1 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus through the will of God, and Timothy our brother, unto the church of God which is at Corinth, with all the saints that are in the whole of Achaia:
1 Paul, 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 in the whole of Achaia:
2 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
2 Grace to you and peace 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;
3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort,
4 who comforteth us in all our affliction, that we may be able to comfort them that are in any affliction, through the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God.
4 who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.
5 For as the sufferings of Christ abound unto us, even so our comfort also aboundeth through Christ.
5 For as we share abundantly in Christs sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too.
6 But whether we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation; or whether we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which worketh in the patient enduring of the same sufferings which we also suffer:
6 If we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation; and if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which you experience when you patiently endure the same sufferings that we suffer.
7 and our hope for you is stedfast; knowing that, as ye are partakers of the sufferings, so also are ye of the comfort.
7 Our hope for you is unshaken; for we know that as you share in our sufferings, you will also share in our comfort.
8 For we would not have you ignorant, brethren, concerning our affliction which befell (us) in Asia, that we were weighed down exceedingly, beyond our power, insomuch that we despaired even of life:
8 For we do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, of the affliction we experienced in Asia; for we were so utterly, unbearably crushed that we despaired of life itself.
9 yea, we ourselves have had the sentence of death within ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God who raiseth the dead:
9 Why, we felt that we had received the sentence of death; but that was to make us rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead;
10 who delivered us out of so great a death, and will deliver: on whom we have set our hope that he will also still deliver us;
10 he delivered us from so deadly a peril, and he will deliver us; on him we have set our hope that he will deliver us again.
11 ye also helping together on our behalf by your supplication; that, for the gift bestowed upon us by means of many, thanks may be given by many persons on our behalf.
11 You also must help us by prayer, so that many will give thanks on our behalf for the blessing granted us in answer to many prayers.
12 For our glorifying is this, the testimony of our conscience, that in holiness and sincerity of God, not in fleshly wisdom but in the grace of God, we behaved ourselves in the world, and more abundantly to you-ward.
12 For our boast is this, the testimony of our conscience that we have behaved in the world, and still more toward you, with holiness and godly sincerity, not by earthly wisdom but by the grace of God.
13 For we write no other things unto you, than what ye read or even acknowledge, and I hope ye will acknowledge unto the end:
13 For we write you nothing but what you can read and understand; I hope you will understand fully,
14 as also ye did acknowledge us in part, that we are your glorying, even as ye also are ours, in the day of our Lord Jesus.
14 as you have understood in part, that you can be proud of us as we can be of you, on the day of the Lord Jesus.
15 And in this confidence I was minded to come first unto you, that ye might have a second benefit;
15 Because I was sure of this, I wanted to come to you first, so that you might have a double pleasure;
16 and by you to pass into Macedonia, and again from Macedonia to come unto you, and of you to be set forward on my journey unto Judaea.
16 I wanted to visit you on my way to Macedonia, and to come back to you from Macedonia and have you send me on my way to Judea.
17 When I therefore was thus minded, did I show fickleness? or the things that I purpose, do I purpose according to the flesh, that with me there should be the yea yea and the nay nay?
17 Was I vacillating when I wanted to do this? Do I make my plans like a worldly man, ready to say Yes and No at once?
18 But as God is faithful, our word toward you is not yea and nay.
18 As surely as God is faithful, our word to you has not been Yes and No.
19 For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who was preached among you by us, (even) by me and Silvanus and Timothy, was not yea and nay, but in him is yea.
19 For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, whom we preached among you, Silvanus and Timothy and I, was not Yes and No; but in him it is always Yes.
20 For how many soever be the promises of God, in him is the yea: wherefore also through him is the Amen, unto the glory of God through us.
20 For all the promises of God find their Yes in him. That is why we utter the Amen through him, to the glory of God.
21 Now he that establisheth us with you in Christ, and anointed us, is God;
21 But it is God who establishes us with you in Christ, and has commissioned us;
22 who also sealed us, and gave (us) the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts.
22 he has put his seal upon us and given us his Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee.
23 But I call God for a witness upon my soul, that to spare you I forbare to come unto Corinth.
23 But I call God to witness against me -- it was to spare you that I refrained from coming to Corinth.
24 Not that we have lordship over your faith, but are helpers of your joy: for in faith ye stand fast.
24 Not that we lord it over your faith; we work with you for your joy, for you stand firm in your faith.