DASV: Digital American Standard Version
DASV:
2 Corinthians 1
1 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will
of God, and Timothy our brother,
To the church of God that is at
Corinth, with all the saints that are throughout Achaia:
2 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus
Christ.
3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of
mercies and God of all comfort,
4 who 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.
5 For just as the sufferings of Christ overflow into us, so too our
comfort overflows through Christ.
6 Even if we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation; if
we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which you experience when you
patiently endure the same sufferings that we also suffer.
7 Our hope for you is steadfast; for we know that as you share in
our sufferings, so too you will share in our comfort.
8 For we do not want you unaware, brothers, concerning the
affliction that happened to us in the province of Asia. For we were under
tremendous pressure, beyond our strength, so that we despaired even of life.
9 In fact we felt like we had received the sentence of death against
us, so that we would not trust in ourselves, but in God who raises the dead.
10 He delivered us out of so great a danger of death, and he will
deliver us. On him we have set our hope
that yet again he will deliver us.
11 You also help us by your prayers, so that many will give thanks
on our behalf for the grace given to us through the prayers of so many.
12 For this is our boast, even the testimony of our conscience: we have
conducted ourselves in the world with holiness and godly sincerity, not by human
wisdom but by the grace of God, and especially toward you.
13 For we do not write you anything other than what you can read and
understand, and I hope that you will understand it totally,
14 just as you partially understood us, that you will be proud of us
even as we are proud of you, in the day of the Lord Jesus.
15 Because of this confidence I wanted to come to you first, so that
you might have a double benefit,
16 by visiting you on the way to Macedonia, and then again coming
back from Macedonia to you, then from you to be sent on my journey to Judea.
17 When I was planning what to do, was I vacillating? Or do I make
my plans according to human plans, so that I would say "Yes, yes" and
then turn around and say "No, no"?
18 But as God is faithful, our word to you has not been
"Yes" and "No".
19 For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who was preached among you by
us, that is, by me, Silvanus and Timothy, was not "Yes" and "No",
but it has always been "Yes" in him.
20 For however many promises of God are in him, they are all
"Yes." Therefore through him we say "Amen", to the glory to
God expressed through us.
21 Now God established us with you in Christ, and anointed us;
22 he also sealed us, and gave us the Spirit as a down payment in
our hearts.
23 But I call God for a witness, that I did
not come back to Corinth to spare you.
24 Not that we have sovereign control over your faith; rather we are
co-workers for your joy, for by faith you stand firm.
DASV: 2
Corinthians 2
1 But I decided
that I would not pay you another painful visit.
2 For if I make
you grieve, who then will there be to make me glad, but the one who I made to
grieve?
3 And I wrote to
you about this very thing, so that when I come, I might not grieve over those
who should have made me rejoice; for I am confident in all of you that you
would share my joy.
4 For out of
much affliction and anguish of heart I wrote to you with many tears, not to
make you grieve, but that you might know the abundant love that I have for you.
5 But if anyone has caused grief, he has not
grieved me, but to some extent, not to exaggerate, all of you.
6 This
punishment inflicted on such a person by the majority is enough.
7 So now on the
contrary you should forgive and comfort him, so that he may not be overwhelmed
with his excessive grief.
8 Therefore I urge
you to reaffirm your love for him.
9 For this is
the reason I wrote to you, to prove whether you would be obedient in all
things.
10 But if you
forgive anyone, I forgive them too. For what I have forgiven, if I have really forgiven
anything, I did for your sakes in the presence of Christ,
11 so that Satan might
not outsmart us; for we are not ignorant of his schemes.
12 Now when I came to Troas for the gospel of
Christ, and found a door opened to me in the Lord,
13 I had no rest
in my spirit, because I did not find my brother Titus. So I said good-bye to them and went on to
Macedonia.
14 But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumphal procession in
Christ, and through us spreads the fragrance of his knowledge everywhere.
15 For we are a
sweet aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those
who are perishing,
16 to the one a stench
from death to death; to the other a fragrance from life to life. Who is sufficient for these things?
17 For we are not
like so many, peddling the word of God for profit, but we speak in Christ
before God as people of sincerity, as people sent from God.
DASV: 2
Corinthians 3
1 Are we
beginning to commend ourselves again? Or do we really need, as do some, letters
of recommendation to you or from you?
2 You yourselves
are our letter, written on our hearts, known and read by all.
