2 Corinthians 12 Cross References - Williams

¹ I have to keep on boasting. There is no good to be gotten from it, but I will go on to visions and revelations which the Lord has given me. ² I know a man in union with Christ fourteen years ago -- whether in the body or out of it, I do not know, but God knows -- who was caught up to the third heaven. ³ Yes, I know that this man -- whether in or out of the body, I do not know, but God knows -- ⁴ was actually caught up into paradise, and heard things that must not be told, which no man has a right even to mention. ⁵ On behalf of this man with such an experience I will boast, but on behalf of myself personally I will boast only about my weaknesses. ⁶ However, if I want to boast, I will not play the fool, for it will be nothing but the truth that I will tell. But I refrain from doing so, to keep anybody, on account of the superiority of the revelations, from giving me a higher rating than my actions and teachings deserve. ⁷ So, to keep me from being over-elated, there was sent upon me a physical disease, sharp as a piercing stake, a messenger of Satan, to continue afflicting me, and so to keep me, I repeat, from being over-elated. ⁸ Three times I begged the Lord about this to make it go away and leave me, ⁹ but He said to me, "My spiritual strength is sufficient, for it is only by means of conscious weakness that perfect power is developed." ¹⁰ So I most happily boast about my weaknesses, so that the strength of Christ may overshadow me. That is why I take such pleasure in weaknesses, insults, distresses, persecution, and difficulties, which I endure for Christ's sake, for it is when I am consciously weak that I am really strong. ¹¹ I have made a fool of myself, but you have forced me to do it, for I am the man who ought to have been constantly approved by you. For I am not a single bit inferior to your surpassingly superior apostles, though really I am "nobody." ¹² The marks that signify the genuine apostle were exhibited among you in my perfect patience, in signs, wonders, and wonder-works. ¹³ In what respect, then, were you inferior to the rest of the churches, except for the fact that I, and I only, never received from you any financial support? Please forgive me this wrong. ¹⁴ It is now the third time that I have been ready to come to see you, and I will never ask you for financial support, for it is not your money but you yourselves that I want; for children are not by duty bound to lay up money for their parents, but parents for their children. ¹⁵ So in my own case, I will most happily spend my money and myself for your sakes. If I love you much more than I love others, am I to be loved less by you? ¹⁶ But let it be granted, you say, that I never received from you financial support, yet, you say, by being a trickster I cheated you by my cunning. ¹⁷ I did not make any money out of you through anybody that I sent to you, did I? ¹⁸ I actually begged Titus to go, and sent the well-known brother with him. Titus did not make any money out of you, did he? Did not he and I act in the same spirit, and take the very same steps? ¹⁹ Are you thinking all this time that I am defending myself to you? It is in the very presence of God and as one who is in union with Christ that I am speaking. And it is all for building you up, beloved, for I am apprehensive that, somehow or other, when I come I shall find you not as I want to find you, and that you may find me not as you want to find me. ²⁰ I repeat it, I am apprehensive that, somehow or other, there may be quarreling, jealousy, anger, rivalries, slanders, gossiping, haughty pride, and disorders, ²¹ and that when I come back my God may humiliate me before you, and I may have to mourn over some of those who formerly have committed shocking sins, and have not repented for them -- their impurity, sexual immorality, and sensuality, which once they practiced.

¹¹ "Blessed are you when people abuse you, and persecute you, and keep on falsely telling all sorts of evil against you for my sake. ¹² Keep on rejoicing and leaping for ecstasy, for your reward will be rich in heaven; for this is the way they persecuted the prophets who lived before you.

¹⁹ But when they turn you over to the courts, you must not worry at all about how or what you ought to speak, for it will be given you at that hour what you ought to speak. ²⁰ For it is not you who are speaking, but the Spirit of your Father that is speaking through you.

²¹ And He asked her, "What do you want?" She answered Him, "Give orders that these two sons of mine may sit one at your right and one at your left in your kingdom." ²² But Jesus answered, "You do not realize what you are asking for. Can you drink the cup that I am about to drink?" They answered, "Yes, we can."

³⁹ Then He walked on a few steps and threw Himself upon His face, and in this attitude continued to pray, and say, "My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass by me; and yet, I pray, not what I want but what you want." ⁴⁰ Then He came back to the disciples and found them asleep. He said to Peter, "Could you not then watch with me a single hour? ⁴¹ You must all keep watching and praying that you may not be exposed to temptation. Man's spirit is willing but human nature is weak." ⁴² A second time He went away and prayed, "My Father, if it cannot pass by without my drinking it, your will be done." ⁴³ He came back again and found them still sleeping, for their eyes were so heavy they could hardly hold them open. ⁴⁴ Then He left them again and prayed the third time, using the same words.

⁶⁷ After that they spit in His face and hit Him with their fists, and others boxed His ears,

¹⁸ Then Jesus came up to them, and said, "Full authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.

²⁰ and teach them to practice all the commands that I have given you. And I myself will surely be with you all the days, down to the very close of an age."

²² Blessed are you when people hate you and exclude you and denounce you, and spurn your name as evil, for the sake of the Son of Man.

⁴¹ Then Jesus answered, "O you unbelieving, stubborn people of the times! How long must I be with you and put up with you? Bring him here to me." ⁴² Even while the boy was coming to Him, the demon dashed him down and convulsed him, but Jesus reproved the foul spirit and cured the boy and gave back to his father.

¹⁶ And so was it not right for this woman, a descendant of Abraham, whom Satan has for eighteen years kept bound, to be freed from this bond on the Sabbath?"

¹⁰ So you too, when you do all that you are ordered to do, say, 'We are worthless slaves; we have done only what we ought to have done.'"

¹⁵ for I will give you such wisdom of speech as all your opponents combined will not be able to resist and refute.

⁴³ So He said to him, "I solemnly say to you, this very day you will be in paradise with me."

⁵¹ And while He was blessing them, He parted from them, and was taken up to heaven.

⁴⁸ Then Jesus said to him, "Unless you see signs and wonders, you will never believe."

⁵⁶ Whoever continues to eat my flesh and drink my blood continues to live in union with me and I in union with him.

¹⁰ A thief does not come for any purpose but to steal and kill and destroy; I have come for people to have life and have it till it overflows. ¹¹ I am the good shepherd myself. The good shepherd gives his own life for his sheep.

⁴ You must remain in union with me and I will remain in union with you. Just as no branch by itself can bear fruit unless it remains united to the vine, so you cannot unless you remain in union with me. ⁵ I am the vine, you are the branches. Whoever remains in union with me and I in union with him will bear abundant fruit, because you cannot do anything cut off from union with me. ⁶ If anyone does not remain in union with me, he is thrown away as a mere branch and is dried up; then it is picked up and thrown into the fire and burned up.

²¹ They will do all this to you on account of me, because they do not know Him who has sent me.

⁷ Yet it is nothing but the truth I now tell you, that it is better for you that I should go away. For if I do not go away, the Helper will not come into close fellowship with you, but if I do go away, I will send Him to be in close fellowship with you.

