Salutation

1Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother.

To the church of God which is at Corinth, with all the saints who are in the whole of Acha'ia:

2Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Paul's Thanksgiving after Affliction

3Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, 4who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. 5For as we share abundantly in Christ's sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too.a 6If we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation; and if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which you experience when you patiently endure the same sufferings that we suffer. 7Our hope for you is unshaken; for we know that as you share in our sufferings, you will also share in our comfort.

8For we do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, of the affliction we experienced in Asia; for we were so utterly, unbearably crushed that we despaired of life itself. 9Why, we felt that we had received the sentence of death; but that was to make us rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead; 10he delivered us from so deadly a peril, and he will deliver us; on him we have set our hope that he will deliver us again. 11You also must help us by prayer, so that many will give thanks on our behalf for the blessing granted us in answer to many prayers.

The Postponement of Paul's Visit

12For our boast is this, the testimony of our conscience that we have behaved in the world, and still more toward you, with holiness and godly sincerity, not by earthly wisdom but by the grace of God. 13For we write you nothing but what you can read and understand; I hope you will understand fully, 14as you have understood in part, that you can be proud of us as we can be of you, on the day of the Lord Jesus.

15Because I was sure of this, I wanted to come to you first, so that you might have a double pleasure;b 16I wanted to visit you on my way to Macedo'nia, and to come back to you from Macedo'nia and have you send me on my way to Judea. 17Was I vacillating when I wanted to do this? Do I make my plans like a worldly man, ready to say Yes and No at once? 18As surely as God is faithful, our word to you has not been Yes and No. 19For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, whom we preached among you, Silva'nus and Timothy and I, was not Yes and No; but in him it is always Yes. 20For all the promises of God find their Yes in him. That is why we utter the Amen through him, to the glory of God. 21But it is God who establishes us with you in Christ, and has commissioned us; 22he has put his seal upon us and given us his Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee.

23But I call God to witness against me-it was to spare you that I refrained from coming to Corinth. 24Not that we lord it over your faith; we work with you for your joy, for you stand firm in your faith.