| English Standard Version | New International Version |
| 1I, Paul, myself entreat you, by the meekness and gentleness of Christ—I who am humble when face to face with you, but bold toward you when I am away!— | 1By the humility and gentleness of Christ, I appeal to you--I, Paul, who am "timid" when face to face with you, but "bold" toward you when away! |
| 2I beg of you that when I am present I may not have to show boldness with such confidence as I count on showing against some who suspect us of walking according to the flesh. | 2I beg you that when I come I may not have to be as bold as I expect to be toward some people who think that we live by the standards of this world. |
| 3For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh. | 3For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. |
| 4For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. | 4The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. |
| 5We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ, | 5We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. |
| 6being ready to punish every disobedience, when your obedience is complete. | 6And we will be ready to punish every act of disobedience, once your obedience is complete. |
| 7Look at what is before your eyes. If anyone is confident that he is Christ’s, let him remind himself that just as he is Christ’s, so also are we. | 7You are judging by appearances. If anyone is confident that they belong to Christ, they should consider again that we belong to Christ just as much as they do. |
| 8For even if I boast a little too much of our authority, which the Lord gave for building you up and not for destroying you, I will not be ashamed. | 8So even if I boast somewhat freely about the authority the Lord gave us for building you up rather than tearing you down, I will not be ashamed of it. |
| 9I do not want to appear to be frightening you with my letters. | 9I do not want to seem to be trying to frighten you with my letters. |
| 10For they say, “His letters are weighty and strong, but his bodily presence is weak, and his speech of no account.” | 10For some say, "His letters are weighty and forceful, but in person he is unimpressive and his speaking amounts to nothing." |
| 11Let such a person understand that what we say by letter when absent, we do when present. | 11Such people should realize that what we are in our letters when we are absent, we will be in our actions when we are present. |
| 12Not that we dare to classify or compare ourselves with some of those who are commending themselves. But when they measure themselves by one another and compare themselves with one another, they are without understanding. | 12We do not dare to classify or compare ourselves with some who commend themselves. When they measure themselves by themselves and compare themselves with themselves, they are not wise. |
| 13But we will not boast beyond limits, but will boast only with regard to the area of influence God assigned to us, to reach even to you. | 13We, however, will not boast beyond proper limits, but will confine our boasting to the sphere of service God himself has assigned to us, a sphere that also includes you. |
| 14For we are not overextending ourselves, as though we did not reach you. For we were the first to come all the way to you with the gospel of Christ. | 14We are not going too far in our boasting, as would be the case if we had not come to you, for we did get as far as you with the gospel of Christ. |
| 15We do not boast beyond limit in the labors of others. But our hope is that as your faith increases, our area of influence among you may be greatly enlarged, | 15Neither do we go beyond our limits by boasting of work done by others. Our hope is that, as your faith continues to grow, our sphere of activity among you will greatly expand, |
| 16so that we may preach the gospel in lands beyond you, without boasting of work already done in another’s area of influence. | 16so that we can preach the gospel in the regions beyond you. For we do not want to boast about work already done in someone else's territory. |
| 17“Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.” | 17But, "Let the one who boasts boast in the Lord." |
| 18For it is not the one who commends himself who is approved, but the one whom the Lord commends. | 18For it is not the one who commends himself who is approved, but the one whom the Lord commends. |
| ESV Text Edition: 2016. The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®) copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. The ESV® text has been reproduced in cooperation with and by permission of Good News Publishers. Unauthorized reproduction of this publication is prohibited. All rights reserved. | New International Version (NIV) Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. |
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