²¹ for them all to be one, just as you, Father, are in union with me and I in union with you, for them to be in union with us, so that the world may be convinced that you have sent me. ²² I have given them the glory which you gave me, so that they may be one, just as we are, ²³ I in union with them and you in union with me, so that they may be perfectly united, and the world may be sure that you sent me and that you have loved them just as you have loved me.

¹⁴ Now it was Caiaphas who had advised the Jews that it was for their welfare that one should die for the people.

⁴¹ So they went out from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they had been considered worthy to suffer disgrace for Jesus' name;

³⁹ When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord suddenly took Philip away; the official saw him no more, for he went on home rejoicing; ⁴⁰ but Philip was found at Ashdod, and he went on telling the good news in all the towns until he reached Caesarea.

¹⁰ Now there was in Damascus a disciple named Ananias, and the Lord said to him in a vision, "Ananias!" And he answered, "Yes, Lord, I am here." ¹¹ And the Lord said to him, "Get up and go to the street called 'The Straight Street,' and ask at the house of Judas for one named Saul, from Tarsus, for he is now praying there. ¹² He has seen in a vision a man named Ananias come in and lay his hands on him, to restore his sight." ¹³ But Ananias answered, "Lord, I have heard many people tell of this man, especially the great sufferings he has brought on your people in Jerusalem. ¹⁴ Now he is here and has authority from the high priests to put in chains all who call upon your name." ¹⁵ But the Lord said to him, "Go, for he is a chosen instrument of mine to carry my name to the heathen and their kings, and to the descendants of Israel. ¹⁶ For I am going to show him how great are the sufferings he must endure for my name's sake." ¹⁷ So Ananias left and went to that house, and there he laid his hands upon Saul, and said, "Saul, my. brother, the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on the road on which you were coming here, has sent me that you may regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit."

⁶ they became aware of it and fled to the Lycaonian towns of Lystra and Derbe, and the surrounding country,

⁹ One night in a vision the Lord said to Paul, "Stop being afraid, go on speaking, never give up;

³³ I have never coveted any man's silver or gold or clothes.

³³ I have never coveted any man's silver or gold or clothes. ³⁴ You know yourselves that these hands of mine provided for my own needs and for my companions. ³⁵ In everything I showed you that by working hard like this we must help those who are weak, and remember the words of the Lord Jesus, that He said, 'It makes one happier to give than to get.'"

¹⁷ After I had come back to Jerusalem, one day while I was praying in the temple, I fell into a trance,

¹⁷ After I had come back to Jerusalem, one day while I was praying in the temple, I fell into a trance, ¹⁸ and saw Him saying to me, 'Make haste and at once get out of Jerusalem, because they will not accept your testimony about me.' ¹⁹ So I said, 'Lord, they know for themselves that from one synagogue to another I used to imprison and flog those who believed in you, ²⁰ and when the blood of your martyr Stephen was being shed, I stood by and approved it, and held the clothes of those who killed him.' ²¹ Then He said to me, 'Go, because I am to send you out and far away among the heathen.'"

¹¹ But that same night the Lord stood by Paul's side and said, "Courage! For just as you have testified for me in Jerusalem, you must testify for me in Rome, too."

¹³ and on the road at noon, your Majesty, I saw a light from heaven, brighter than the sun, flash around me and my fellow-travelers. ¹⁴ We all fell to the ground, and I heard a voice say to me in Hebrew, 'Saul! Saul! Why do you continue to persecute me? It is hurting you to keep on kicking against the goad.' ¹⁵ 'Who are you, Sir?' said I. 'I am Jesus,' the Lord said, 'whom you are persecuting. ¹⁶ But get up and stand on your feet, for I have appeared to you for the very purpose of appointing you my servant and a witness to me of the things which you have seen and those which I shall yet enable you to see. ¹⁷ I will continue to rescue you from the Jewish people and from the heathen to whom I am going to send you, ¹⁸ to open their eyes and turn them from darkness to light and from Satan's power to God, so as to have their sins forgiven and have a possession among those that are consecrated by faith in me.' ¹⁹ Therefore, King Agrippa, I could not disobey that heavenly vision,

²⁹ because they overflow with every sort of evil-doing, wickedness, greed, and malice; they are full of envy, murder, quarreling, deceit, ill-will;

¹² and the forefather of those Jews who not only belong to the circumcision but also follow in the footsteps of our forefather Abraham in the faith he had before he was circumcised.

³ And not only that, but this too: let us continue exulting in our sufferings, for we know that suffering produces endurance,

¹ So then there is no condemnation at all for those who are in union with Christ Jesus.

³⁵ Who can separate us from Christ's love? Can suffering or misfortune or persecution or hunger or destitution or danger or the sword? ³⁶ As the Scripture says: "For your sake we are being put to death the livelong day; we are treated like sheep to be slaughtered." ³⁷ And yet in all these things we keep on gloriously conquering through Him who loved us. ³⁸ For I have full assurance that neither death nor life nor angels nor principalities nor the present nor the future ³⁹ nor evil forces above or beneath, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God as shown in Christ Jesus our Lord.

¹ I am telling the truth as a Christian man. I am telling no lie, because my conscience enlightened by the Holy Spirit is bearing me witness to this fact, ² that I have deep grief and constant anguish in my heart;

¹⁹ Stop taking revenge on one another, beloved, but leave a place for God's anger, for the Scripture says, "Vengeance belongs to me; I will pay them back, says the Lord."

¹³ Let us live becomingly for people who are in the light of day, not in carousing and drunkenness, nor in sexual immorality and licentiousness, nor in quarreling and jealousy.

¹⁸ For I would venture to mention only what Christ has accomplished through me in bringing the heathen peoples to obedience, by word and by work, ¹⁹ by the power of signs and wonders, by the power of the Holy Spirit. So I have completed the telling of the good news of Christ all the way from Jerusalem around to Illyricum.

⁷ Remember me to Andronicus and Junias, my fellow-country-men, who also served in prison with me; they are held in high esteem among the apostles, and became Christians before I did.

⁵ because you have in everything been richly blessed through union with Him, with perfect expression and fullness of knowledge. ⁶ In this way my testimony to Christ has been confirmed in your experience, ⁷ so that there is no spiritual gift in which you consciously come short, while you are waiting for the unveiling of our Lord Jesus Christ,

¹¹ For I have been informed about you, my brothers, by Chloe's people, that there are wranglings among you.

³⁰ So you owe it all to Him through union with Christ Jesus, whom God has made our wisdom, our means of right standing, our consecration, and our redemption,

³ Yes, as for myself, it was in weakness and fear and great trembling that I came to you,

⁵ so that your faith might not be in men's wisdom, but in God's power.

³ for you are still unspiritual. For when there are still jealousy and wrangling among you, are you not still unspiritual and living by a human standard? ⁴ For when one says, "I belong to Paul's party," and another, "I belong to Apollos' party," are you not acting as mere human creatures?

