1 P aul, an apostle (a special messenger) of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy brother, to the church (assembly) of God which is at Corinth, and to all the saints (the people of God) throughout Achaia (most of Greece):

Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, and Timothy our brother, unto the church of God which is at Corinth, with all the saints which are in all Achaia:

2 G race (favor and spiritual blessing) to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed One).

Grace be to you and peace from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ.

3 B lessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of sympathy (pity and mercy) and the God of every comfort (consolation and encouragement),

Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort;

4 W ho comforts (consoles and encourages) us in every trouble (calamity and affliction), so that we may also be able to comfort (console and encourage) those who are in any kind of trouble or distress, with the comfort (consolation and encouragement) with which we ourselves are comforted (consoled and encouraged) by God.

Who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God.

5 F or just as Christ’s '> own] sufferings fall to our lot abundantly, so through Christ comfort (consolation and encouragement) is also abundantly by us.

For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also aboundeth by Christ.

6 B ut if we are troubled (afflicted and distressed), it is for your comfort (consolation and encouragement) and salvation; and if we are comforted (consoled and encouraged), it is for your comfort (consolation and encouragement), which works when you patiently endure the same evils (misfortunes and calamities) that we also suffer and undergo.

And whether we be afflicted, it is for your consolation and salvation, which is effectual in the enduring of the same sufferings which we also suffer: or whether we be comforted, it is for your consolation and salvation.

7 A nd our hope for you is ever unwavering (assured and unshaken); for we know that just as you share and are partners in sufferings and calamities, you also share and are partners in comfort (consolation and encouragement).

And our hope of you is stedfast, knowing, that as ye are partakers of the sufferings, so shall ye be also of the consolation.

8 F or we do not want you to be uninformed, brethren, about the affliction and oppressing distress which befell us in Asia, how we were so utterly and unbearably weighed down and crushed that we despaired even of life.

For we would not, brethren, have you ignorant of our trouble which came to us in Asia, that we were pressed out of measure, above strength, insomuch that we despaired even of life:

9 I ndeed, we felt within ourselves that we had received the sentence of death, but that was to keep us from trusting in and depending on ourselves instead of on God Who raises the dead.

But we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God which raiseth the dead:

10 W ho rescued and saved us from such a perilous death, and He will still rescue and save us; in and on Him we have set our hope (our joyful and confident expectation) that He will again deliver us '> draw us to Himself],

Who delivered us from so great a death, and doth deliver: in whom we trust that he will yet deliver us;

11 W hile you also cooperate by your prayers for us. Thus many persons give thanks on our behalf for the grace (the blessing of deliverance) granted us at the request of the many who have prayed.

Ye also helping together by prayer for us, that for the gift bestowed upon us by the means of many persons thanks may be given by many on our behalf.

12 I t is a reason for pride and exultation to which our conscience testifies that we have conducted ourselves in the world and especially toward you, with devout and pure motives and godly sincerity, not in fleshly wisdom but by the grace of God (the unmerited favor and merciful kindness by which God, exerting His holy influence upon souls, turns them to Christ, and keeps, strengthens, and increases them in Christian virtues).

For our rejoicing is this, the testimony of our conscience, that in simplicity and godly sincerity, not with fleshly wisdom, but by the grace of God, we have had our conversation in the world, and more abundantly to you-ward.

13 F or we write you nothing else but simply what you can read and understand, and I hope that you will become thoroughly acquainted '> divine things] and know and understand accurately and well to the end,

For we write none other things unto you, that what ye read or acknowledge; and I trust ye shall acknowledge even to the end;

14 a s you have partially known and understood and acknowledged us and recognized that you can be proud of us, even as we of you on the day of our Lord Jesus.

As also ye have acknowledged us in part, that we are your rejoicing, even as ye also are our's in the day of the Lord Jesus.

15 I t was with assurance of this that I wanted and planned to visit you first, so that you might have a double favor and token of grace (goodwill).

And in this confidence I was minded to come unto you before, that ye might have a second benefit;

16 t o visit you on my way to Macedonia, and to come again to you from Macedonia and have you send me forward on my way to Judea.

And to pass by you into Macedonia, and to come again out of Macedonia unto you, and of you to be brought on my way toward Judaea.

17 N ow because I changed my original plan, was I being unstable and capricious? Or what I plan, do I plan according to the flesh, ready to say Yes, yes, No, no?

When I therefore was thus minded, did I use lightness? or the things that I purpose, do I purpose according to the flesh, that with me there should be yea yea, and nay nay?

18 A s surely as God is trustworthy and faithful and means what He says, our speech and message to you have not been Yes No.

But as God is true, our word toward you was not yea and nay.

19 F or the Son of God, Christ Jesus (the Messiah), Who has been preached among you by us, by myself, Silvanus, and Timothy, was not Yes and No; but in Him it is Yes.

For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who was preached among you by us, even by me and Silvanus and Timotheus, was not yea and nay, but in him was yea.

20 F or as many as are the promises of God, they all find their Yes in Him. For this reason we also utter the Amen (so be it) to God through Him to the glory of God.

For all the promises of God in him are yea, and in him Amen, unto the glory of God by us.

21 B ut it is God Who confirms and makes us steadfast and establishes us with you in Christ, and has consecrated and anointed us '> enduing us with the gifts of the Holy Spirit];

Now he which stablisheth us with you in Christ, and hath anointed us, is God;

22 p utting His seal upon us and giving us His Spirit in our hearts as the security deposit and guarantee.

Who hath also sealed us, and given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts.

23 B ut I call upon God as my soul’s witness: it was to avoid hurting you that I refrained from coming to Corinth—

Moreover I call God for a record upon my soul, that to spare you I came not as yet unto Corinth.

24 N ot that we have dominion and lord it over your faith, but fellow laborers your joy, for in faith ( in your strong and welcome conviction or belief that Jesus is the Messiah, through Whom we obtain eternal salvation in the kingdom of God) you stand firm.

Not for that we have dominion over your faith, but are helpers of your joy: for by faith ye stand.