| New American Standard Bible 1995 | International Standard Version |
| 1Now I, Paul, myself urge you by the meekness and gentleness of Christ-- I who am meek when face to face with you, but bold toward you when absent! | 1Now I myself, Paul, plead with you with the gentleness and kindness of the Messiah —I who am humble when I am face to face with you but forceful toward you when I am away! |
| 2I ask that when I am present I need not be bold with the confidence with which I propose to be courageous against some, who regard us as if we walked according to the flesh. | 2I beg you that when I come I will not need to be courageous by daring to oppose some people who think that we are living according to the flesh. |
| 3For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh, | 3Of course, we are living in the world, but we do not wage war in a world-like way. |
| 4for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses. | 4For the weapons of our warfare are not those of the world. Instead, they have the power of God to demolish fortresses. We tear down arguments |
| 5We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ, | 5and every proud obstacle that is raised against the knowledge of God, taking every thought captive in order to obey the Messiah. |
| 6and we are ready to punish all disobedience, whenever your obedience is complete. | 6Once your obedience is complete, we will be ready to reprimand every type of disobedience. |
| 7You are looking at things as they are outwardly. If anyone is confident in himself that he is Christ's, let him consider this again within himself, that just as he is Christ's, so also are we. | 7Look at the plain facts! If anyone is confident that he belongs to the Messiah, he should remind himself of this: Just as he belongs to the Messiah, so do we. |
| 8For even if I boast somewhat further about our authority, which the Lord gave for building you up and not for destroying you, I will not be put to shame, | 8So if I boast a little too much about our authority, which the Lord gave us to build you up and not to tear you down, I will not be ashamed of it. |
| 9for I do not wish to seem as if I would terrify you by my letters. | 9I do not want you to think that I am trying to frighten you with my letters. |
| 10For they say, "His letters are weighty and strong, but his personal presence is unimpressive and his speech contemptible." | 10For someone is saying, "His letters are impressive and forceful, but his bodily presence is weak and his speech contemptible." |
| 11Let such a person consider this, that what we are in word by letters when absent, such persons we are also in deed when present. | 11Someone like this should take note of the following: What we say by letter when we are absent is what we will do when present! |
| 12For we are not bold to class or compare ourselves with some of those who commend themselves; but when they measure themselves by themselves and compare themselves with themselves, they are without understanding. | 12We would not dare put ourselves in the same class with, or compare ourselves to, those who recommend themselves. Whenever they measure themselves by their own standards or compare themselves among themselves, they show how foolish they are. |
| 13But we will not boast beyond our measure, but within the measure of the sphere which God apportioned to us as a measure, to reach even as far as you. | 13We will not boast about what cannot be evaluated. Instead, we will stay within the field that God assigned us, so as to reach even you. |
| 14For we are not overextending ourselves, as if we did not reach to you, for we were the first to come even as far as you in the gospel of Christ; | 14For it is not as though we were overstepping our limits when we came to you. We were the first to reach you with the gospel of the Messiah. |
| 15not boasting beyond our measure, that is, in other men's labors, but with the hope that as your faith grows, we will be, within our sphere, enlarged even more by you, | 15We are not boasting about work done by others that cannot be evaluated. On the contrary, we cherish the hope that your faith may continue to grow and enlarge our sphere of action among you until it overflows. |
| 16so as to preach the gospel even to the regions beyond you, and not to boast in what has been accomplished in the sphere of another. | 16Then we can preach the gospel in the regions far beyond you without boasting about things already accomplished by someone else. |
| 17But HE WHO BOASTS IS TO BOAST IN THE LORD. | 17"The person who boasts should boast in the Lord." |
| 18For it is not he who commends himself that is approved, but he whom the Lord commends. | 18It is not the person who commends himself who is approved, but the person whom the Lord commends. |
| New American Standard Bible Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation, La Habra, Calif. All rights reserved. For Permission to Quote Information visit //www.lockman.org | The Holy Bible: International Standard Version® Release 2.1 Copyright © 1996-2012 The ISV Foundation
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