⁴ For when one says, "I belong to Paul's party," and another, "I belong to Apollos' party," are you not acting as mere human creatures? ⁵ Then what is Apollos? Or what is Paul? Mere servants through whom you came to believe, as the Lord gave each of us his task.

⁵ Then what is Apollos? Or what is Paul? Mere servants through whom you came to believe, as the Lord gave each of us his task. ⁶ I did the planting, Apollos did the watering, but it was God who kept the plants growing. ⁷ So neither the planter nor the waterer counts for much, but God is everything in keeping the plants growing.

⁹ for we belong to God as His fellow-workers; you belong to God as His field to be tilled, as His building to be built. ¹⁰ As a skilled architect, in accordance with God's unmerited favor given to me, I laid a foundation, and now another is building upon it. But every builder must be careful how he builds upon it;

^{22 (46:21)} Paul, Apollos, Cephas, the world, life, death, the present, the future -- they all belong to you.

⁶ Now, brothers, for your sakes I have applied all this to Apollos and myself, that from us as illustrations you might learn the lesson, "Never go beyond what is written," so that you might stop boasting in favor of one teacher against another. ⁷ For who makes you superior? And what do you have that you did not get from someone? But if you got it from someone, why do you boast as though you had not? ⁸ Are you satisfied already? Have you grown rich already? Have you ascended your thrones without us to join you? Yes, I could wish that you had ascended your thrones, that we too might join you on them!

⁸ Are you satisfied already? Have you grown rich already? Have you ascended your thrones without us to join you? Yes, I could wish that you had ascended your thrones, that we too might join you on them! ⁹ For it seems to me that God has put us apostles on exhibition at the disgraced end of the procession, as they do with men who are doomed to die in the arena. ¹⁰ For we have become a spectacle to the universe, to angels as well as men. For Christ's sake we are held as fools, while you through union with Christ are men of wisdom. We are weak; you are strong. You are held in honor; we in dishonor.

¹⁰ For we have become a spectacle to the universe, to angels as well as men. For Christ's sake we are held as fools, while you through union with Christ are men of wisdom. We are weak; you are strong. You are held in honor; we in dishonor. ¹¹ To this very hour we have gone hungry, thirsty, poorly clad; we have been roughly knocked around; we have had no home.

¹¹ To this very hour we have gone hungry, thirsty, poorly clad; we have been roughly knocked around; we have had no home. ¹² We have worked hard with our own hands for a living. When abused by people, we bless them. When persecuted, we patiently bear it. ¹³ When we are slandered by them, we try to conciliate them. To this very hour we have been made the filth of the world, the scum of the universe! ¹⁴ I do not write this to make you blush with shame but to give you counsel as my dear children.

¹⁴ I do not write this to make you blush with shame but to give you counsel as my dear children. ¹⁵ For though you have ten thousand teachers in the Christian life, you certainly could not have many fathers. For it was I myself who became your father through your union with Christ Jesus, which resulted from my telling you the good news.

¹⁵ For though you have ten thousand teachers in the Christian life, you certainly could not have many fathers. For it was I myself who became your father through your union with Christ Jesus, which resulted from my telling you the good news. ¹⁶ So I beg you, make it your habit to follow my example, ¹⁷ This is why I have sent Timothy to you. He is a dear child of mine and trustworthy in the Lord's work; he will call to your minds my methods in the work of Christ Jesus, just as I teach them everywhere in every church.

¹⁷ This is why I have sent Timothy to you. He is a dear child of mine and trustworthy in the Lord's work; he will call to your minds my methods in the work of Christ Jesus, just as I teach them everywhere in every church. ¹⁸ But some of you have become conceited over the thought that I am not coming to see you.

¹⁸ But some of you have become conceited over the thought that I am not coming to see you. ¹⁹ But I am coming, and coming soon, if the Lord is willing, and then I will find out, not only what those conceited fellows say but what they can do,

¹⁹ But I am coming, and coming soon, if the Lord is willing, and then I will find out, not only what those conceited fellows say but what they can do, ²⁰ for the kingdom of God does not consist in talking but in doing. ²¹ Which do you prefer? My coming to you with a club, or in a gentle, loving spirit?

¹ A case of immorality is reported as actually existing among you, an immorality unheard of even among the heathen that a man cohabits with his father's wife.

³ For my part, though I have been absent from you in person, I have been present with you in spirit, and so as really present, by the authority of our Lord Jesus, I have already passed judgment upon the man who has done this -- ⁴ for when you met I too met with you in spirit by the power of our Lord Jesus -- ⁵ to turn such a man as this over to Satan for the destruction of his lower nature, in order that his spirit may be saved on the day of the Lord.

⁵ to turn such a man as this over to Satan for the destruction of his lower nature, in order that his spirit may be saved on the day of the Lord.

⁹ I wrote you in my letter to stop associating with sexually immoral people -- ¹⁰ not that you are to stop all dealings with sexually immoral people of this world, any more than with its greedy graspers, or its idolaters, for then you would have to get clear out of the world. ¹¹ Now what I really meant was for you to stop associating with any so-called brother, if he is sexually immoral, a greedy grasper, an idolater, a slanderer, a drunkard, or a swindler -- with such a person you must even stop eating.

⁷ To say no more, it is a mark of moral failure among you to have lawsuits at all with one another. Why not rather suffer being wronged? Why not suffer being robbed? ⁸ On the contrary, you practice wronging and robbing others, and that your brothers. ⁹ Do you not know that wrongdoers will not have a share in the kingdom of God? Stop being misled; people who are sexually immoral or idolaters or adulterers or sensual or guilty of unnatural sexual vice ¹⁰ or thieves or greedy graspers for more or drunkards or slanderers or swindlers will not have a share in the kingdom of God. ¹¹ And these are just the characters some of you used to be. But now you have washed yourselves clean, you have been consecrated, you are now in right standing with God, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of God. ¹² Everything is permissible for me, but not everything is good for me. Everything is permissible for me, but I will not become a slave to anything.

¹⁵ Do you not know that your bodies are parts of Christ Himself? Then may I take away parts of Christ and make them parts of a prostitute? Never! Never! ¹⁶ Or, are you not aware that a man who has to do with a prostitute makes his body one with hers? For God says, "The two shall be physically one." ¹⁷ But the man who is in union with the Lord is spiritually one with Him. ¹⁸ Keep on running from sexual immorality! Any other sin that a man commits is one outside his body, but the man who commits the sexual sin is sinning against his own body.

¹ Am I not free? Am I not an apostle? Have I not seen Jesus our Lord? Are you not the product of my work for the Lord? ² If I am not an apostle to other people, I certainly am one to you, for you yourselves, by virtue of your union with the Lord, are the proof of my apostleship.

⁶ Or is it Barnabas and I alone who have no right to refrain from working for a living?

¹² If others share this right with you, have we not a stronger claim? Yet, we have never used this right; no, we keep on bearing everything, to keep from hindering the progress of the good news of Christ.

