2 Corinthians 1
Greeting
Paul, aan apostle of Christ Jesus bby the will of God, and cTimothy our brother,
To the church of God that is at Corinth, dwith all the saints who are in the whole of Achaia:
2 aGrace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
God of All Comfort
3 aBlessed be the bGod and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and cGod of all comfort, 4 awho comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. 5 For as we share abundantly in aChrist’s sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too. 6 aIf we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation; and if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which you experience when you patiently endure the same sufferings that we suffer. 7 Our hope for you is unshaken, for we know that as you ashare in our sufferings, you will also share in our comfort.
8 For we do not want you to be unaware, brothers, of athe affliction we experienced in Asia. For we were so utterly burdened beyond our strength that we despaired of life itself. 9 Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death. But that was to make us arely not on ourselves bbut on God cwho raises the dead. 10 aHe delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us. bOn him we have set our hope that he will deliver us again. 11 aYou also must help us by prayer, so that many will give thanks on our behalf bfor the blessing granted us through the prayers of many.
Paul’s Change of Plans
12 For our boast is this, athe testimony of our conscience, that we behaved in the world with simplicity and bgodly sincerity, cnot by earthly wisdom but by the grace of God, and supremely so toward you. 13 For we are not writing to you anything other than what you read and understand and I hope you will fully understand— 14 just as you did apartially understand us—that bon the day of our Lord Jesus cyou will boast of us as dwe will boast of you.
15 Because I was sure of this, aI wanted to come to you first, so that you might have ba second cexperience of grace. 16 I wanted to visit you aon my way to Macedonia, and to come back to you from Macedonia and have you send me on my way to Judea. 17 Was I vacillating when I wanted to do this? Do I make my plans aaccording to the flesh, ready to say “Yes, yes” and “No, no” at the same time? 18 As surely as aGod is faithful, bour word to you has not been Yes and No. 19 For athe Son of God, Jesus Christ, whom we proclaimed among you, bSilvanus and Timothy and I, was not Yes and No, but cin him it is always Yes. 20 For aall the promises of God find their Yes in him. That is why it is through him that we utter our bAmen to God for his glory. 21 And it is God who establishes us with you in Christ, and ahas anointed us, 22 and who has also aput his seal on us and bgiven us his Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee.
23 But aI call God to witness against me—it was bto spare you that I refrained from coming again to Corinth. 24 Not that we alord it over your faith, but we work with you for your joy, for you stand firm bin your faith.
The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), © 2001 by Crossway,
a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. ESV Text Edition: 2025.