Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus through the will of God, and Timothy {Greek: the brother.}our brother, unto the church of God which is at Corinth, with all the saints that are in the whole of Achaia:
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Blessed be {Or, God and the Father See Romans 15:6 margin.}the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort;
who comforteth us in all our affliction, that we may be able to comfort them that are in any affliction, through the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God.
For as the sufferings of Christ abound unto us, even so our comfort also aboundeth through Christ.
But whether we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation; or whether we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which worketh in the patient enduring of the same sufferings which we also suffer:
and our hope for you is stedfast; knowing that, as ye are partakers of the sufferings, so also are ye of the comfort.
For we would not have you ignorant, brethren, concerning our affliction which befell us in Asia, that we were weighed down exceedingly, beyond our power, insomuch that we despaired even of life:
{Or, but we ourselves}yea, we ourselves have had the {Greek: answer.}sentence of death within ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God who raiseth the dead:
who delivered us out of so great a death, and will deliver: on whom we have {Some ancient authorities read set our hope; and still will he deliver us.}set our hope that he will also still deliver us;
ye also helping together on our behalf by your supplication; that, for the gift bestowed upon us by means of many, thanks may be given by many persons on our behalf.
For our glorying is this, the testimony of our conscience, that in holiness and sincerity of God, not in fleshly wisdom but in the grace of God, we behaved ourselves in the world, and more abundantly to you-ward.
For we write no other things unto you, than what ye read or even acknowledge, and I hope ye will acknowledge unto the end:
as also ye did acknowledge us in part, that we are your glorying, even as ye also are ours, in the day of our Lord Jesus.
And in this confidence I was minded to come first unto you, that ye might have a second {Or, grace Some ancient authorities read joy}benefit;
and by you to pass into Macedonia, and again from Macedonia to come unto you, and of you to be set forward on my journey unto Judæa.
When I therefore was thus minded, did I show fickleness? or the things that I purpose, do I purpose according to the flesh, that with me there should be the yea yea and the nay nay?
But as God is faithful, our word toward you is not yea and nay.
For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who was preached among you {Greek: through.}by us, even {Greek: through.}by me and Silvanus and Timothy, was not yea and nay, but in him is yea.
For how many soever be the promises of God, in him is the yea: wherefore also through him is the Amen, unto the glory of God through us.
Now he that establisheth us with you {Greek: into.}in Christ, and anointed us, is God;
{Or, seeing that he both sealed us}who also sealed us, and gave us the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts.
But I call God for a witness upon my soul, that to spare you I forbare to come unto Corinth.
Not that we have lordship over your {Or, your faith}faith, but are helpers of your joy: for in faith ye stand fast.
Querverweise zu 2. Korinther 1,12 2Kor 1,12
{Or, Though he slay me, yet will I wait for him}Behold, he will slay me; I have no hope:Nevertheless I will {Hebrew: argue.}maintain my ways before him.
But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve in his craftiness, your {Greek: thoughts. See chapter 3:14.}minds should be corrupted from the simplicity and the purity that is toward Christ.
For we are not as the many, {Or, making merchandise of the word of God. Compare 2 Peter 2:3}corrupting the word of God: but as of sincerity, but as of God, in the sight of God, speak we in Christ.
When I therefore was thus minded, did I show fickleness? or the things that I purpose, do I purpose according to the flesh, that with me there should be the yea yea and the nay nay?
{Or, For}But he knoweth {Hebrew: the way that is with me.}the way that I take;When he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold.
My foot hath held fast to his steps;His way have I kept, and turned not aside.
I have not gone back from the commandment of his lips;I have treasured up the words of his mouth {Or, more than my own law}more than my {Or, portion See Proverbs 30:8 }necessary food.
For they that are such serve not our Lord Christ, but their own belly; and by their smooth and fair speech they beguile the hearts of the innocent.
I speak not by way of commandment, but as proving through the earnestness of others the sincerity also of your love.
but we have renounced the hidden things of shame, not walking in craftiness, nor handling the word of God deceitfully; but by the manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God.
Far be it from me that I should justify you:Till I die I will not put away mine integrity from me.
For your obedience is come abroad unto all men. I rejoice therefore over you: but I would have you wise unto that which is good, and simple unto that which is evil.
