Now I appeal to God as my witness, that to spare you I did not come again to Corinth.

to the latter an odor from death to death, but to the former a fragrance from life to life. And who is adequate for these things?

and through your help to go on into Macedonia and then from Macedonia to come back to you and be helped on our way into Judea by you.

For it is not necessary for me to write you about this service to the saints,

We have spoken freely to you, Corinthians; our heart has been opened wide to you.

For I am jealous for you with godly jealousy, because I promised you in marriage to one husband, to present you as a pure virgin to Christ.

I do not want to seem as though I am trying to terrify you with my letters,

And with this confidence I intended to come to you first so that you would get a second opportunity to see us,

Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift!

For this reason also I wrote you: to test you to see if you are obedient in everything.

Now as a fair exchange – I speak as to my children – open wide your hearts to us also.

Therefore I urge you to reaffirm your love for him.

now I ask that when I am present I may not have to be bold with the confidence that (I expect) I will dare to use against some who consider us to be behaving according to human standards.

Now we make known to you, brothers and sisters, the grace of God given to the churches of Macedonia,

to finish what you started, so that just as you wanted to do it eagerly, you can also complete it according to your means.

because I know your eagerness to help. I keep boasting to the Macedonians about this eagerness of yours, that Achaia has been ready to give since last year, and your zeal to participate has stirred up most of them.

For if I have boasted to him about anything concerning you, I have not been embarrassed by you, but just as everything we said to you was true, so our boasting to Titus about you has proved true as well.

In addition, this brother has also been chosen by the churches as our traveling companion as we administer this generous gift to the glory of the Lord himself and to show our readiness to help.

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?

And they did this not just as we had hoped, but they gave themselves first to the Lord and to us by the will of God.