2:1 So ¹  I made up my own mind ²  not to pay you another painful visit. ³  2:2 For if I make you sad, who would be left to make me glad ⁴  but the one I caused to be sad? 2:3 And I wrote this very thing to you, ⁵  so that when I came ⁶  I would not have sadness from those who ought to make me rejoice, since I am confident in you all that my joy would be yours. 2:4 For out of great distress and anguish of heart I wrote to you with many tears, not to make you sad, but to let you know the love that I have especially for you. ⁷  2:5 But if anyone has caused sadness, he has not saddened me alone, but to some extent (not to exaggerate) ⁸  he has saddened all of you as well. 2:6 This punishment on such an individual by the majority is enough for him, 2:7 so that now instead ⁹  you should rather forgive and comfort him. ¹⁰  This will keep him from being overwhelmed by excessive grief to the point of despair. ¹¹  2:8 Therefore I urge you to reaffirm your love for him. ¹²  2:9 For this reason also I wrote you: ¹³  to test you to see ¹⁴  if you are obedient in everything. 2:10 If you forgive anyone for anything, I also forgive him – for indeed what I have forgiven (if I have forgiven anything) I did so for you in the presence of Christ, 2:11 so that we may not be exploited ¹⁵  by Satan (for we are not ignorant of his schemes). 2:12 Now when I arrived in Troas ¹⁶  to proclaim the gospel of Christ, even though the Lord had opened ¹⁷  a door of opportunity ¹⁸  for me, 2:13 I had no relief in my spirit, ¹⁹  because I did not find my brother Titus there. So I said good-bye to them ²⁰  and set out ²¹  for Macedonia.

2:14 But thanks be to God who always leads us in triumphal procession ²²  in Christ ²³  and who makes known ²⁴  through us the fragrance that consists of the knowledge of him in every place. 2:15 For we are a sweet aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing – 2:16 to the latter an odor ²⁵  from death to death, but to the former a fragrance from life to life. And who is adequate for these things? ²⁶  2:17 For we are not like so many others, hucksters who peddle the word of God for profit, ²⁷  but we are speaking in Christ before ²⁸  God as persons of sincerity, ²⁹  as persons sent from God.

3:1 Are we beginning to commend ourselves again? We don’t need letters of recommendation to you or from you as some other people do, do we? ³⁰  3:2 You yourselves are our letter, ³¹  written on our hearts, known and read by everyone, 3:3 revealing ³²  that you are a letter of Christ, delivered by us, ³³  written not with ink but by the Spirit of the living God, not on stone tablets ³⁴  but on tablets of human hearts.

3:4 Now we have such confidence in God through Christ. 3:5 Not that we are adequate ³⁵  in ourselves to consider anything as if it were coming from ourselves, but our adequacy ³⁶  is from God, 3:6 who made us adequate ³⁷  to be servants of a new covenant ³⁸  not based on the letter but on the Spirit, for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.

3:7 But if the ministry that produced death – carved in letters on stone tablets ³⁹  – came with glory, so that the Israelites ⁴⁰  could not keep their eyes fixed on the face of Moses because of the glory of his face ⁴¹  (a glory ⁴²  which was made ineffective), ⁴³  3:8 how much more glorious will the ministry of the Spirit be? ⁴⁴  3:9 For if there was glory in the ministry that produced condemnation, ⁴⁵  how much more does the ministry that produces righteousness ⁴⁶  excel ⁴⁷  in glory! 3:10 For indeed, what had been glorious now ⁴⁸  has no glory because of the tremendously greater glory of what replaced it. ⁴⁹  3:11 For if what was made ineffective ⁵⁰  came with ⁵¹  glory, how much more has what remains ⁵²  come in glory! 3:12 Therefore, since we have such a hope, we behave with great boldness, ⁵³  3:13 and not like Moses who used to put a veil over his face to keep the Israelites ⁵⁴  from staring ⁵⁵  at the result ⁵⁶  of the glory that was made ineffective. ⁵⁷  3:14 But their minds were closed. ⁵⁸  For to this very day, the same veil remains when they hear the old covenant read. ⁵⁹  It has not been removed because only in Christ is it taken away. ⁶⁰  3:15 But until this very day whenever Moses is read, a veil lies over their minds, ⁶¹  3:16 but when one ⁶²  turns to the Lord, the veil is removed. ⁶³  3:17 Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is present, ⁶⁴  there is freedom. 3:18 And we all, with unveiled faces reflecting the glory of the Lord, ⁶⁵  are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another, ⁶⁶  which is from ⁶⁷  the Lord, who is the Spirit. ⁶⁸ 