Now therefore fear Jehovah, and serve him in sincerity and in truth; and put away the gods which your fathers served beyond the River, and in Egypt; and serve ye Jehovah.
yea, I beseech you, that I may not when present show courage with the confidence wherewith I count to be bold against some, who count of us as if we walked according to the flesh.
For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh
(for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but mighty before God to the casting down of strongholds),
My righteousness I hold fast, and will not let it go:My heart {Or, doth not reproach me for any of my days}shall not reproach me so long as I live.
wherefore let us {Greek: keep festival.}keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.
And I will most gladly spend and be {Greek: spent out.}spent for your souls. If I love you more abundantly, am I loved the less?
But be it so, I did not myself burden you; but, being crafty, I caught you with guile.
Did I take advantage of you by any one of them whom I have sent unto you?
I exhorted Titus, and I sent the brother with him. Did Titus take any advantage of you? walked we not {Or, by the same Spirit}in the same spirit? walked we not in the same steps?
{Or, Think ye…you?}Ye think all this time that we are excusing ourselves unto you. In the sight of God speak we in Christ. But all things, beloved, are for your edifying.
I made a covenant with mine eyes;How then should I look upon a virgin?
{Or, for what portion should I have of God…And what heritage &c? Is there not calamity &c.?}For what is the portion from God above,And the heritage from the Almighty on high?
Is it not calamity to the unrighteous,And disaster to the workers of iniquity?
Doth not he see my ways,And number all my steps?
If I have walked with falsehood,And my foot hath hasted to deceit
(Let me be weighed in an even balance,That God may know mine integrity);
If my step hath turned out of the way,And my heart walked after mine eyes,And if any spot hath cleaved to my hands:
Then let me sow, and let another eat;Yea, let {Or, my offspring Hebrew: my produce.}the produce of my field be rooted out.
If my heart hath been enticed unto a woman,And I have laid wait at my neighbor's door;
Then let my wife grind unto another,And let others bow down upon her.
For that were a heinous crime;Yea, it were an iniquity to be punished by the judges:
For it is a fire that consumeth unto {Hebrew: Abaddon. See chapter 26:6}Destruction,And would root out all mine increase.
If I have despised the cause of my man-servant or of my maid-servant,When they contended with me;
What then shall I do when God riseth up?And when he visiteth, what shall I answer him?
Did not he that made me in the womb make him?And did not one fashion us in the womb?
If I have withheld {Or, aught that the poor desired}the poor from their desire,Or have caused the eyes of the widow to fail,
Or have eaten my morsel alone,And the fatherless hath not eaten thereof
(Nay, from my youth he grew up with me as with a father,And her have I guided from my mother's womb);
If I have seen any perish for want of clothing,Or that the needy had no covering;
If his loins have not blessed me,And if he hath not been warmed with the fleece of my sheep;
If I have lifted up my hand against the fatherless,Because I saw my help in the gate:
Then let my shoulder fall from the shoulder-blade,And mine arm be broken from the bone.
For calamity from God is a terror to me,And by reason of his majesty I can do nothing.
If I have made gold my hope,And have said to the fine gold, Thou art my confidence;
If I have rejoiced because my wealth was great,And because my hand had gotten much;
If I have beheld {Hebrew: the light.}the sun when it shined,Or the moon walking in brightness,
And my heart hath been secretly enticed,And {Hebrew: my hand hath kissed my mouth.}my mouth hath kissed my hand:
This also were an iniquity to be punished by the judges;For I should have denied the God that is above.
If I have rejoiced at the destruction of him that hated me,Or lifted up myself when evil found him
(Yea, I have not suffered by {Hebrew: palate.}mouth to sinBy asking his life with a curse);
If the men of my tent have not said,Who can find one that hath not been filled with his meat?
(The sojourner hath not lodged in the street;But I have opened my doors to {Hebrew: the way.}the traveller);
If {Or, after the manner of men}like Adam I have covered my transgressions,By hiding mine iniquity in my bosom,
Because I feared the great multitude,And the contempt of families terrified me,So that I kept silence, and went not out of the door—
Oh that I had one to hear me!(Lo, here is my {Hebrew: mark.}signature, let the Almighty answer me)And that I had the {Hebrew: book.}indictment which mine adversary hath written!
