| International Standard Version | New Living Translation |
| 1From: Paul, an apostle of the Messiah Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother. To: God's church in Corinth, and to all the holy people throughout Achaia. | 1This letter is from Paul, chosen by the will of God to be an apostle of Christ Jesus, and from our brother Timothy. I am writing to God’s church in Corinth and to all of his holy people throughout Greece. |
| 2May grace and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus, the Messiah, be yours! | 2May God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ give you grace and peace. God Offers Comfort to All |
| 3Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus, the Messiah! He is our merciful Father and the God of all comfort, | 3All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is our merciful Father and the source of all comfort. |
| 4who comforts us in all our suffering, so that we may be able to comfort others in all their suffering, as we ourselves are being comforted by God. | 4He comforts us in all our troubles so that we can comfort others. When they are troubled, we will be able to give them the same comfort God has given us. |
| 5For as the Messiah's sufferings overflow into us, so also our comfort overflows through the Messiah. | 5For the more we suffer for Christ, the more God will shower us with his comfort through Christ. |
| 6If we suffer, it is for your comfort and salvation. If we are comforted, it is for your comfort when you patiently endure the same sufferings that we are suffering. | 6Even when we are weighed down with troubles, it is for your comfort and salvation! For when we ourselves are comforted, we will certainly comfort you. Then you can patiently endure the same things we suffer. |
| 7Our hope for you is unshaken, because we know that as you share our sufferings, you also share our comfort. | 7We are confident that as you share in our sufferings, you will also share in the comfort God gives us. |
| 8For we do not want you to be ignorant, brothers, about the suffering we experienced in Asia. We were so crushed beyond our ability to endure that we even despaired of living. | 8We think you ought to know, dear brothers and sisters, about the trouble we went through in the province of Asia. We were crushed and overwhelmed beyond our ability to endure, and we thought we would never live through it. |
| 9In fact, we felt that we had received a death sentence so we would not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead. | 9In fact, we expected to die. But as a result, we stopped relying on ourselves and learned to rely only on God, who raises the dead. |
| 10He has rescued us from a terrible death, and he will continue to rescue us. Yes, he is the one on whom we have set our hope, and he will rescue us again, | 10And he did rescue us from mortal danger, and he will rescue us again. We have placed our confidence in him, and he will continue to rescue us. |
| 11as you also help us by your prayers for us. Then many people will thank God on our behalf because of the favor shown us through the prayers of many. | 11And you are helping us by praying for us. Then many people will give thanks because God has graciously answered so many prayers for our safety. Paul’s Change of Plans |
| 12For this is what we boast about: Our conscience testifies that we have conducted ourselves in the world with pure motives and godly sincerity, without earthly wisdom but with God's grace—especially toward you. | 12We can say with confidence and a clear conscience that we have lived with a God-given holiness and sincerity in all our dealings. We have depended on God’s grace, not on our own human wisdom. That is how we have conducted ourselves before the world, and especially toward you. |
| 13For what we are writing you is nothing more than what you can read and also understand. I hope you will understand completely, | 13Our letters have been straightforward, and there is nothing written between the lines and nothing you can’t understand. I hope someday you will fully understand us, |
| 14just as you have already understood us partially, so that on the Day of our Lord Jesus we can be your reason to boast, even as you are ours. | 14even if you don’t understand us now. Then on the day when the Lord Jesus returns, you will be proud of us in the same way we are proud of you. |
| 15Because I was confident, I planned to come to you first so you might receive a double blessing. | 15Since I was so sure of your understanding and trust, I wanted to give you a double blessing by visiting you twice— |
| 16I planned to leave you in order to go to Macedonia, and then come back to you from Macedonia, and let you send me on to Judea. | 16first on my way to Macedonia and again when I returned from Macedonia. Then you could send me on my way to Judea. |
| 17When I planned this, I did not do it lightly, did I? Are my plans so fickle that I can say "Yes" and "No" at the same time? | 17You may be asking why I changed my plan. Do you think I make my plans carelessly? Do you think I am like people of the world who say “Yes” when they really mean “No”? |
| 18As certainly as God is faithful, we haven't talked to you with mixed messages like that. | 18As surely as God is faithful, our word to you does not waver between “Yes” and “No.” |
| 19For God's Son, Jesus the Messiah, who was preached among you by us—by me, Silvanus, and Timothy—was not "Yes" and "No." But with him it is always "Yes." | 19For Jesus Christ, the Son of God, does not waver between “Yes” and “No.” He is the one whom Silas, Timothy, and I preached to you, and as God’s ultimate “Yes,” he always does what he says. |
| 20For all God's promises are "Yes" in him. And so through him we can say "Amen," to the glory of God. | 20For all of God’s promises have been fulfilled in Christ with a resounding “Yes!” And through Christ, our “Amen” (which means “Yes”) ascends to God for his glory. |
| 21Now the one who makes us—and you as well—secure in union with the Messiah and has anointed us is God, | 21It is God who enables us, along with you, to stand firm for Christ. He has commissioned us, |
| 22who has placed his seal on us and has given us the Spirit in our hearts as a down payment. | 22and he has identified us as his own by placing the Holy Spirit in our hearts as the first installment that guarantees everything he has promised us. |
| 23I call upon God as a witness on my behalf that it was in order to spare you that I did not return to Corinth. | 23Now I call upon God as my witness that I am telling the truth. The reason I didn’t return to Corinth was to spare you from a severe rebuke. |
| 24It is not that we are trying to rule over your faith, but rather to work with you for your joy, because you have been standing firm in the faith. | 24But that does not mean we want to dominate you by telling you how to put your faith into practice. We want to work together with you so you will be full of joy, for it is by your own faith that you stand firm. |
The Holy Bible: International Standard Version® Release 2.1 Copyright © 1996-2012 The ISV Foundation
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED INTERNATIONALLY. | 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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