4:1 Therefore, since we have this ministry, just as God has shown us mercy, ⁶⁹  we do not become discouraged. ⁷⁰  4:2 But we have rejected ⁷¹  shameful hidden deeds, ⁷²  not behaving ⁷³  with deceptiveness ⁷⁴  or distorting the word of God, but by open proclamation of the truth we commend ourselves to everyone’s conscience before God. 4:3 But even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled only to those who are perishing, 4:4 among whom the god of this age has blinded the minds of those who do not believe ⁷⁵  so they would not see the light of the glorious gospel ⁷⁶  of Christ, ⁷⁷  who is the image of God. 4:5 For we do not proclaim ⁷⁸  ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your slaves ⁷⁹  for Jesus’ sake. 4:6 For God, who said “Let light shine out of darkness,” ⁸⁰  is the one who shined in our hearts to give us the light of the glorious knowledge ⁸¹  of God in the face of Christ. ⁸² 

4:7 But we have this treasure in clay jars, so that the extraordinary power ⁸³  belongs to God and does not come from us. 4:8 We are experiencing trouble on every side, ⁸⁴  but are not crushed; we are perplexed, ⁸⁵  but not driven to despair; 4:9 we are persecuted, but not abandoned; ⁸⁶  we are knocked down, ⁸⁷  but not destroyed, 4:10 always carrying around in our body the death of Jesus, ⁸⁸  so that the life of Jesus may also be made visible ⁸⁹  in our body. 4:11 For we who are alive are constantly being handed over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that the life of Jesus may also be made visible ⁹⁰  in our mortal body. ⁹¹  4:12 As a result, ⁹²  death is at work in us, but life is at work in you. ⁹³  4:13 But since we have the same spirit of faith as that shown in ⁹⁴  what has been written, “I believed; therefore I spoke,” ⁹⁵  we also believe, therefore we also speak. 4:14 We do so ⁹⁶  because we know that the one who raised up Jesus ⁹⁷  will also raise us up with Jesus and will bring us with you into his presence. 4:15 For all these things are for your sake, so that the grace that is including ⁹⁸  more and more people may cause thanksgiving to increase ⁹⁹  to the glory of God. 4:16 Therefore we do not despair, ¹⁰⁰  but even if our physical body ¹⁰¹  is wearing away, our inner person ¹⁰²  is being renewed day by day. 4:17 For our momentary, light suffering ¹⁰³  is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison 4:18 because we are not looking at what can be seen but at what cannot be seen. For what can be seen is temporary, but what cannot be seen is eternal.

5:1 For we know that if our earthly house, the tent we live in, ¹⁰⁴  is dismantled, ¹⁰⁵  we have a building from God, a house not built by human hands, that is eternal in the heavens. 5:2 For in this earthly house ¹⁰⁶  we groan, because we desire to put on ¹⁰⁷  our heavenly dwelling, 5:3 if indeed, after we have put on ¹⁰⁸  our heavenly house, ¹⁰⁹  we will not be found naked. 5:4 For we groan while we are in this tent, ¹¹⁰  since we are weighed down, ¹¹¹  because we do not want to be unclothed, but clothed, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. 5:5 Now the one who prepared us for this very purpose ¹¹²  is God, who gave us the Spirit as a down payment. ¹¹³  5:6 Therefore we are always full of courage, and we know that as long as we are alive here on earth ¹¹⁴  we are absent from the Lord – 5:7 for we live ¹¹⁵  by faith, not by sight. 5:8 Thus we are full of courage and would prefer to be away ¹¹⁶  from the body and at home with the Lord. 5:9 So then whether we are alive ¹¹⁷  or away, we make it our ambition to please him. ¹¹⁸  5:10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, ¹¹⁹  so that each one may be paid back according to what he has done while in the body, whether good or evil. ¹²⁰ 

