to you from Macedonia, and let you send me on to Judea. | 16and through your help to go on into Macedonia and then from Macedonia to come back to you and be helped on our way into Judea by you. |
| 17When I planned this, I did not do it lightly, did I? Are my plans so fickle that I can say "Yes" and "No" at the same time? | 17Therefore when I was planning to do this, I did not do so without thinking about what I was doing, did I? Or do I make my plans according to mere human standards so that I would be saying both "Yes, yes" and "No, no" at the same time? |
| 18As certainly as God is faithful, we haven't talked to you with mixed messages like that. | 18But as God is faithful, our message to you is not "Yes" and "No." |
| 19For God's Son, Jesus the Messiah, who was preached among you by us—by me, Silvanus, and Timothy—was not "Yes" and "No." But with him it is always "Yes." | 19For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, the one who was proclaimed among you by us--by me and Silvanus and Timothy--was not "Yes" and "No," but it has always been "Yes" in him. |
| 20For all God's promises are "Yes" in him. And so through him we can say "Amen," to the glory of God. | 20For every one of God's promises are "Yes" in him; therefore also through him the "Amen" is spoken, to the glory we give to God. |
| 21Now the one who makes us—and you as well—secure in union with the Messiah and has anointed us is God, | 21But it is God who establishes us together with you in Christ and who anointed us, |
| 22who has placed his seal on us and has given us the Spirit in our hearts as a down payment. | 22who also sealed us and gave us the Spirit in our hearts as a down payment. |
| 23I call upon God as a witness on my behalf that it was in order to spare you that I did not return to Corinth. | 23Now I appeal to God as my witness, that to spare you I did not come again to Corinth. |
| 24It is not that we are trying to rule over your faith, but rather to work with you for your joy, because you have been standing firm in the faith. | 24I do not mean that we rule over your faith, but we are workers with you for your joy, because by faith you stand firm. |
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