3 You show that
you are a letter from Christ, delivered by us, written not with ink, but with
the Spirit of the living God; not on tablets of stone, but on tablets of human hearts.
4 And we have
such confidence through Christ before God.
5 Not that we
are competent in ourselves to claim anything as having come from us; but our competence
is from God.
6 He has made us
competent as ministers of a new covenant; not of the letter, but of the Spirit.
For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.
7 But if the ministry of death, etched in
letters on stone tablets, came with glory, so that the Israelites could not
look steadfastly on the face of Moses because of the glory of his face, a glory
which faded away;
8 how much more
glorious will the ministry of the Spirit be?
9 For if the
ministry of condemnation had glory, how much more does the ministry of
righteousness excel in glory.
10 For indeed
what had been glorious has no glory, when compared to the glory that surpasses
it.
11 For if that
which was fading away came with glory, how much more has the permanent come
with glory.
12 Therefore having
such a hope, we behave with great boldness.
13 We are not like
Moses, who put a veil over his face, so that the Israelites would not stare at the
end of that which was fading away.
14 But their
minds were hardened. For until this very day when the old covenant is read the
same veil remains, because only through Christ is it taken away.
15 But to this
day, whenever Moses is read, a veil lies over their hearts.
16 But whenever someone
turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away.
17 Now the Lord
is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.
18 But we all,
with unveiled faces reflecting as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being
transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another, which
comes from the Lord, who is Spirit.
DASV: 2
Corinthians 4
1 Therefore seeing we have this ministry, by God's mercy, we do not lose
heart.
2 We have
renounced the hidden shameful deeds and underhanded practices, and handling God's
word deceitfully, but by the open declaration of the truth we commend ourselves
to everyone's conscience in the sight of God.
3 But even if
our gospel is veiled, it is veiled only to those who are perishing.
4 In whose case the
god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, so that they cannot
see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.
5 For we do not preach
ourselves, but Christ Jesus as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus'
sake.
6 For it is God who
said, "Let there be light shining out of darkness," who shined in our
hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of
Jesus Christ.
7 But we have
this treasure in jars of clay, that the extraordinary
power may be from God, and not from us.
8 We are
afflicted on every side, yet not crushed; perplexed, yet not to the point of
despair;
9 persecuted,
but not forsaken; knocked down, but not destroyed;
10 always carrying
in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus also may be
manifested in our bodies.
11 For we who
live are constantly being handed over to death for Jesus' sake, so that the
life of Jesus may also be manifested in our mortal flesh.
12 So then death is
at work in us, but life in you.
13 But since we have
the same spirit of faith, according to what is written, "I believed, and so
I spoke," we also believe and so we also speak.
14 We know that
he who raised up the Lord Jesus will raise us also
with Jesus, and will bring us with you into his presence.
15 For all this
is for your sakes, so that the grace, reaching more and more people, may result
in thanksgiving being increased to the glory of God.
16 Therefore we do
not lose heart. Even though our outward body is wasting away, yet our inward being
is renewed day by day.
17 For our
momentary and light suffering produces for us an eternal weight of glory beyond
comparison,
18 because we
look not at things that can be seen, but at what cannot be seen. For the things that can be seen are temporary; but what cannot
be seen is eternal.
DASV: 2
Corinthians 5
1 For we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a
building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.
2 For in this house
we groan, longing to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling,
3 if by being so
clothed we will not be found naked.
4 For while we
are still in this tent we groan, being burdened; because we do not want to be
unclothed, but clothed, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life.
5 Now he who
prepared us for this very thing is God, who gave us the Spirit as a down
payment.
6 So we are
always confident, knowing that while we are at home in the body, we are absent
from the Lord
7 for we walk by
faith, not by sight.
8 We are absolutely
confident, and we would rather to be absent from the body, and to be at home
with the Lord.
9 Therefore we
make it our aim, that whether at home in the body or away, to be pleasing to
him.
10 For we must
all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may be repaid
for what was done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or
bad.
11 Knowing therefore the fear of the Lord, we
persuade men, but we are well known to God; and I hope that we are also well
known to your consciences.
12 We are not trying
to again commend ourselves to you, but giving you opportunity for boasting about
us, that you may be able to answer those who boast in external appearance, rather
than about what is in the heart.
13 For if we are out
of our minds, it is for God; if we are in our right mind, it is for you.
14 For the love
of Christ controls us, because we have concluded that one died for all,
therefore all died.
15 He died for
all, so that those who live should no longer live for themselves, but for him
who died and rose again for their sakes.
