¹From Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and from Timothy our brother.

To the members of God’s church in Corinth and to all of God’s holy people everywhere in southern Greece.

²May God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ give you grace and peace.

Paul in the Province of Asia: God Gives Comfort

³May the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ be praised! He’s a Father who’s filled with compassion.

⁴He’s the God who gives all comfort, comforting us in all our troubles. As a result, we can comfort others when they’re in trouble, using the comfort that we’ve received from God.

⁵We share very much in the sufferings of Christ, but we also share very much in his comfort.

⁶If we’re distressed, it’s so that you can be comforted and renewed. If we’re comforted, it’s so that you can be comforted. Then you’ll be able to endure the same suffering that we’ve gone through.

⁷Even though you’re suffering just as we are, we’re confident that God will comfort you, just as he’s comforting us.

⁸Brothers and sisters, we want you to know about the difficulties we went through in the province of Asia. We were in great distress—far more than we could stand. We even thought we were going to die.

⁹In fact, we felt as if we’d actually been sentenced of death. But that happened so that we wouldn’t depend on ourselves, but on God who raises the dead to life.

¹⁰God saved us from those deadly dangers, and he will do it again. We have confidence that he will continue to save us,

¹¹especially as you help us by praying for us. Then many people will give thanks to God for the kindness he has shown us in answer to many people’s prayers.

¹²With God’s help, we’ve acted toward everyone, and especially toward you, honorably and honestly. We can say that with pride and a clear conscience. We’ve depended on God’s grace and not on the world’s wisdom.

¹³We haven’t written anything to you that you couldn’t understand when you read it.

¹⁴Up to this point you’ve only understood some of the things we’ve said. But I hope you’ll come to understand us completely. Then you’ll realize that you can be just as proud of us as we will be of you on the day when the Lord Jesus returns.

¹⁵Because I was sure of this, I wanted to visit you before I went to Macedonia so that we could see each other twice.

¹⁶I planned to visit you on my way to Macedonia, and then I was going to come back from there and see you again. After that you could have sent me on my way to Judea.

¹⁷Was I not serious when I planned all that? Do I make my plans in the way the world does, so that in the same breath I say “Yes, yes” and “No, no”?

¹⁸Just as surely as God is faithful, our message to you is not “Yes” and “No.”

¹⁹Silas, Timothy, and I preached to you about the Son of God, Jesus Christ, and he is not “Yes” and “No.” He’s always “Yes,”

²⁰because if you ask, “Did God keep his promises?” the answer in every case is, “Yes, through Jesus.” And so through him we say “Amen,” to the glory of God.

²¹God makes us stand firm with you in Christ. He has anointed us, he has sealed us,

²²and he has put his Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee that he’ll give us everything else he promised.

²³But, as you know, I didn’t come to Corinth on my way to Macedonia. I stayed away because I wanted to spare you. (God is my witness that this was the reason—may he take my life if I’m lying!)

²⁴Not that we would ever treat you harshly as believers; you’re strong in your own faith, and we work together with you for your joy.