¹² If others share this right with you, have we not a stronger claim? Yet, we have never used this right; no, we keep on bearing everything, to keep from hindering the progress of the good news of Christ. ¹³ Do you not know that those who do the work about the temple get their living from the temple, and those who constantly attend on the altar share its offerings? ¹⁴ Just so the Lord has issued orders that those who preach the good news shall get their living out of it. ¹⁵ But I myself have never used any of these rights. And I am not writing this just to make it so in my case, for I had rather die than do that. No one shall rob me of this ground of boasting.

¹⁵ But I myself have never used any of these rights. And I am not writing this just to make it so in my case, for I had rather die than do that. No one shall rob me of this ground of boasting. ¹⁶ For if I do preach the good news, I have no ground for boasting of it, for I cannot help doing it. Yes, indeed, I am accursed if I do not preach the good news.

¹⁶ For if I do preach the good news, I have no ground for boasting of it, for I cannot help doing it. Yes, indeed, I am accursed if I do not preach the good news. ¹⁷ For if I do it of my own accord, I get my pay; but if I am unwilling to do it, I still am entrusted with trusteeship.

¹⁷ For if I do it of my own accord, I get my pay; but if I am unwilling to do it, I still am entrusted with trusteeship. ¹⁸ Then what is the pay that I am getting? To be able to preach the good news without expense to anybody, and so never to make full use of my rights in preaching the good news.

¹⁸ Then what is the pay that I am getting? To be able to preach the good news without expense to anybody, and so never to make full use of my rights in preaching the good news. ¹⁹ Yes, indeed, though I am free from any human power, I have made myself a slave to everybody, to win as many as possible. ²⁰ To the Jews I have become like a Jew for the winning of Jews; to men under the law, like one under the law, though I am not under the law myself, to win the men under the law; ²¹ to men who have no written law, like one without any law, though I am not without God's law but specially under Christ's law, to win the men who have no written law. ²² To the overscrupulous I have become overscrupulous, to win the overscrupulous; yes, I have become everything to everybody, in order by all means to save some of them. ²³ And I do it all for the sake of the good news, so as to share with others in its blessings.

¹³ No temptation has taken hold of you but what is common to human nature. And God is to be trusted not to let you be tempted beyond your strength, but when temptation comes, to make a way out of it, so that you can bear up under it. ¹⁴ So then, my dearly beloved, keep on running from idolatry.

²³ Everything is permissible for people, but not everything is good for them. Everything is permissible for people, but not everything builds up their personality. ²⁴ No one should always be looking after his own welfare, but also that of his neighbor.

³³ just as I myself am in the habit of pleasing everybody in everything, not aiming at my own welfare but at that of as many people as possible, in order that they may be saved.

¹⁶ But if anyone is inclined to be contentious about it, I for my part prescribe no other practice than this, and neither do the churches of God. ¹⁷ But as I am giving you these instructions I cannot approve of your meetings, because they do not turn out for the better but for the worse. ¹⁸ For, in the first place, when you meet as a congregation, I hear that there are cliques among you, and I partly believe it. ¹⁹ Yes, indeed, there must be parties among you, in order that people of approved fitness may come to the front among you.

³⁴ If anyone is hungry, let him eat at home, so that your meetings may not bring on you judgment. I will settle in detail the matters that remain, when I come.

¹⁸ Thank God, I speak in ecstasy more than any of you.

²⁶ Then what is our conclusion, brothers? When you meet together, everybody has a song, something to teach, a revelation, an ecstatic utterance, or an explanation of one. It must all be for the upbuilding of all.

³³ for God is not a God of disorder but of order, as it is in all the churches of God's people.

³⁶ Did the message of God begin with you Corinthians? Or, are you the only people it has reached? ³⁷ If anyone claims to have the prophetic spirit, or any other spiritual gift, let him recognize that what I now am writing is the Lord's command.

⁸ He was seen by me, too, as though I were born out of time. ⁹ For I belong to the lowest rank of the apostles, and am not fit to bear the title apostle, because I once persecuted the church of God. ¹⁰ But by God's unmerited favor I have become what I am, and His unmerited favor shown to me was not bestowed for nothing, for I have toiled more extensively than any of them, and yet it was not I but God's unmerited favor working with me.

¹⁰ But by God's unmerited favor I have become what I am, and His unmerited favor shown to me was not bestowed for nothing, for I have toiled more extensively than any of them, and yet it was not I but God's unmerited favor working with me.

⁵ I will come to see you after I pass through Macedonia -- for I am to pass through Macedonia --

¹⁰ If Timothy gets there, see that he is at ease among you, for he is devotedly doing the work of the Lord, just as I am.

⁴ who comforts me in every sorrow I have, so that I can comfort people who are in sorrow with the comfort with which I am comforted by God.

⁶ If I am in sorrow, it is on behalf of your comfort and salvation; if I am comforted, it is for the comfort that is experienced by you in your patient endurance of the same sort of sufferings that I am enduring too.

¹² For my boast is this, to which my conscience testifies, that before the world, but especially before you, I have acted from pure motives and in sincerity before God, not depending on worldly wisdom but on God's unmerited favor.

¹⁴ that is, to understand that you have grounds for boasting of me just as I have for boasting of you, on the day of our Lord Jesus. ¹⁵ It was because of this confidence that first I planned to visit you, to give you a double delight;

¹⁸ As certainly as God is to be trusted, my message to you has not been a "Yes" that might mean "No."

²³ But upon my soul I call God to witness that it was to spare you pain that I gave up my visit to Corinth.

¹ For I have definitely decided not to pay you another painful visit. ² For if I make you sad, who is there to make me glad but the very man who has been made sad by me? ³ This is the very thing I wrote you, that when I did come I might not be made sad by the very people who ought to make me glad, for I had confidence in you all that my gladness would be gladness to you all.

³ This is the very thing I wrote you, that when I did come I might not be made sad by the very people who ought to make me glad, for I had confidence in you all that my gladness would be gladness to you all. ⁴ For out of great sorrow and distress of heart, yes, while shedding many tears, I wrote you, not to make you sad but to make you realize that my love for you continues running over. ⁵ But if anyone has made anyone sad, it is not I, but you that he has made sad, at least, some of you, not to be severe on all of you. ⁶ To a man like that, this censure by the majority has been sufficient punishment, ⁷ so you must do the opposite, freely forgive and comfort him, to keep him from being overwhelmed by his excessive sadness. ⁸ So I beg you in your love to reinstate him entirely. ⁹ For this is why I wrote you, to see if you would stand the test, to see if you would be obedient in everything. ¹⁰ The man that you forgive I too forgive. For if I have forgiven him anything, it is what I have forgiven him in the very presence of Christ for your sake, ¹¹ to keep us from being worsted by Satan, for we know what his intentions are. ¹² When I went to Troas to preach the good news of Christ, although I had an opportunity in the service of the Lord, ¹³ I had no rest of spirit, because I did not find my brother Titus there. So I said goodbye to them and left for Macedonia.

