1 From Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, and Timothy the brother, to the church of God which is in Corinth, with all the saints who are in the whole of Achaea,
2 grace to you and peace from God our father and 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 who comforts us at every tribulation of ours, so that we can comfort those in any tribulation, through the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.
5 For as the sufferings of Christ abound towards us, so also our comfort abounds through Christ.
6 And if we are in tribulation, it is for your comfort and salvation, which is effective in endurance of the same sufferings which we also suffer; and our hope for you is firm, and if we are comforted, it is for your comfort and salvation,
7 knowing that as you are partakers of the sufferings, so are you also of the comfort.
8 For we do not wish you to be ignorant, brothers, of our tribulation which came on us in Asia, because we were exceedingly weighed down beyond our ability to cope, so that we even despaired of surviving.
9 But we ourselves have had the sentence of death in ourselves, so that we should not be trusting in ourselves, but in God who raises the dead,
10 who has rescued us from so great a death, and is rescuing us, in whom we have put our hope that he will rescue still,
11 while you also support us in your supplication for us, so that thanks may be offered for the favour shown to us by many individuals, through many tribulations, on your behalf.
12 For our exultation is this: the witness of our consciences – that we have conducted ourselves in godly simplicity and sincerity, not in fleshly wisdom, but in the grace of God, in the world and all the more towards you.
13 For we do not write to you any other things than either what you read or acknowledge, and I hope that you will also continue to acknowledge them until the end,
14 as you have also acknowledged us in part, that we are your exultation, as indeed you are ours, in the day of the Lord Jesus.
15 And I wanted to come to you in this confidence before, so that you might have a second benefit,
16 and to cross through your way to Macedonia, and to come to you again from Macedonia and to be sent on by you to Judaea.
17 Now then, when I resolved to do this, did I indulge in frivolity at all? Or the things I resolve to do – do I resolve to do them according to the flesh, so that it is “Yes, yes,” one day and “No, no,” another day with me?
18 But as God is faithful, our word to you was not “Yes” one day and “No” another day.
19 For the son of God, Jesus Christ, who was proclaimed among you by us, by me and Silvanus and Timothy, was not “Yes” and “No”, but in him was “Yes”.
20 For as regards all God's promises, in him is “Yes” and in him is “Amen”, with a view to glory to God through us.
21 He who confirms us with you into Christ and anoints us is God,
22 who has also sealed us to himself and given the pledge of the spirit in our hearts.
Paul's Change of Direction
23 And I call on God as a witness to my soul that I have never yet come to Corinth to spare you.
24 Not that we lord it over your faith, but we are co-workers of your joy, for you stand by faith.