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1 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother, to the church of God that is in Corinth, and to all God's holy people in the entire region of Achaia.
2 May grace be to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
3 May the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ be praised. He is the Father of mercies and the God of all comfort.
4 God comforts us in all our tribulation, so that we can comfort those who are in any tribulation. We comfort others with the same comfort that God used to comfort us.
5 For just as the sufferings of Christ abound for our sake, so also our comfort abounds through Christ.
6 But if we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation; and if we are comforted, it is for your comfort. Your comfort is working effectively in your endurance of the same sufferings that we also suffer.
7 Our hope concerning you is unshaken, for we know that as you share the sufferings, you also share our comfort.
8 For we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about the tribulation we had in Asia. We were utterly burdened beyond our strength, so that we despaired even of life.
9 Indeed, we had the sentence of death on us. But that was to make us not put our trust in ourselves, but instead in God, who raises the dead.
10 He rescued us from such a deadly peril, and he will rescue us. On him we have set our hope that he will rescue us.
11 He will do this as you also help us by your prayer. Then many will give thanks on our behalf for the gracious gift given to us through the prayers of many.
12 Our reason for boasting is this: Our conscience testifies that we have conducted ourselves in the world with integrity and godly sincerity, not relying on fleshly wisdom but on the grace of God.
13 We write to you nothing that you cannot read and understand, and I hope that you will fully understand
14 as you have understood us in part, that you can boast of us on the day of our Lord Jesus, just as we will boast of you.
15 Because I was confident about this, I wanted to come to you first, so that you might receive a second gracious gift.
16 I was planning to visit you on my way to Macedonia. Then I wanted to visit you again on my trip from Macedonia, and then for you to send me on my way to Judea.
17 When I was thinking this way, was I hesitating? Do I plan things according to the flesh, so that I say "Yes, yes" and "No, no" at the same time?
18 But just as God is faithful, our word to you is not "Yes" and "No."
19 For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, whom Silvanus, Timothy and I proclaimed among you, is not "Yes" and "No." Instead, he is always "Yes."
20 For all the promises of God are "Yes" in him. So also through him we say "Amen" to the glory of God.
21 Now it is God who confirms us with you in Christ, and he anointed us,
22 he set his seal on us and he gave us the Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee of what is to come.
23 But I call God as witness to my soul that the reason I did not come to Corinth was so that I might spare you.
24 This is not because we want to be lords over your faith. Instead, we are fellow laborers with you for your joy, as you stand in your faith.