Each one of you should give<n id="1" /> just as he has decided in his heart,<n id="2" /> not reluctantly<n id="3" /> or under compulsion,<n id="4" /> because God loves a cheerful giver.

On behalf of such an individual I will boast, but on my own behalf I will not boast, except about my weaknesses.

I had no relief in my spirit,<n id="1" /> because I did not find my brother Titus there. So I said good-bye to them<n id="2" /> and set out<n id="3" /> for Macedonia.p>

and not like Moses who used to put a veil over his face to keep the Israelites<n id="1" /> from staring<n id="2" /> at the result<n id="3" /> of the glory that was made ineffective.<n id="4" />

<t /><p class="bodytext">But we have this treasure in clay jars, so that the extraordinary power<n id="1" /> belongs to God and does not come from us.

We are not trying to commend<n id="1" /> ourselves to you again, but are giving you an opportunity to be proud of us,<n id="2" /> so that you may be able to answer those who take pride<n id="3" /> in outward appearance<n id="4" /> and not in what is in the heart.

Therefore &#8220;<i><b>come out from their midstb>, <b>and be separateb>i>,&#8221; says the Lord, &#8220;<i><b>and touch no unclean thingb>,i><n id="1" /> <i>and I will welcomei><n id="2" /> <i>youi>,<n id="3" />

But I am sending<n id="1" /> these brothers so that our boasting about you may not be empty in this case, so that you may be ready<n id="2" /> just as I kept telling them.

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<n id="1" /> according to human standards.<n id="2" />

For we were not overextending ourselves, as though we did not reach as far as you, because we were the first to reach as far as you with the gospel about Christ.<n id="1" />

Indeed we felt as if the sentence of death had been passed against us,<n id="1" /> so that we would not trust in ourselves<n id="2" /> but in God who raises the dead.

And I wrote this very thing to you,<n id="1" /> so that when I came<n id="2" /> 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.

<t /><p class="bodytext">But if the ministry that produced death &#8211; carved in letters on stone tablets<n id="1" /> &#8211; came with glory, so that the Israelites<n id="2" /> could not keep their eyes fixed on the face of Moses because of the glory of his face<n id="3" /> (a glory<n id="4" /> which was made ineffective),<n id="5" />

But their minds were closed.<n id="1" /> For to this very day, the same veil remains when they hear the old covenant read.<n id="2" /> It has not been removed because only in Christ is it taken away.<n id="3" />

But we have rejected<n id="1" /> shameful hidden deeds,<n id="2" /> not behaving<n id="3" /> with deceptiveness<n id="4" /> or distorting the word of God, but by open proclamation of the truth we commend ourselves to everyone&#8217;s conscience before God.

among whom the god of this age has blinded the minds of those who do not believe<n id="1" /> so they would not see the light of the glorious gospel<n id="2" /> of Christ,<n id="3" /> who is the image of God.

In other words, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting people&#8217;s trespasses against them, and he has given us<n id="1" /> the message of reconciliation.

Therefore I thought it necessary to urge these brothers to go to you in advance and to arrange ahead of time the generous contribution<n id="1" /> you had promised, so this may be ready as a generous gift<n id="2" /> and not as something you feel forced to do.<n id="3" />

But I am afraid that<n id="1" /> just as the serpent<n id="2" /> deceived Eve by his treachery,<n id="3" /> your minds may be led astray<n id="4" /> from a sincere and pure<n id="5" /> devotion to Christ.

For even if I wish to boast, I will not be a fool, for I would be telling<n id="1" /> the truth, but I refrain from this so that no one may regard<n id="2" /> me beyond what he sees in me or what he hears from me,