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

Not that we are adequate in ourselves to consider anything as if it were coming from ourselves, but our adequacy is from God,

Now the one who prepared us for this very purpose is God, who gave us the Spirit as a down payment.

God made the one who did not know sin to be sin for us, so that in him we would become the righteousness of God.

Now because we are fellow workers, we also urge you not to receive the grace of God in vain.

But as God’s servants, we have commended ourselves in every way, with great endurance, in persecutions, in difficulties, in distresses,

by truthful teaching, by the power of God, with weapons of righteousness both for the right hand and for the left,

But God, who encourages the downhearted, encouraged us by the arrival of Titus.

For sadness as intended by God produces a repentance that leads to salvation, leaving no regret, but worldly sadness brings about death.

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

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.

But thanks be to God who put in the heart of Titus the same devotion I have for you,

Each one of you should give just as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, because God loves a cheerful giver.

And in their prayers on your behalf they long for you because of the extraordinary grace God has shown to you.

for the weapons of our warfare are not human weapons, but are made powerful by God for tearing down strongholds. We tear down arguments

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.

Or did I commit a sin by humbling myself so that you could be exalted, because I proclaimed the gospel of God to you free of charge?

But thanks be to God who always leads us in triumphal procession in Christ and who makes known through us the fragrance that consists of the knowledge of him in every place.

But we have this treasure in clay jars, so that the extraordinary power belongs to God and does not come from us.

For all these things are for your sake, so that the grace that is including more and more people may cause thanksgiving to increase to the glory of God.