¹ Am I beginning to recommend myself again? I do not, like some people, do I, need letters of recommendation to you or from you?

⁵ Not that I am myself qualified to consider anything as coming from me myself. No, my qualification comes from God, for ⁶ He has qualified even me as a minister of the new covenant, which is not a written but a spiritual covenant. For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.

² On the other hand, I have renounced all underhanded, disgraceful methods; I neither practice cunning nor do I tamper with God's message, but by clear and candid statements of truth I try to commend myself to every human conscience in God's sight.

⁵ For I am not proclaiming myself but Christ Jesus as Lord, and myself a slave of yours for Jesus' sake.

⁸ On every side I am ever hard-pressed, but never hemmed in; always perplexed, but never to the point of despair; ⁹ always being persecuted, but not deserted; always getting a knockdown, but never a knockout; ¹⁰ always being exposed to death as Jesus was, so that in my body the life of Jesus may be clearly shown. ¹¹ For all the time I continue to live I am being given up to death for Jesus' sake, so that in my mortal lower nature the life of Jesus may be clearly shown.

¹⁷ For this slight and momentary sorrow continues to accumulate for me a solid and eternal glory far beyond any comparison,

⁶ So I am always cheerful and confident, although I know that as long as I am at home in the body I am away from home and the Lord ⁷ (for here I live by what I believe and not by what I see), ⁸ and yet I am cheerful and confident, but really I prefer to be away from home in the body and to be at home with the Lord.

¹² I am not trying to recommend myself to you again. I am giving you ground for speaking well of me, that you may have something to say to those who are constantly prating about external privileges and not concerned about the state of the heart. ¹³ For if I did go crazy, it was for God's glory; and if I am keeping my head cool, it is for your good.

¹³ For if I did go crazy, it was for God's glory; and if I am keeping my head cool, it is for your good.

¹⁵ and He died for all, that those who live might live no longer for themselves, but for Him who died for them and rose again.

¹⁷ For if anybody is in union with Christ, he is the work of a new creation; the old condition has passed away, a new condition has come.

²¹ He made Him who personally knew nothing of sin to be a sin-offering for us, so that through union with Him we might come into right standing with God.

⁴ On the contrary, I am trying in everything to prove to people that I am a true servant of God: by my tremendous endurance in sorrows, distresses, difficulties;

⁴ On the contrary, I am trying in everything to prove to people that I am a true servant of God: by my tremendous endurance in sorrows, distresses, difficulties; ⁵ in floggings, imprisonments, riots, labors, sleepless nights, and hunger; ⁶ through my personal purity, my knowledge, my patience, my kindness; through the Holy Spirit, my genuine love, ⁷ my message of truth, and the power of God; with the weapons of right-doing in my right hand and my left; ⁸ in honor or dishonor, in slander or praise; considered a deceiver and yet true, ⁹ obscure and yet well-known, on the point of dying and yet I go on living, punished and yet not put to death, ¹⁰ sad but always glad, poor but making many people rich, penniless but really possessing everything.

¹² You are not squeezed into a tiny corner in my heart, but you are in your own affections. ¹³ To pay me back, I tell you, my children, you too must stretch your hearts with love for me.

¹ So, since we have such promises as these, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from everything that defiles our bodies and spirits, and in reverence to God carry on our consecration to completeness. ² Make room for me in your hearts, I have not wronged or harmed or taken advantage of a single one of you. ³ I do not mean this for your condemnation, because, as I have said before, you have such a place in my heart that I would live with you or die with you. ⁴ I have the greatest confidence in you; I speak most highly of you. I am fully comforted; in the face of all my sorrow my cup is running over with joy.

⁶ But God, who comforts the downhearted, comforted me by the coming of Titus,

⁹ I am glad of it now, not because you had such sorrow, but because your sorrow led you to repentance, for you took your sorrow in accordance with the will of God, so that you should not suffer any loss at all from me. ¹⁰ For the sorrow that comes in accordance with the will of God results in repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regrets, but the sorrow the world produces results in death. ¹¹ For see what this very sorrow, suffered in accordance with the will of God, has done for you! How earnest it has made you, how concerned to clear yourselves, how indignant, how alarmed, how much it made you long to see me, how loyal to me, how determined to punish the offender! At every point you have cleared yourselves in the matter.

⁶ so that I insisted that Titus, as he had formerly commenced it, should bring to completion this gracious contribution among you too.

¹⁰ Now I will give you my opinion on this matter. For this is for your interest, because you were not only the first to do anything about it, but the first to want to do so; you started it a year ago.

¹⁶ But thanks be to God, who kindles in the heart of Titus the same enthusiasm for you that I have; ¹⁷ because he has acceded to my request, or rather, because he is so enthusiastic for you, of his own accord he is off to visit you. ¹⁸ I am sending with him the well-known brother whose praise for spreading the good news is ringing through all the churches. ¹⁹ Not only that, but he has been selected by the churches to travel with me for this gracious contribution which is being raised by me, so that it may turn out for the glory of the Lord and a proof of my readiness to serve. ²⁰ I am arranging it so that no one can blame me in the matter of this munificent fund that is being handled by me. ²¹ For I am taking the precaution to do what is right, not only in the sight of the Lord but also in the eyes of men. ²² I send with them another brother of ours, whom I have often in many ways tested and found to be enthusiastic, but now he is more enthusiastic than ever, because of his great confidence in you. ²³ As for Titus, he is my partner and comrade in the work for you, while these brothers of ours, the representatives of the churches, will bring glory to Christ. ²⁴ So you must furnish them, before all the churches, proof of your love and ground for my praising you so highly.

³ But I send the brothers that in this matter my boasting of you may not turn out to be an idle boasting, that you all may be ready, as I have told them you will be, ⁴ to keep me -- not to mention you -- from being humiliated for having such confidence in you, if some Macedonians come with me and find that you are not ready. ⁵ So I have thought it necessary to urge these brothers to visit you ahead of me and get your promised love-offering ready beforehand, so as to have it ready as a real love-offering, not as one grasped and grudgingly given.

² I beg you not to make me too courageous in that confidence in which I think to take a daring stand against some people who try to think that I am acting from the lowest human motives.

² I beg you not to make me too courageous in that confidence in which I think to take a daring stand against some people who try to think that I am acting from the lowest human motives. ³ For though I do still live the life of a physical human creature, I am not waging this war in accordance with physical human standards,

⁵ For I am demolishing arguments and every barrier that is raised against the genuine knowledge of God, taking captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ, ⁶ and am prepared to punish any disobedience, when your obedience is made complete.

⁸ For if I do boast a little too much about my authority, which the Lord gave me for building you up and not for tearing you down, I shall never have to blush for doing so.

⁸ For if I do boast a little too much about my authority, which the Lord gave me for building you up and not for tearing you down, I shall never have to blush for doing so.

⁸ For if I do boast a little too much about my authority, which the Lord gave me for building you up and not for tearing you down, I shall never have to blush for doing so. ⁹ I do not want to seem to be frightening you with my letters.

