| English Standard Version | New Living Translation |
| 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!— | 1Now I, Paul, appeal to you with the gentleness and kindness of Christ—though I realize you think I am timid in person and bold only when I write from far 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. | 2Well, I am begging you now so that when I come I won’t have to be bold with those who think we act from human motives. |
| 3For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh. | 3We are human, but we don’t wage war as humans do. |
| 4For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. | 4 We use God’s mighty weapons, not worldly weapons, to knock down the strongholds of human reasoning and to destroy false arguments. |
| 5We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ, | 5We destroy every proud obstacle that keeps people from knowing God. We capture their rebellious thoughts and teach them to obey Christ. |
| 6being ready to punish every disobedience, when your obedience is complete. | 6And after you have become fully obedient, we will punish everyone who remains disobedient. |
| 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. | 7Look at the obvious facts. Those who say they belong to Christ must recognize that we belong to Christ 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. | 8I may seem to be boasting too much about the authority given to us by the Lord. But our authority builds you up; it doesn’t tear you down. So I will not be ashamed of using my authority. |
| 9I do not want to appear to be frightening you with my letters. | 9I’m not trying to frighten you by 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, “Paul’s letters are demanding and forceful, but in person he is weak, and his speeches are worthless!” |
| 11Let such a person understand that what we say by letter when absent, we do when present. | 11Those people should realize that our actions when we arrive in person will be as forceful as what we say in our letters from far away. |
| 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. | 12Oh, don’t worry; we wouldn’t dare say that we are as wonderful as these other men who tell you how important they are! But they are only comparing themselves with each other, using themselves as the standard of measurement. How ignorant! |
| 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 will not boast about things done outside our area of authority. We will boast only about what has happened within the boundaries of the work God has given us, which includes our working with 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 reaching beyond these boundaries when we claim authority over you, as if we had never visited you. For we were the first to travel all the way to Corinth with the Good News 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, | 15Nor do we boast and claim credit for the work someone else has done. Instead, we hope that your faith will grow so that the boundaries of our work among you will be extended. |
| 16so that we may preach the gospel in lands beyond you, without boasting of work already done in another’s area of influence. | 16Then we will be able to go and preach the Good News in other places far beyond you, where no one else is working. Then there will be no question of our boasting about work done in someone else’s territory. |
| 17“Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.” | 17As the Scriptures say, “If you want to boast, boast only about the LORD.” |
| 18For it is not the one who commends himself who is approved, but the one whom the Lord commends. | 18When people commend themselves, it doesn’t count for much. The important thing is for the Lord to commend them. |
| 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. | Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved. |
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