| English Standard Version | Christian Standard Bible |
| 1I, Paul, myself entreat you, by the meekness and gentleness of Christ—I who am humble when face to face with you, but bold toward you when I am away!— | 1Now I Paul, myself, appeal to you by the meekness and gentleness of Christ--I who am humble among you in person but bold toward you when absent. |
| 2I beg of you that when I am present I may not have to show boldness with such confidence as I count on showing against some who suspect us of walking according to the flesh. | 2I beg you that when I am present I will not need to be bold with the confidence by which I plan to challenge certain people who think we are behaving according to the flesh. |
| 3For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh. | 3For although we live in the flesh, we do not wage war according to the flesh, |
| 4For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. | 4since the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but are powerful through God for the demolition of strongholds. We demolish arguments |
| 5We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ, | 5and every proud thing that is raised up against the knowledge of God, and we take every thought captive to obey Christ. |
| 6being ready to punish every disobedience, when your obedience is complete. | 6And we are ready to punish any disobedience, once your obedience is complete. |
| 7Look at what is before your eyes. If anyone is confident that he is Christ’s, let him remind himself that just as he is Christ’s, so also are we. | 7Look at what is obvious. If anyone is confident that he belongs to Christ, let him remind himself of this: Just as he belongs to Christ, so do we. |
| 8For even if I boast a little too much of our authority, which the Lord gave for building you up and not for destroying you, I will not be ashamed. | 8For if I boast a little too much about our authority, which the Lord gave for building you up and not for tearing you down, I will not be put to shame. |
| 9I do not want to appear to be frightening you with my letters. | 9I don't want to seem as though I am trying to terrify you with my letters. |
| 10For they say, “His letters are weighty and strong, but his bodily presence is weak, and his speech of no account.” | 10For it is said, "His letters are weighty and powerful, but his physical presence is weak and his public speaking amounts to nothing." |
| 11Let such a person understand that what we say by letter when absent, we do when present. | 11Let such a person consider this: What we are in our letters, when we are absent, we will also be in our actions when we are present. |
| 12Not that we dare to classify or compare ourselves with some of those who are commending themselves. But when they measure themselves by one another and compare themselves with one another, they are without understanding. | 12For we don't dare classify or compare ourselves with some who commend themselves. But in measuring themselves by themselves and comparing themselves to themselves, they lack understanding. |
| 13But we will not boast beyond limits, but will boast only with regard to the area of influence God assigned to us, to reach even to you. | 13We, however, will not boast beyond measure but according to the measure of the area of ministry that God has assigned to us, which reaches even to you. |
| 14For we are not overextending ourselves, as though we did not reach you. For we were the first to come all the way to you with the gospel of Christ. | 14For we are not overextending ourselves, as if we had not reached you, since we have come to you with the gospel of Christ. |
| 15We do not boast beyond limit in the labors of others. But our hope is that as your faith increases, our area of influence among you may be greatly enlarged, | 15We are not boasting beyond measure about other people's labors. On the contrary, we have the hope that as your faith increases, our area of ministry will be greatly enlarged, |
| 16so that we may preach the gospel in lands beyond you, without boasting of work already done in another’s area of influence. | 16so that we may preach the gospel to the regions beyond you without boasting about what has already been done in someone else's area of ministry. |
| 17“Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.” | 17So let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord. |
| 18For it is not the one who commends himself who is approved, but the one whom the Lord commends. | 18For it is not the one commending himself who is approved, but the one the Lord commends. |
| ESV Text Edition: 2016. The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®) copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. The ESV® text has been reproduced in cooperation with and by permission of Good News Publishers. Unauthorized reproduction of this publication is prohibited. All rights reserved. | The Christian Standard Bible. Copyright © 2017 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. |
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