1 P aul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother, To the church of God which is at Corinth with all the saints who are throughout Achaia:

This letter is from Paul. I have been chosen by God to be a missionary for Jesus Christ. Timothy is here with me and is writing to you also. We are writing to God’s church in the city of Corinth and to all of God’s people in the country of Greece.

2 G race to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

May you have loving-favor and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

3 B lessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort,

We give thanks to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. He is our Father Who shows us loving-kindness and our God Who gives us comfort.

4 w ho comforts us in all our affliction so that we will be able to comfort those who are in any affliction with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.

He gives us comfort in all our troubles. Then we can comfort other people who have the same troubles. We give the same kind of comfort God gives us.

5 F or just as the sufferings of Christ are ours in abundance, so also our comfort is abundant through Christ.

As we have suffered much for Christ and have shared in His pain, we also share His great comfort.

6 B ut if we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation; or if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which is effective in the patient enduring of the same sufferings which we also suffer;

But if we are in trouble, it is for your good. And it is so you will be saved from the punishment of sin. If God comforts us, it is for your good also. You too will be given strength not to give up when you have the same kind of trouble we have.

7 a nd our hope for you is firmly grounded, knowing that as you are sharers of our sufferings, so also you are sharers of our comfort.

Our hope for you is the same all the time. We know you are sharing our troubles. And so you will share the comfort we receive.

8 F or we do not want you to be unaware, brethren, of our affliction which came to us in Asia, that we were burdened excessively, beyond our strength, so that we despaired even of life;

We want you to know, Christian brothers, of the trouble we had in the countries of Asia. The load was so heavy we did not have the strength to keep going. At times we did not think we could live.

9 i ndeed, we had the sentence of death within ourselves so that we would not trust in ourselves, but in God who raises the dead;

We thought we would die. This happened so we would not put our trust in ourselves, but in God Who raises the dead.

10 w ho delivered us from so great a peril of death, and will deliver us, He on whom we have set our hope. And He will yet deliver us,

Yes, God kept us from what looked like sure death and He is keeping us. As we trust Him, He will keep us in the future.

11 y ou also joining in helping us through your prayers, so that thanks may be given by many persons on our behalf for the favor bestowed on us through the prayers of many. Paul’s Integrity

You also help us by praying for us. Many people thank God for His favor to us. This is an answer to the prayers of many people. Paul Wants to Visit Corinth

12 F or our proud confidence is this: the testimony of our conscience, that in holiness and godly sincerity, not in fleshly wisdom but in the grace of God, we have conducted ourselves in the world, and especially toward you.

I am happy to say this. Whatever we did in this world, and for sure when we were with you, we were honest and had pure desires. We did not trust in human wisdom. Our power came from God’s loving-favor.

13 F or we write nothing else to you than what you read and understand, and I hope you will understand until the end;

We write to you only what we know you can understand. I hope you will understand everything.

14 j ust as you also partially did understand us, that we are your reason to be proud as you also are ours, in the day of our Lord Jesus.

When the Lord Jesus comes again, you can be as proud of us as we will be proud of you. Right now you do not understand us real well.

15 I n this confidence I intended at first to come to you, so that you might twice receive a blessing;

It was because of this, I wanted to visit you first. In that way, you would be helped two times.

16 t hat is, to pass your way into Macedonia, and again from Macedonia to come to you, and by you to be helped on my journey to Judea.

I wanted to stop to visit you on my way to the country of Macedonia. I would stop again as I came from there. Then you could help me on my way to the country of Judea.

17 T herefore, I was not vacillating when I intended to do this, was I? Or what I purpose, do I purpose according to the flesh, so that with me there will be yes, yes and no, no at the same time ?

Yes, I changed my mind. Does that show that I change my mind a lot? Do I plan things as people of the world who say yes when they mean no? You know I am not like that!

18 B ut as God is faithful, our word to you is not yes and no.

As God is true, my yes means yes. I am not the kind of person who says one thing and means another.

19 F or the Son of God, Christ Jesus, who was preached among you by us—by me and Silvanus and Timothy—was not yes and no, but is yes in Him.

Timothy and Silvanus and I have preached to you about Jesus Christ, the Son of God. In Him there is no yes and no. In Him is yes.

20 F or as many as are the promises of God, in Him they are yes; therefore also through Him is our Amen to the glory of God through us.

Jesus says yes to all of God’s many promises. It is through Jesus that we say, “Let it be so,” when we give thanks to God.

21 N ow He who establishes us with you in Christ and anointed us is God,

God is the One Who makes our faith and your faith strong in Christ. He has set us apart for Himself.

22 w ho also sealed us and gave us the Spirit in our hearts as a pledge.

He has put His mark on us to show we belong to Him. His Spirit is in our hearts to prove this.

23 B ut I call God as witness to my soul, that to spare you I did not come again to Corinth.

I call on God to look into my heart. The reason I did not come to the city of Corinth was because I did not want my strong words to hurt you.

24 N ot that we lord it over your faith, but are workers with you for your joy; for in your faith you are standing firm.

We are not the boss of your faith but we are working with you to make you happy. Your faith is strong.