Now I appeal to God as my witness, ¹  that to spare ²  you I did not come again to Corinth. ³ 

to the latter an odor ¹  from death to death, but to the former a fragrance from life to life. And who is adequate for these things? ² 

and through your help to go on into Macedonia and then from Macedonia to come back ¹  to you and be helped on our way into Judea by you.

For it is not necessary ¹  for me to write you about this service ²  to the saints,

We have spoken freely to you, ¹  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, ¹  to present you as a pure ²  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, ¹ 

Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift! ¹ 

For this reason also I wrote you: ¹  to test you to see ²  if you are obedient in everything.

Now as a fair exchange – I speak as to my ¹  children – open wide your hearts to us ²  also.

Therefore I urge you to reaffirm your love for him. ¹ 

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 ¹  according to human standards. ² 

Now we make known to you, brothers and sisters, ¹  the grace of God given to the churches of Macedonia,

to finish what you started, ¹  so that just as you wanted to do it eagerly, ²  you can also complete it ³  according to your means. ⁴ 

because I know your eagerness to help. ¹  I keep boasting to the Macedonians about this eagerness of yours, ²  that Achaia has been ready to give ³  since last year, and your zeal to participate ⁴  has stirred up most of them. ⁵ 

For if I have boasted to him about anything concerning you, I have not been embarrassed by you, ¹  but just as everything we said to you was true, ²  so our boasting to Titus about you ³  has proved true as well.

In addition, ¹  this brother ²  has also been chosen by the churches as our traveling companion as we administer this generous gift ³  to the glory of the Lord himself and to show our readiness to help. ⁴ 

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? ¹ 

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.