| New Living Translation | Holman Christian Standard Bible |
| 1This letter is from Paul, chosen by the will of God to be an apostle of Christ Jesus, and from our brother Timothy. I am writing to God’s church in Corinth and to all of his holy people throughout Greece. | 1Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by God's will, and Timothy our brother: To God's church at Corinth, with all the saints who are throughout Achaia. |
| 2May God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ give you grace and peace. God Offers Comfort to All | 2Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. |
| 3All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is our merciful Father and the source of all comfort. | 3Praise the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and the God of all comfort. |
| 4He comforts us in all our troubles so that we can comfort others. When they are troubled, we will be able to give them the same comfort God has given us. | 4He comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any kind of affliction, through the comfort we ourselves receive from God. |
| 5For the more we suffer for Christ, the more God will shower us with his comfort through Christ. | 5For as the sufferings of Christ overflow to us, so through Christ our comfort also overflows. |
| 6Even when we are weighed down with troubles, it is for your comfort and salvation! For when we ourselves are comforted, we will certainly comfort you. Then you can patiently endure the same things we suffer. | 6If we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation. If we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which is experienced in your endurance of the same sufferings that we suffer. |
| 7We are confident that as you share in our sufferings, you will also share in the comfort God gives us. | 7And our hope for you is firm, because we know that as you share in the sufferings, so you will share in the comfort. |
| 8We think you ought to know, dear brothers and sisters, about the trouble we went through in the province of Asia. We were crushed and overwhelmed beyond our ability to endure, and we thought we would never live through it. | 8For we don't want you to be unaware, brothers, of our affliction that took place in Asia: we were completely overwhelmed--beyond our strength--so that we even despaired of life. |
| 9In fact, we expected to die. But as a result, we stopped relying on ourselves and learned to rely only on God, who raises the dead. | 9Indeed, we personally had a death sentence within ourselves, so that we would not trust in ourselves but in God who raises the dead. |
| 10And he did rescue us from mortal danger, and he will rescue us again. We have placed our confidence in him, and he will continue to rescue us. | 10He has delivered us from such a terrible death, and He will deliver us. We have put our hope in Him that He will deliver us again |
| 11And you are helping us by praying for us. Then many people will give thanks because God has graciously answered so many prayers for our safety. Paul’s Change of Plans | 11while you join in helping us by your prayers. Then many will give thanks on our behalf for the gift that came to us through the prayers of many. |
| 12We can say with confidence and a clear conscience that we have lived with a God-given holiness and sincerity in all our dealings. We have depended on God’s grace, not on our own human wisdom. That is how we have conducted ourselves before the world, and especially toward you. | 12For this is our confidence: The testimony of our conscience is that we have conducted ourselves in the world, and especially toward you, with God-given sincerity and purity, not by fleshly wisdom but by God's grace. |
| 13Our letters have been straightforward, and there is nothing written between the lines and nothing you can’t understand. I hope someday you will fully understand us, | 13Now we are writing nothing to you other than what you can read and also understand. I hope you will understand completely-- |
| 14even if you don’t understand us now. Then on the day when the Lord Jesus returns, you will be proud of us in the same way we are proud of you. | 14as you have partially understood us--that we are your reason for pride, as you are ours, in the day of our Lord Jesus. |
| 15Since I was so sure of your understanding and trust, I wanted to give you a double blessing by visiting you twice— | 15I planned with this confidence to come to you first, so you could have a double benefit, |
| 16first on my way to Macedonia and again when I returned from Macedonia. Then you could send me on my way to Judea. | 16and to go on to Macedonia with your help, then come to you again from Macedonia and be given a start by you on my journey to Judea. |
| 17You may be asking why I changed my plan. Do you think I make my plans carelessly? Do you think I am like people of the world who say “Yes” when they really mean “No”? | 17So when I planned this, was I irresponsible? Or what I plan, do I plan in a purely human way so that I say "Yes, yes" and "No, no" simultaneously? |
| 18As surely as God is faithful, our word to you does not waver between “Yes” and “No.” | 18As God is faithful, our message to you is not "Yes and no." |
| 19For Jesus Christ, the Son of God, does not waver between “Yes” and “No.” He is the one whom Silas, Timothy, and I preached to you, and as God’s ultimate “Yes,” he always does what he says. | 19For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who was preached among you by us--by me and Silvanus and Timothy--did not become "Yes and no"; on the contrary, a final "Yes" has come in Him. |
| 20For all of God’s promises have been fulfilled in Christ with a resounding “Yes!” And through Christ, our “Amen” (which means “Yes”) ascends to God for his glory. | 20For every one of God's promises is "Yes" in Him. Therefore, the "Amen" is also spoken through Him by us for God's glory. |
| 21It is God who enables us, along with you, to stand firm for Christ. He has commissioned us, | 21Now it is God who strengthens us, with you, in Christ and has anointed us. |
| 22and he has identified us as his own by placing the Holy Spirit in our hearts as the first installment that guarantees everything he has promised us. | 22He has also sealed us and given us the Spirit as a down payment in our hearts. |
| 23Now I call upon God as my witness that I am telling the truth. The reason I didn’t return to Corinth was to spare you from a severe rebuke. | 23I call on God as a witness, on my life, that it was to spare you that I did not come to Corinth. |
| 24But that does not mean we want to dominate you by telling you how to put your faith into practice. We want to work together with you so you will be full of joy, for it is by your own faith that you stand firm. | 24I do not mean that we have control of your faith, but we are workers with you for your joy, because you stand by faith. |
| Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved. | Holman Christian Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2009 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. |
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