16 From now on,
then, we regard no one according to a human perspective; even though we have
known Christ according to a human perspective, yet now we do not regard him
like that anymore.
17 Therefore if
anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation, the old has passed away; look, the
new has come.
18 But all this
is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ, and gave us the
ministry of reconciliation;
19 that is, in
Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses
against them, and has entrusted the message of reconciliation to us.
20 So we are
ambassadors for Christ, as though God was making his appeal through us. We urge
you on behalf of Christ: Be reconciled to God.
21 God made him
who knew no sin to be sin for our sake; so that we might become the
righteousness of God in him.
DASV: 2
Corinthians 6
1 Now as God's co-workers we urge you not to receive the grace of God in
vain
2 For he says,
"At an acceptable
time I listened to you,
and in a day of salvation I helped you."
Look, now is the acceptable time. Look, now is the day of salvation.
3 We are not giving
anyone an occasion of stumbling in anything, so that our ministry might not be criticized.
4 But as God's
servants we commend ourselves in everything, with much endurance, in persecutions,
in hardships, in distresses,
5 in beatings,
in imprisonments, in riots, in grueling labors, in sleepless nights, in hunger;
6 by purity, by
knowledge, by patience, by kindness, by the Holy Spirit, by genuine love,
7 by the word of
truth, by the power of God; by the weapons of righteousness for the right hand
and for the left,
8 through honor
and shame, through berating and good report; treated as impostors and yet true;
9 as unknown,
and yet well known; as dying, and look, we are still alive; as punished, and yet
not killed;
10 as sorrowful,
yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet
possessing everything.
11 We have spoken
candidly to you, Corinthians; our heart is wide open.
12 You were not
restricted in your access to our affection, but you were the ones who
restricted your own affections.
13 Now for a fair
exchange, I speak as to children: open your hearts to us also.
14 Do not be unequally
yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership
do righteousness and iniquity have? Or what camaraderie does light have with
darkness?
15 What agreement
does Christ share with Belial? Or what does a believer have in common with an
unbeliever?
16 What agreement
has the temple of God with idols? For we are a temple of the living God; just
as God said,
"I will live in them,
and walk among them;
and
I will be their God,
and they will be my people."
17 "Therefore come out from among
them,
and be separate, says the Lord;
do
not touch anything unclean,
and I will receive you."
18 "I will be a Father to you,
and you will be my sons and daughters, says the Lord
Almighty."
DASV: 2
Corinthians 7
1 Therefore since we have these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves
from all defilement of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of
God.
2 Make room in your
hearts for us; we have wronged no one, we corrupted no one, we have taken
advantage of no one.
3 I say it not
to condemn you, for I have said before that you are in our hearts to die
together and live together.
4 I have great
confidence in you, I take great pride on your behalf, I am filled with comfort,
I overflow with joy in all our affliction.
5 For even when we entered into Macedonia our
flesh had no rest, but we were afflicted from every side. There were conflicts outside and fears within.
6 But God, who
comforts the downcast, has comforted us by the coming of Titus,
7 and not by his
coming only, but also by the comfort with which he was comforted that he got
from you. When he
told us of your longing, your mourning, your zeal for me, I rejoiced even more.
8 For even if I
made you sorry with my epistle, I do not regret it, though I did regret it, for
I see that that epistle made you sorry, though just briefly.
9 I now rejoice,
not because you were made sorry, but because your sorrow led to repentance. For you were sorry with a
godly sorrow, so that you were not harmed by us in anyway.
10 For godly
sorrow produces repentance that leads to salvation,
which results in no regret, but the sorrow of the world produces death.
11 Just look at
what this godly sorrow produced in you. What
eagerness, what a desire to defend yourselves, what indignation, what fear,
what longing, what zeal, what concern for justice! In every way you proved
yourselves innocent in this matter.
12 So although I
wrote to you, I wrote not on account of the one who did the wrong, or for the
one who suffered the wrong, but that your eager care for us might be revealed
to you in the sight of God.
13 Therefore we
have been comforted. And in addition to our comfort, we rejoiced even more for
the joy of Titus, because his spirit has been refreshed by all of you.
14 For if I have
boasted about anything to him on your behalf, I was not put to shame. All the things we spoke about you were true,
so our boasting to Titus has proven true.
15 And his
affection for you is even greater, when he remembers the obedience of all of you,
how you received him with fear and trembling.
16 I rejoice because
I have absolute confidence in you.
