Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus through the  ¹will of God, and Timothy the brother, to the  ²church of God which is  ³in Corinth,  ⁴with all the saints who are in the whole of  ⁵Achaia:

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

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of  ¹compassions and God of all  ²comfort;

Who comforts us in all our affliction that we may be  ¹able to comfort those who are in every affliction through the comforting with which we ourselves are comforted by God.

For even as the  ¹sufferings of the Christ abound unto us, so through  ²the Christ our comfort also abounds.

But whether we are afflicted, it is for your comforting and salvation; or whether we are comforted, it is for your comforting, which operates in the endurance of the same sufferings which we also suffer.

And our hope for you is firm, knowing that as you are partakers of the sufferings, so also you are of the comfort.

For we do not want you to be ignorant, brothers, of our affliction which befell us in Asia, that we were excessively  ¹burdened, beyond our power, so that we  ²despaired even of  ³living.

 ¹Indeed we ourselves had the  ²response of death in ourselves, that we should not base our confidence on ourselves but on  ³God, who raises the dead;

Who has delivered us out of so great a death, and  ¹will deliver us; in whom we have hoped that He will also yet deliver us,

If you also  ¹help in this by petition on our behalf, that for the  ²gift to us through many, thanks may be given by many  ³persons on our behalf.

For our boasting is this, the testimony of our  ¹conscience, that in  ²singleness and  ³sincerity of God, not in  ⁴fleshly wisdom but in the  ⁵grace of God, we have conducted ourselves in the world, and more abundantly toward you.

For no other things do we write to you than what you read or even know; and I hope that you will know unto the end,

Even as also you know us in part, that we are your boast, just as you also are ours in the  ¹day of our Lord Jesus.

And in this confidence I intended to come to you previously that you might have  ¹double grace,

And through you to pass through into  ¹Macedonia, and again from Macedonia to come to you and be sent forward by you into Judea.

This therefore intending, did I then use fickleness? Or the things which I purpose, do I purpose according to the flesh, so that with me there should be Yes, yes and No, no?

 ¹But as God is faithful, our  ²word toward you is not yes and no.

 ¹For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who was preached among you through us, through me and  ²Silvanus and Timothy, did not become yes and no, but our word has become yes in Him.

 ¹For as many promises of God as there are, in  ²Him is the  ³Yes; therefore also through  ²Him is  ⁴the Amen to God,  ⁵for glory through  ⁶us to God.

 ¹But the One who  ²firmly attaches  ³us  ⁴with you unto  ⁵Christ and has  ⁶anointed us is God,

He who has also  ¹sealed us and given the Spirit in our  ²hearts as a  ³pledge.

But I call on God as a witness  ¹against my soul that to  ²spare you I have not yet come to Corinth.

Not that we lord it over your faith, but we are fellow workers with you for your joy; for by  ¹faith you stand.

But I  ¹determined this for myself, that I would not come again to you in sorrow.

For if I cause you sorrow, who then is the one who makes me glad, except the one who is made sorrowful by me?

And I  ¹wrote this very thing to you that when I come I would not have sorrow from those who ought to make me rejoice, having confidence in you all that my joy is the joy of you all.

For out of much affliction and anguish of heart I wrote to you through many tears, not that you would be made sorrowful but that you would know the love which I have more abundantly toward you.

But if anyone has caused sorrow, he has not caused me to sorrow, but in part (lest I  ¹lay too heavy a burden) all of you.

Sufficient for such a one is this punishment by the majority,

So that on the contrary you should rather  ¹forgive and comfort him, lest perhaps such a one be swallowed up with excessive sorrow.

Therefore I exhort you to  ¹confirm your love toward him.

For to this end also I wrote, that I might  ¹know your  ²approvedness, whether you are obedient in all things.

But whom you  ¹forgive anything, I also forgive; for also what I have  ²forgiven, if I have forgiven anything, it is for your sake in the  ³person of Christ;

That we may not be taken advantage of by  ¹Satan, for we are not ignorant of his  ²schemes.

 ¹Furthermore, when I came to Troas for the gospel of Christ and a door was open to me  ²in the Lord,

I had no rest in my  ¹spirit, for I did not find Titus my brother; but taking leave of them, I went forth into  ²Macedonia.

But thanks be to God, who always  ¹leads  ²us in triumph in  ³the Christ and manifests the  ⁴savor of the knowledge of Him through  ⁵us in every place.

For we  ¹are a fragrance of Christ to God in those who are being saved and in those who are perishing:

To some a savor out of death  ¹unto death, and to the others a savor out of life  ¹unto life. And who is  ²sufficient for these things?

For we are not like the many,  ¹adulterating the word of God for profit; but as out of sincerity, but as out of God, before God we  ²speak in Christ.

Are we beginning again to commend ourselves? Or do we need, as some do, letters of commendation to you or from you?

You are  ¹our letter, inscribed in  ²our hearts, known and read by all men,

Since you are being manifested that you are a  ¹letter of Christ  ²ministered by us, inscribed not with ink but  ³with the Spirit of the living God; not in tablets of stone but in tablets of  ⁴hearts of flesh.

And such confidence we have through Christ toward God,

Not that we are  ¹sufficient of ourselves to  ²account anything as from ourselves; but our  ³sufficiency is from God,

Who has also made us sufficient as ministers of a new covenant, ministers not of the  ¹letter but of the  ²Spirit; for the  ³letter kills, but the  ⁴Spirit gives life.

Moreover if the  ¹ministry of death, engraved in stone in letters, came about in  ²glory, so that the sons of Israel were not able to gaze at the face of Moses because of the glory of his face, a glory which was being done away with,

How shall the  ¹ministry of the Spirit not be more in  ²glory?

For if there is glory with the ministry of  ¹condemnation, much more the ministry of  ²righteousness  ³abounds with glory.

For also that which has been  ¹glorified  ²in this respect  ³has not been glorified on account of the surpassing glory.

For if that which was  ¹being done away with was  ²through glory, much more that which remains is in glory.

Therefore since we have such  ¹hope, we use much  ²boldness,

And are not like Moses, who put a veil on his face so that the sons of Israel would not gaze  ¹at the end of that which was being done away with.

But their  ¹thoughts were hardened; for until the present day the same veil remains at the reading of the old covenant,  ²it not being unveiled to them that the veil is being done away with in Christ.

Indeed unto this day, whenever  ¹Moses is read, a veil lies on their heart;

But whenever  ¹their heart turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away.

 ¹And the  ²Lord is the  ³Spirit; and where the  ⁴Spirit of the Lord is, there is  ⁵freedom.

 ¹But  ²we all with  ³unveiled face,  ⁴beholding and reflecting like a  ⁵mirror the  ⁶glory of the Lord, are  ⁷being transformed into the  ⁸same image  ⁹from glory to glory, even as  ¹⁰from the  ¹¹Lord Spirit.