⁹ I do not want to seem to be frightening you with my letters. ¹⁰ For they say, "His letters are impressive and forceful, but his physical personality is unimpressive, and his delivery is perfectly contemptible."

¹⁸ For it is not the man who keeps on recommending himself who is really approved, but it is the man whom the Lord recommends.

¹ I wish you would now listen to a little folly of mine. Please do listen to me!

⁴ For if anybody comes along and preaches another Jesus than the one I preached, or you receive another spirit different from the one you did receive or a glad message different from the one you did accept, you listen to it all right! ⁵ For I consider myself not a single bit inferior to those surpassingly superior apostles of yours! ⁶ Although I am untrained as an orator, yet I am not so in the field of knowledge. Surely, I have always made that perfectly clear to you. ⁷ Did I do wrong in taking a lowly place to let you have an exalted one, in that I preached the good news about God to you without accepting any pay? ⁸ I sponged on other churches by taking pay from them to render service to you, ⁹ and when I was with you and needed money, I never burdened a single one of you for a cent, for the brothers came from Macedonia and supplied what I needed. And so I kept myself, as I shall always do, from being a burden to you in any way.

⁹ and when I was with you and needed money, I never burdened a single one of you for a cent, for the brothers came from Macedonia and supplied what I needed. And so I kept myself, as I shall always do, from being a burden to you in any way. ¹⁰ But the truth of Christ in me, this boasting of mine shall never be stopped in the boundaries of Greece.

¹⁰ But the truth of Christ in me, this boasting of mine shall never be stopped in the boundaries of Greece. ¹¹ Why? Because I do not love you? God knows I do.

¹⁶ Let me say again that no one must think that I am a fool, but if you do, please treat me like a fool and let me do a little boasting too, as other fools do.

¹⁶ Let me say again that no one must think that I am a fool, but if you do, please treat me like a fool and let me do a little boasting too, as other fools do.

¹⁶ Let me say again that no one must think that I am a fool, but if you do, please treat me like a fool and let me do a little boasting too, as other fools do. ¹⁷ But when I talk in this boastful confidence, I am not talking in accordance with the way the Lord talked, but just as a fool talks.

¹⁷ But when I talk in this boastful confidence, I am not talking in accordance with the way the Lord talked, but just as a fool talks. ¹⁸ Since many boast in accordance with their human nature, I will do it too. ¹⁹ For you who are so wise yourselves are glad to listen to fools! ²⁰ For you listen to a man, if he makes you his slave, or spends your money for his living, or cheats you, or puts on airs, or slaps you in the face.

²⁰ For you listen to a man, if he makes you his slave, or spends your money for his living, or cheats you, or puts on airs, or slaps you in the face. ²¹ I am ashamed to say that I was, as it were, so weak in the matter. And yet in whatever respect anyone else is daring to boast -- I am talking like a fool -- I too will dare to boast. ²² Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they descendants of Abraham? So am I. ²³ Are they ministers of Christ? So am I. I am talking like a man that has gone crazy -- as such I am superior! -- serving Him with labors greater by far, with far more imprisonments, with floggings vastly worse, and often at the point of death. ²⁴ Five times I have taken thirty-nine lashes from the Jews, ²⁵ three times I have been beaten by the Romans, once I was pelted with stones; three times I have been shipwrecked, and once I have spent a day and a night adrift at sea. ²⁶ I have served Him on frequent journeys, in dangers from rivers, dangers from robbers, dangers from my own people, dangers from the heathen, dangers in the city, dangers in the desert, dangers at sea, dangers from false brothers, ²⁷ through toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, through hunger and thirst, through many a fasting season, poorly clad and exposed to cold. ²⁸ Besides all other things, there is my concern for all the churches. ²⁹ Who is weak without my being weak too? Who is caused to fall without my being fired with indignation? ³⁰ If I must boast, I will boast of the things that show my weakness!

³⁰ If I must boast, I will boast of the things that show my weakness! ³¹ The God and Father of the Lord Jesus, who is blessed forever, knows that I am telling the truth.

³ Yes, I know that this man -- whether in or out of the body, I do not know, but God knows -- ⁴ was actually caught up into paradise, and heard things that must not be told, which no man has a right even to mention. ⁵ On behalf of this man with such an experience I will boast, but on behalf of myself personally I will boast only about my weaknesses.

⁵ On behalf of this man with such an experience I will boast, but on behalf of myself personally I will boast only about my weaknesses. ⁶ However, if I want to boast, I will not play the fool, for it will be nothing but the truth that I will tell. But I refrain from doing so, to keep anybody, on account of the superiority of the revelations, from giving me a higher rating than my actions and teachings deserve. ⁷ So, to keep me from being over-elated, there was sent upon me a physical disease, sharp as a piercing stake, a messenger of Satan, to continue afflicting me, and so to keep me, I repeat, from being over-elated.

⁹ but He said to me, "My spiritual strength is sufficient, for it is only by means of conscious weakness that perfect power is developed."

⁹ but He said to me, "My spiritual strength is sufficient, for it is only by means of conscious weakness that perfect power is developed." ¹⁰ So I most happily boast about my weaknesses, so that the strength of Christ may overshadow me. That is why I take such pleasure in weaknesses, insults, distresses, persecution, and difficulties, which I endure for Christ's sake, for it is when I am consciously weak that I am really strong.

¹⁰ So I most happily boast about my weaknesses, so that the strength of Christ may overshadow me. That is why I take such pleasure in weaknesses, insults, distresses, persecution, and difficulties, which I endure for Christ's sake, for it is when I am consciously weak that I am really strong. ¹¹ I have made a fool of myself, but you have forced me to do it, for I am the man who ought to have been constantly approved by you. For I am not a single bit inferior to your surpassingly superior apostles, though really I am "nobody." ¹² The marks that signify the genuine apostle were exhibited among you in my perfect patience, in signs, wonders, and wonder-works. ¹³ In what respect, then, were you inferior to the rest of the churches, except for the fact that I, and I only, never received from you any financial support? Please forgive me this wrong. ¹⁴ It is now the third time that I have been ready to come to see you, and I will never ask you for financial support, for it is not your money but you yourselves that I want; for children are not by duty bound to lay up money for their parents, but parents for their children. ¹⁵ So in my own case, I will most happily spend my money and myself for your sakes. If I love you much more than I love others, am I to be loved less by you?

¹⁸ I actually begged Titus to go, and sent the well-known brother with him. Titus did not make any money out of you, did he? Did not he and I act in the same spirit, and take the very same steps?

²¹ and that when I come back my God may humiliate me before you, and I may have to mourn over some of those who formerly have committed shocking sins, and have not repented for them -- their impurity, sexual immorality, and sensuality, which once they practiced.