Surely I would carry it upon my shoulder;I would bind it unto me as a crown:
I would declare unto him the number of my steps;As a prince would I {Or, present it to him}go near unto him.
If my land crieth out against me,And the furrows thereof weep together;
If I have eaten the {Hebrew: strength.}fruits thereof without money,Or have caused the owners thereof to lose their life:
Let {Or, thorns}thistles grow instead of wheat,And {Or, noisome weeds}cockle instead of barley.The words of Job are ended.
Stand therefore, having girded your loins with truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness,
And my {Or, word}speech and my {Greek: thing preached.}preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power:
O Jehovah my God, if I have done this;If there be iniquity in my hands;
If I have rewarded evil unto him that was at peace with me;(Yea, I have delivered him that without cause was mine adversary);
Let the enemy pursue my soul, and overtake it;Yea, let him tread my life down to the earth,And lay my glory in the dust. [Selah
so that ye may {Or, distinguish the things that differ}approve the things that are excellent; that ye may be sincere and void of offence unto the day of Christ;
that your faith should not {Greek: be.}stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.
All this is come upon us; yet have we not forgotten thee,Neither have we dealt falsely in thy covenant.
Our heart is not turned back,Neither have our steps declined from thy way,
{Or, Through}That thou hast sore broken us in the place of jackals,And covered us with the shadow of death.
If we have forgotten the name of our God,Or spread forth our hands to a strange god;
Will not God search this out?For he knoweth the secrets of the heart.
in all things showing thyself an ensample of good works; in thy doctrine showing uncorruptness, gravity,
Which things also we speak, not in words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Spirit teacheth; {Or, interpreting spiritual things to spiritual men}combining spiritual things with spiritual words.
and said, Remember now, O Jehovah, I beseech thee, how I have walked before thee in truth and with a perfect heart, and have done that which is good in thy sight. And Hezekiah wept sore.
But by the grace of God I am what I am: and his grace which was bestowed upon me was not found {Or, void}vain; but I labored more abundantly than they all: yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.
{Or, On this account}Herein I also exercise myself to have a conscience void of offence toward God and men always.
Who is wise and understanding among you? let him show by his good life his works in meekness of wisdom.
But if ye have bitter jealousy and faction in your heart, glory not and lie not against the truth.
This wisdom is not a wisdom that cometh down from above, but is earthly, {Or, natural Or, animal}sensual, {Greek: demoniacal.}devilish.
For where jealousy and faction are, there is confusion and every vile deed.
But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without {Or, doubtfulness Or, partiality}variance, without hypocrisy.
And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace {Or, by}for them that make peace.
I say the truth in Christ, I lie not, my conscience bearing witness with me in the Holy Spirit,
But he giveth {Greek: a greater grace.}more grace. Wherefore the scripture saith, {Proverbs 3:34.}God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace to the humble.
For I know nothing against myself; yet am I not hereby justified: but he that {Or, examineth}judgeth me is the Lord.
But let each man prove his own work, and then shall he have his glorying in regard of himself alone, and not of {Greek: the other. See Romans 13:8.}his neighbor.
But the end of the charge is love out of a pure heart and a good conscience and faith unfeigned:
holding faith and a good conscience; which some having thrust from them made shipwreck concerning the faith:
of whom is Hymenæus and Alexander; whom I delivered unto Satan, that they might be taught not to blaspheme.
Pray for us: for we are persuaded that we have a good conscience, desiring to live honorably in all things.
having a good conscience; that, wherein ye are spoken against, they may be put to shame who revile your good manner of life in Christ.
which also {Or, in the antitype}after a true likeness doth now save you, even baptism, not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the {Or, inquiry Or, appeal}interrogation of a good conscience toward God, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ;
Hereby shall we know that we are of the truth, and shall {Greek: persuade. compare Matthew 28:14.}assure our heart {Or, before him, whereinsoever our heart condemn us; because God & c.}before him:
because if our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart, and knoweth all things.
Beloved, if our heart condemn us not, we have boldness toward God;
and whatsoever we ask we receive of him, because we keep his commandments and do the things that are pleasing in his sight.