DASV: 2
Corinthians 8
1 Now, brothers, we make known to you the grace of God that has been given to
the churches of Macedonia,
2 how that in a
great trial of affliction their abundant joy and their deep poverty overflowed in
the riches of their generosity.
3 For I can
testify that they gave according to their ability, and beyond their ability of
their own free will,
4 begging us, insisting
for the privilege of sharing in the support of the saints.
5 They did this,
not just as we had hoped, but first they gave themselves to the Lord, and to us by the will of God.
6 So we urged Titus, that as he already had begun before, that he should
also complete this grace among you as well.
7 But as you
excel in everything--in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in all earnestness, and
in love from us in you--be sure that you excel in this grace of generosity also.
8 I am not ordering
it as a command, but as a test of the genuineness of your love in comparison to
the eagerness of others.
9 For you know
the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes
he became poor, that you by his poverty might become rich.
10 So here I
offer my advice on this matter: for this is to your advantage, who were the
first to begin a year ago not only to do it, but also to desire to give.
11 So now finish
it, so that your eagerness may be matched by the finishing it out of what you
have.
12 For if the eagerness
is there, then the gift is acceptable according what one has, not according what one does not
have.
13 For I do not
say this that there should be relief for others and you be burdened, but as a
matter of equality.
14 Right now your
abundance meets their need, that sometime their abundance may in turn meet your
need; that there may be equality.
15 As it is
written,
"The one who gathered
much
had nothing left over;
and
the one who gathered little
did not have too little."
16 But thanks be to
God, who put the same concern I have for your care into the heart of Titus.
17 For he not
only accepted our appeal, but he himself being very eager is coming to you of
his own accord.
18 Now we are
sending with him the brother who is praised in all the church for proclaiming the
gospel.
19 Not only that,
but he was also appointed by the churches to travel with us in this act of grace,
which is administered by us to the glory of the Lord, and to demonstrate our
readiness to help.
20 We take this
precaution so that no one will blame us in the matter of administering this generous
gift.
21 For we are
careful to do what is right, not only in the sight of the Lord, but also in the
sight of men.
22 We are also
sending with them our brother, whom we have many times tested in many things
and found him eager, but now much more eager, because of his great confidence in
you.
23 As for Titus,
he is my partner and my co-worker for you; as for our brothers, they are the
messengers of the churches, the glory of Christ.
24 Therefore show
them openly before the churches the proof of your love and of our boasting about
you.
DASV: 2
Corinthians 9
1 I do not need to write to you about the ministry to the saints,
2 for I know about
your readiness, which I boast about you to those in Macedonia, saying that
Achaia has been prepared since last year; and your zeal has stirred up many of them.
3 But I have
sent the brothers, that our boasting on your behalf may not prove empty in this
case; so that you may be prepared just as I said you would be.
4 Otherwise if
any of those from Macedonia who come with me find you unprepared, we (to say
nothing about you) would be put to shame by this confidence.
5 Therefore I
thought it necessary to urge the brothers, that they
would go ahead to you, and arrange ahead of time for the generous gift you have
promised, so that it might be ready as a generous gift and not a grudging
obligation.
6 This is my
point: The one who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly; and the one who sows
generously will also reap generously.
7 Each person
should give as he has decided in his heart, not grudgingly, or under
compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.
8 And God is
able to provide all grace abundantly to you; so that you, always having everything
you need, may abound in every good work.
9 As it is
written,
"He has scattered
abroad,
he has given to the poor;
his righteousness endures forever."
10 Now he who supplies seed to the sower
and bread for food, will supply and multiply your seed for sowing, and increase
the harvest of your righteousness.
11 You are being
enriched in everything to be generous in every way, which will produce
thanksgiving to God through us.
12 For the
service of this ministry not only provides for the needs of the saints but also
overflows with many thanks to God.
13 Through the
evidence of this service you glorify God because of your obedience to your confession
of the gospel of Christ and by the generosity of your sharing with them and
with everyone.
14 And in their
prayers for you they themselves also long after you because of the outstanding
grace of God in you.
15 Thanks be to
God for his indescribable gift.
DASV: 2
Corinthians 10
1 Now I, Paul, appeal to you by the meekness and gentleness of Christ, I who
allegedly in your presence is meek when among you, but when away I am bold
toward you.
2 Now I beg you
that when I am present I may not have to show boldness with the confidence that
I count on using against some who imagine that we are walking according to the
flesh.