5:11 Therefore, because we know the fear of the Lord, ¹²¹  we try to persuade ¹²²  people, ¹²³  but we are well known ¹²⁴  to God, and I hope we are well known to your consciences too. 5:12 We are not trying to commend ¹²⁵  ourselves to you again, but are giving you an opportunity to be proud of us, ¹²⁶  so that you may be able to answer those who take pride ¹²⁷  in outward appearance ¹²⁸  and not in what is in the heart. 5:13 For if we are out of our minds, it is for God; if we are of sound mind, it is for you. 5:14 For the love of Christ ¹²⁹  controls us, since we have concluded this, that Christ ¹³⁰  died for all; therefore all have died. 5:15 And he died for all so that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised. ¹³¹  5:16 So then from now on we acknowledge ¹³²  no one from an outward human point of view. ¹³³  Even though we have known Christ from such a human point of view, ¹³⁴  now we do not know him in that way any longer. 5:17 So then, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; what is old has passed away ¹³⁵  – look, what is new ¹³⁶  has come! ¹³⁷  5:18 And all these things are from God who reconciled us to himself through Christ, and who has given us the ministry of reconciliation. 5:19 In other words, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting people’s trespasses against them, and he has given us ¹³⁸  the message of reconciliation. 5:20 Therefore we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making His plea ¹³⁹  through us. We plead with you ¹⁴⁰  on Christ’s behalf, “Be reconciled to God!” 5:21 God ¹⁴¹  made the one who did not know sin ¹⁴²  to be sin for us, so that in him ¹⁴³  we would become the righteousness of God.

6:1 Now because we are fellow workers, we also urge you not to receive the grace of God in vain. ¹⁴⁴  6:2 For he says, “I heard you at the acceptable time, and in the day of salvation I helped you.” ¹⁴⁵  Look, now is the acceptable time; look, now is the day of salvation! 6:3 We do not give anyone ¹⁴⁶  an occasion for taking an offense in anything, ¹⁴⁷  so that no fault may be found with our ministry. 6:4 But as God’s servants, ¹⁴⁸  we have commended ourselves in every way, ¹⁴⁹  with great endurance, in persecutions, ¹⁵⁰  in difficulties, in distresses, 6:5 in beatings, in imprisonments, in riots, ¹⁵¹  in troubles, ¹⁵²  in sleepless nights, in hunger, 6:6 by purity, by knowledge, by patience, by benevolence, by the Holy Spirit, ¹⁵³  by genuine ¹⁵⁴  love, 6:7 by truthful ¹⁵⁵  teaching, ¹⁵⁶  by the power of God, with weapons of righteousness both for the right hand and for the left, ¹⁵⁷  6:8 through glory and dishonor, through slander and praise; regarded as impostors, ¹⁵⁸  and yet true; 6:9 as unknown, and yet well-known; as dying and yet – see! – we continue to live; as those who are scourged ¹⁵⁹  and yet not executed; 6:10 as sorrowful, but always rejoicing, as poor, but making many rich, as having nothing, and yet possessing everything.

6:11 We have spoken freely to you, ¹⁶⁰  Corinthians; our heart has been opened wide to you. 6:12 Our affection for you is not restricted, ¹⁶¹  but you are restricted in your affections for us. 6:13 Now as a fair exchange – I speak as to my ¹⁶²  children – open wide your hearts to us ¹⁶³  also.

6:14 Do not become partners ¹⁶⁴  with those who do not believe, for what partnership is there between righteousness and lawlessness, or what fellowship does light have with darkness? 6:15 And what agreement does Christ have with Beliar? ¹⁶⁵  Or what does a believer share in common with an unbeliever? 6:16 And what mutual agreement does the temple of God have with idols? For we are ¹⁶⁶  the temple of the living God, just as God said, “I will live in them ¹⁶⁷  and will walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be my people.” ¹⁶⁸  6:17 Therefore “come out from their midst, and be separate,” says the Lord, “and touch no unclean thing, ¹⁶⁹  and I will welcome ¹⁷⁰  you, ¹⁷¹  6:18 and I will be a father to you, and you will be my sons and daughters,” ¹⁷²  says the All-Powerful Lord. ¹⁷³