¹ This is my third visit to you. Any charge preferred must be sustained by the evidence of two or three witnesses. ² I have already warned those who formerly committed shocking sins, and all the rest, and though so far away I warn them now, as I did on my second visit, that if I come back I will not spare them,

² I have already warned those who formerly committed shocking sins, and all the rest, and though so far away I warn them now, as I did on my second visit, that if I come back I will not spare them,

⁴ For though He was crucified in weakness, yet by the power of God He goes on living. We too, indeed, show weakness through our union with Him, yet by the power of God we too shall be alive toward you through fellowship with Him. ⁵ You yourselves must continue testing yourselves to see whether you are continuing in the faith. You must continue standing the test. Do you not know by a growing experience that Jesus Christ is in you? -- provided you stand the test.

⁹ I am glad to be consciously weak, if you are really strong. This is my continual prayer, the perfecting of your characters.

⁹ I am glad to be consciously weak, if you are really strong. This is my continual prayer, the perfecting of your characters. ¹⁰ This is why I am writing this while far away from you, that when I do come, I may not have to deal harshly with you in accordance with the authority which the Lord has given me, for building you up, not for tearing you down.

¹⁰ This is why I am writing this while far away from you, that when I do come, I may not have to deal harshly with you in accordance with the authority which the Lord has given me, for building you up, not for tearing you down.

¹² for I did not get it from any man; I was not taught it, but I got it through a revelation given by Jesus Christ.

²² But I was personally unknown to the Christian churches in Judea;

² I went up under the guidance of a divine revelation. Now I laid before them the good news that I was in the habit of preaching among the heathen, but first I did so privately before the leaders, for fear that my course might be or might have been to no purpose.

⁶ Those who were looked upon as leaders -- what they were makes no difference to me -- God pays no attention to outward appearances these leaders added nothing new to me. ⁷ On the contrary, because they saw that I had been entrusted with the good news for the heathen, just as Peter had been entrusted with it for the Jews -- ⁸ for He who had been at work in Peter for his apostleship to the Jews had been at work in me too for the apostleship to the heathen -- ⁹ and because they recognized the favor God had shown me, James, Cephas, and John, the so-called pillar apostles, gave Barnabas and me the right hand of fellowship, with the understanding that we should go to the heathen and they to the Jews. ¹⁰ Only they wanted us to remember the poor; the very thing that I was eager to do. ¹¹ Now when Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned. ¹² For before the coming of certain people from James, he was in the habit of eating with heathen Christians, but after they came, he began to draw back and hold aloof from them, because he was afraid of the circumcision party. ¹³ The rest of the Jewish Christians, too, joined him in this pretense so that even Barnabas was influenced to join them in their pretense. ¹⁴ But when I saw that they were not living up to the truth of the good news, I said to Cephas, and that before them all, "If you are living like a heathen and not like a Jew, although you are a Jew yourself, why do you try to make the heathen live like Jews?"

¹⁰ You are observing days, months, seasons, years.

¹³ And yet you know that it was because of an illness of mine that I preached the good news to you the first time,

⁶ For in union with Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor lack of it counts for anything; but only faith that is spurred on to action by love.

¹⁵ But if you continue to bite and eat one another, beware lest you are destroyed by one another.

¹⁹ Now the practices of the lower nature are clear enough: Sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality,

¹⁹ Now the practices of the lower nature are clear enough: Sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, ²⁰ idolatry, sorcery, enmity, quarreling, jealousy, anger, intrigues, dissensions, party-spirit, ²¹ envy, drunkenness, carousing, and the like. I now warn you, as I have done before, that those who practice such things shall not be heirs of the kingdom of God.

²⁶ Let us stop being ambitious for honors, so challenging one another, envying one another.

³ and how by revelation the secret was made known to me, as I have briefly written before.

⁸ yes, on me, the very least of all His people, this unmerited favor was bestowed -- that I might preach as good news to the heathen the boundless riches of Christ,

¹⁶ and beg Him to grant you, in accordance with the riches of His perfect character, to be mightily strengthened by His Spirit in your inmost being,

¹⁰ The very One that went down has gone up, too, far above all the heavens, to fill the universe.

³¹ You must remove all bitterness, rage, anger, loud threats, and insults, with all malice. ³² You must practice being kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God through Christ has graciously forgiven you.

⁵ For you may be absolutely sure that no one who is sexually impure, immoral or greedy for gain (for that is idolatry) can have a part in the kingdom of Christ and God. ⁶ Stop letting anyone deceive you with groundless arguments about these things, for it is because of these very sins that God's anger comes down upon the disobedient.

¹⁰ From now on you must grow stronger through union with the Lord and through His mighty power.

²² But if to keep on living here means fruit from my labor, I cannot tell which to choose. ²³ I am hesitating between two desires, for I long to depart and to be with Christ, for that is far, far better,

²⁹ For it has been graciously granted to you for Christ's sake, not only to trust in Him but also to suffer for Him,

¹⁷ Yes, even if I am pouring out my life as a libation on the sacrifice and service your faith is rendering, I am glad to do so and congratulate you upon it;

¹⁷ Yes, even if I am pouring out my life as a libation on the sacrifice and service your faith is rendering, I am glad to do so and congratulate you upon it; ¹⁸ you too must do likewise, be glad of it, and congratulate me. ¹⁹ I hope, with the approval of the Lord Jesus, soon to send Timothy to you, so that I too may be cheered on getting the news about you. ²⁰ For I have no one else with a heart like his who would take such genuine interest in you, ²¹ for most people are looking out for their own interests, not for the interests of Jesus Christ. ²² But you know his tested character, how like a son in fellowship with his father he has toiled with me like a slave in preaching the good news.

¹⁸ For there are many, of whom I have often told you, and now tell you in tears, who practice living as the enemies of the cross of Christ. ¹⁹ Their doom is destruction, their stomach is their god, their glory is in their shame, and their minds are feeding on earthly things,

¹ So, my dearly loved brothers, whom I long to see, my joy and crown, by the help of the Lord keep on standing firm, dearly loved friends.

¹³ I can do anything through Him who gives me strength.

¹⁷ It is not your gift that I want, but I do want the profits to pile up to your credit.

¹¹ then you will be perfectly empowered by His glorious might for every sort of joyous endurance and forbearance,

²⁴ I am now glad to be suffering for you, and in my own person I am filling in what is lacking in Christ's sufferings for His body, that is, the church.

²⁸ We are proclaiming Him, warning everyone and teaching everyone with ample wisdom, in order to present to God everyone mature through union with Christ. ²⁹ For this I am toiling and struggling by His active energy which is mightily working in me.

⁵ So once for all put to death your lower, earthly nature with respect to sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed, which is real idolatry.

³ For our appeal did not originate from a delusion or an impure motive; it was not made in fraud;

⁵ Indeed, we never resorted to flattery, as you are well aware, nor to any pretext for making money; God is our witness.

⁵ Indeed, we never resorted to flattery, as you are well aware, nor to any pretext for making money; God is our witness. ⁶ We never sought praise from men, either from you or from anyone else; although as apostles we could have stood on our official dignity.

⁸ Because we were yearning for you so tenderly, we were willing, not only to share with you God's good news, but to lay down our very lives too for you, all because you were so dearly loved by us.