3 For though we
walk in the flesh, we do not wage war according to the flesh.
4 For the
weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but God's mighty weapons for tearing
down strongholds.
5 We tear down ideas
and every arrogant pretense that is raised up against the knowledge of God, and
take every thought captive to render it obedient to Christ.
6 We are ready
to punish all disobedience, when your obedience is complete.
7 You are only looking
at the things staring you in the face. If anyone trusts that he belongs to Christ,
he should remind himself of this: just as he belongs to Christ, so do we too.
8 For even though
I boast too much concerning our authority, which the Lord gave for building you
up, and not for tearing you down, I will not be ashamed of it.
9 I do not want
it to seem like I am frightening you through my letters.
10 For they say, "His
letters are heavy and forceful; but his physical presence is weak, and his
speech repugnant."
11 Let such a person
realize this: what we say by letters when we are absent, we will also do when
we are present.
12 For we do not dare
to classify or compare ourselves with those who recommend themselves. But when they measure themselves by
themselves, and compare themselves with themselves, they are not wise.
13 But we will
not boast beyond our limits, but only in the domain which God has appointed, to
reach out even to you.
14 For we are not
overextending ourselves as though we did not reach you; for we came even as far
as you with the gospel of Christ.
15 We do not boast
beyond our limits, that is, about the work done by others. Our hope is that, as your faith grows, the
sphere of our work among you might also grow,
16 so that we may
preach the gospel even in areas beyond you, and not boasting of work done in
another's area of influence.
17 But "Let
the one who boasts, boast in the Lord."
18 For it is not the one who recommends himself that is approved, but those
whom the Lord recommends.
DASV: 2
Corinthians 11
1 I want you to bear with me in a little foolishness, but do bear with me.
2 For I am
jealous for you with a godly jealousy, for I promised you in marriage to one
husband, to present you as a pure virgin to Christ.
3 But I am
afraid that somehow just as the serpent beguiled Eve by his cunning, your minds
may be corrupted from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ.
4 For if anyone
comes preaching another Jesus than the one whom we preached, or if you receive
a different spirit from the one you received, or a different gospel from the
one which you received, you put up with it well enough.
5 For I do not
consider myself in the least inferior to these "super-apostles."
6 But though I
am untrained in oratory, yet I am not untrained in knowledge. Indeed we have made this absolutely clear to
you in every way possible.
7 Or did I
commit a sin by humbling myself so that you might be exalted, because I
preached to you the gospel of God for free?
8 I robbed other
churches, taking wages from them so that I might serve you.
9 And when I was
present with you and was in need, I was not a burden on anyone; for the brothers
who came from Macedonia supplied what I needed.
I kept myself from being a burden to you in any way, and I will continue
to do so.
10 As the truth
of Christ is in me, no one will stop me boasting of this in the regions of
Achaia.
11 Why? Because I do not love you? God knows I do.
12 But what I am doing,
I will continue to do, so that I may cut off any opportunity of those who
desire a chance to boast that their work is just like ours.
13 For such people
are false apostles, deceitful workers, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ.
14 And no wonder;
for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light.
15 It is no big
deal then if his servants also disguise themselves as ministers of
righteousness. Their end will match what
their deeds deserve.
16 I say again: let no one think that I am a
fool. But if you do, then receive me as you would a fool,
that I also may boast a little.
17 What I am
claiming in this boastful rant is not according to the Lord, but like a fool.
18 Since many are
boasting according to the flesh, I will boast too.
19 For you gladly
put up with the fools, since you are so wise.
20 For you put up
with it even when someone enslaves you, or if he devours you, or if he takes advantage
of you, or if he promotes himself, or if he slaps you on the face.
21 To my shame, I
must say that we were too weak for that. But wherever anyone else boasts (I am
talking like a fool), I also dare to boast about it.
22 Are they
Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they descendants of
Abraham? So am I.
23 Are they servants
of Christ? (I am talking like someone out of their mind) I am more; working
harder, in prisons more frequently, with countless beatings, facing death again
and again.
24 Five times I
have received forty lashes minus one from the Jews.
25 Three times I
was beaten with rods, once was I stoned, three times I
was shipwrecked, I spent a day and a night adrift in the open sea.
26 I have been on
many journeys often in danger of rivers, in danger from robbers, in danger from
my own countrymen, in danger from the
Gentiles, in danger in the city, in danger in the wilderness, in danger in the
sea, in danger among false brothers;
27 in toil and
labor, with frequent sleepless nights, in hunger and thirst, often without food,
in cold without proper clothing.
