2 Corinthians 1
1 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and our brother Timothy, to the church of God in Corinth, together with all the saints throughout Achaia.
2 Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort.
4 He comforts us in all our affliction, so that we can comfort those in any affliction with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.
5 For just as the sufferings of Christ overflow to us, so also through Christ our comfort overflows.
6 If we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation; if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which works through your endurance of the same sufferings that we also endure.
7 And our hope for you is firm, because we know that just as you share in the sufferings, you also share in the comfort.
8 For we do not want you to be unaware, brothers and sisters, of the affliction that came upon us in Asia: we were burdened beyond measure, beyond our strength, so that we even despaired of life.
9 Indeed, we had within ourselves the sentence of death, so that we would not trust in ourselves but in God, who raises the dead.
10 He rescued us from such a great danger of death, and he will rescue us; we have set our hope on him that he will rescue us again.
11 You also help us through your prayers, so that many people may give thanks for the gift granted to us through many.
12 For this is our reason to boast: the testimony of our conscience that we have conducted ourselves in the world, and especially toward you, with God's holiness and sincerity—not with worldly wisdom, but with God's grace.
13 For we write to you nothing other than what you read and understand; and I hope you will understand it fully.
14 As you have already understood us in part: we are your reason to boast, just as you are ours, on the day of our Lord Jesus.
15 With this confidence, I wanted to come to you first, so that you might receive a second benefit.
16 I wanted to pass through you on my way to Macedonia, then return to you from Macedonia, and be sent on my way by you to Judea.
17 When I wanted to do this, was I being fickle? Or do I make my plans according to human standards, so that I have both “Yes, yes” and “No, no” within me?
18 But God is faithful: our word to you is not “Yes” and “No.”
19 For the Son of God, Christ Jesus, who was proclaimed among you through us—through me, Silvanus, and Timothy—was not “Yes” and “No”; in him it has always been “Yes.”
20 For all God's promises are “Yes” in him. That is why through him we also say “Amen” to God, for his glory, through us.
21 Now it is God who establishes us with you in Christ and anoints us.
22 He has also sealed us and given us the Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee.
23 I call God as my witness against my life: it was to spare you that I did not come to Corinth again.
24 Not that we lord it over your faith; rather, we work with you for your joy, for you stand firm through faith.
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