¹¹ for you know how, as a father deals with his children, we used to encourage you, cheer you on, and charge each of you

¹⁹ For what is our hope or happiness or crown of boasting, except you, in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ when He comes? ²⁰ You, indeed, are our glory and our joy.

³ For it is God's will that you should keep pure in person, that you should practice abstinence from sexual immorality, ⁴ that each man among you should learn to take his own wife out of pure and honorable motives, ⁵ not out of evil passions as the heathen do who do not know God; ⁶ that no one should do wrong and defraud his brother in this matter, because the Lord takes vengeance for all such things, as we told you before and solemnly warned you. ⁷ For God did not call us to a life of immorality, but to one of personal purity.

¹⁷ then those of us who are still living will be caught up along with them on clouds in the air to meet the Lord, and so we shall be with the Lord forever.

⁴ so that we are always boasting of you among the churches of God for your patient endurance and faith, in spite of your persecutions and crushing sorrows which you are enduring.

¹⁴ and the spiritual blessing of our Lord in increasing floods has come upon me, accompanied by faith and love inspired by union with Christ Jesus.

⁶ He must not be a new convert, or else becoming conceited he may incur the doom the devil met.

¹⁰ For this reason I am bearing anything for the sake of His chosen people, so that they too may obtain the salvation that comes through Christ Jesus and with it eternal glory.

¹⁶ So let us continue coming with courage to the throne of God's unmerited favor to obtain His mercy and to find His spiritual strength to help us when we need it.

⁷ For during His human life He offered up prayers and entreaties, crying aloud with tears to Him who was always able to save Him out of death, and because of His beautiful spirit of worship His prayer was heard.

²⁴ For it was not a sanctuary made by human hands, a mere copy of the true one, that Christ entered, but it was into heaven itself that He went, in order now to appear for us in the very presence of God.

³⁴ stopped the force of fire, escaped from dying by the sword, out of weakness found great strength, grew mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight.

⁴ Marriage must be held in honor by all, and the marriage relations kept sacred. Persons who are sexually vicious and immoral God will punish.

¹⁷ Continue to obey and to be submissive to your leaders, for they are ever watching in defense of your souls, as men who will have to give account of their trust. Treat them in this way, so that they may work with joy and not with grief.

² You must consider it the purest joy, my brothers, when you are involved in various trials,

¹⁴ But if you cherish bitter jealousy and rivalry in your hearts, stop being proud of it and stop being false to the standard of truth. ¹⁵ This is not the kind of wisdom that comes down from above; no, it is earthly, human, demoniacal. ¹⁶ For wherever jealousy and rivalry exist, there will be confusion and all sorts of evil practices.

¹ What causes wars and quarrels among you? Is it not your different desires which are ever at war within your bodies? You desire things and cannot have them, and so you commit murder. ² You covet things, but cannot acquire them, and so you quarrel and fight. You do not have them, because you do not ask for them. ³ You ask and fail to get them, because you ask with evil, selfish motives, to spend them on your pleasures. ⁴ You faithless wives! Do you not know that the friendship of the world means enmity with God? So whoever wants to be a friend to the world puts himself down as an enemy to God. ⁵ Or, do you think that the Scripture means nothing when it says, "He jealously yearns for the Spirit that He causes to dwell in your hearts"?

⁶ In such a hope keep on rejoicing, although for a little while you must be sorrow-stricken with various trials, ⁷ so that the genuineness of your faith, which is more precious than gold that perishes even after it is shown by the test of fire to be genuine, may result in your praise and glory and honor at the unveiling of Jesus Christ.

¹ So once for all get rid of all malice, deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and all sorts of slander,

³ since you have learned by experience that the Lord is kind.

²¹ Indeed, it was to this kind of living that you were called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example that you might follow His footsteps.

² so that he no longer can spend the rest of his earthly life in harmony with human desires but in accordance with God's will. ³ For the time that is past is enough for you to have accomplished what the heathen like to do, leading lives that are steeped in sensuality, lustful desires, drunkenness, carousing, revelry, dissipation, and idolatry that leads to lawlessness,

¹³ but so far as you are sharing Christ's sufferings, keep on rejoicing, so that at the uncovering of His glory you may rejoice triumphantly. ¹⁴ If you are suffering abuse because you bear the name of Christ, you are happy, because the glorious Spirit of God is resting upon you.

² be shepherds of the flock of God that is among you, not as though you had to but of your own free will, not from the motive of personal profit but freely, ³ and not as domineering over those in your charge but proving yourselves models for the flock to imitate; ⁴ and when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the glorious crown that never fades.

¹⁰ especially those who satisfy their lower nature by indulging in its evil passions which defile them, and who despise authority. Daring, headstrong men! They do not tremble when they abuse persons of majesty, ¹¹ whereas angels who are far superior in strength and power to these beings bring no abusive accusation against them before the Lord. ¹² These men, like irrational animals, mere creatures of instinct created to be caught and killed, abuse the things that they do not understand, and so by their corruption they will be destroyed, suffering wrong as punishment for their wrongdoing. ¹³ They think their daily luxurious living real pleasure; they are spots and blots, deceitfully living in luxurious pleasure while they continue their religious feasting with you. ¹⁴ They have eyes full of adultery and insatiable by sin. They practice enticing unsteady souls. They have trained their hearts in greed. They are doomed to a curse!

¹⁸ For by uttering arrogant nonsense, through base desires of the lower nature, they entice into immorality men who are just escaping from those who live in error,

²⁰ And we know that the Son of God has come, and has given us insight to recognize the True One; and we are in union with the True One through His Son, Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life.

⁷ just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the neighboring towns which like them indulged in grossest immorality and unnatural vice, stand as a perpetual warning, in suffering the punishment of eternal fire.

¹⁶ These persons are grumblers, ever complaining about their lot. They live to satisfy their evil passions, their lips boast arrogant things, and they flatter others for personal gain.

²³ and save, snatching them out of the fire; and others you must pity with dread, loathing even the clothes that are soiled by their lower nature.

¹⁰ On the Lord's day I was in the Spirit's power, and I heard a voice like a trumpet behind me say:

³ You are showing patient endurance, and you have borne it for my sake, and have not grown weary.

⁷ Let everyone who has ears listen to what the Spirit says to the churches. I will give to him who conquers the privilege of eating the fruit of the tree of life that stands in the paradise of God."'"

² Immediately I was under the Spirit's power, and I saw a throne in heaven with One seated on it.

⁵ She gave birth to a son, a male child who is going to rule all the nations with a scepter of iron; and the child was caught up to God, to His throne.

⁸ But the cowards, the unfaithful, the polluted, the murderers, the sexually immoral, the practicers of magic, the worshipers of idols, and all liars will have their portion in the lake that keeps on burning with fire and brimstone. This is the second death."

¹⁵ The dogs, that is, those who practice magic and immorality, murderers, idolaters, and those who love and practice lying, are on the outside.

²⁰ He who testifies to this says, "Yes, I am coming soon!" Amen! Come, Lord Jesus!