28 Besides those
things, there is the daily pressure of my anxiety for all the churches.
29 Who is weak,
and I am not weak? Who is caused to stumble, and I do not burn with indignation?
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 do not lie.
32 In Damascus,
the governor under Aretas the king guarded the city
of Damascus in order to arrest me,
33 and I was let
down in a basket through a window in the wall, and escaped his hands.
DASV: 2
Corinthians 12
1 I need to boast, though nothing will be gained from it; but I will go on to
visions and revelations of the Lord.
2 I know a man
in Christ, who fourteen years ago--whether in the body or out of the body, I do
not know, God knows--was caught up to the third heaven.
3 And I know that
this man--whether in the body or out of the body, I do not know, God knows--
4 was caught up
into Paradise and heard unspeakable things, which that no human is allowed to
speak.
5 On behalf of
such a person I will boast, but on my own behalf I will not boast, except about
my weaknesses.
6 For if I wanted
to boast, I would not be a fool; for I would be telling the truth, but I refrain,
lest anyone should think better of me than what he sees in me or hears from me,
7 because of the
phenomenal nature of these revelations. So that I would not become
conceited, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to torment
me, so that I would not become conceited.
8 I pleaded with
the Lord three times about it, that it might taken
away from me.
9 But he told
me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in
weakness." Therefore most gladly I will
boast in my weaknesses, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.
10 Therefore I am
content with weaknesses, with insults, with hardships, with persecutions, with
troubles for Christ's sake. For when I am weak, then am I strong.
11 I have acted like a fool but you forced me to
do it. For I ought to
have been commended by you. For I am not inferior to
these "super-apostles," even though I am nothing.
12 Truly the
signs of an apostle were performed among you with great perseverance, by signs,
wonders and mighty works.
13 For how were you
treated worse than other churches, except I did not make myself a financial burden
to you? Forgive me for this wrong.
14 Look, I am
ready to come to you this third time, and I will not be a burden to you. For I do not want your
things, but you. For the children
should not have to save up for their parents, but the parents for the children.
15 And I will be
happy to spend and be spent for you. If I love you more, am I to be loved less?
16 Be that as it
may, I did not burden you; but I assume you think that I was crafty, so I took you
in by deceit.
17 Did I take
advantage of you by any of those whom I sent to you?
18 I urged Titus
to go and I sent the brother with him. Did Titus take any advantage of you? Did
we not walk not in the same spirit? Did we not follow those same footprints?
19 Were you
thinking all this time that we were defending ourselves to you? We speak in the
sight of God in Christ, and everything we do, beloved, is to build you up.
20 For I fear
that when I come, I may not find you as I want, and you
may not find me as you want. I fear
there may be strife, jealousy, anger, selfishness, slander, gossip, arrogance
and chaos.
21 I am afraid
when I come again my God will humble me before you, and I will grieve for many
of those who have previously sinned, and have not repented of the impurity, sexual
immorality and sensuality which they have committed.
DASV: 2
Corinthians 13
1 This is the third time I am visiting you. "By
the mouth of two or three witnesses every charge must be established."
2 I have already
warned you before when I was present the second time, so now, being absent, to
those who have previously sinned, and to all the rest, that if I come again, I
will not spare them;
3 since you are seeking
a proof that Christ is speaking in me; who is not weak toward you, but is
powerful in you.
4 For he was
crucified in weakness, yet he lives by the power of God. For
we also are weak in him, but we will live with him through the power of God
toward you.
5 Examine
yourselves, whether you are in the faith.
Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this concerning yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you? Unless,
in fact, you fail the test.
6 But I hope
that you will acknowledge that we have not failed the test.
7 Now we pray to
God that you will not get anything wrong; not so that we may appear to have
passed the test, but that you may get it right, even though we appear to have
failed the test.
8 For we cannot
do anything against the truth, but for the truth.
9 For we rejoice
when we are weak and you are strong. This is what we pray for: that you will
pass totally qualified.
10 For this reason
I write these things while absent, so that when present I may not have to act
harshly when present, according to the authority which the Lord gave me for
building up and not for tearing down.
11 Finally, brothers,
rejoice, restore, encourage, agree with one another, live in peace, and the God
of love and peace will be with you.
12 Greet each other
with a holy kiss.
13 All the saints
greet you.
14 The grace of
the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy
Spirit be with you all.