Good News [1976], GOOD NEWS BIBLE WITH DEUTEROCANONICALS / APOCRYPHA Today's English Version (AMERICAN BIBLE SOCIETY, New York) [word count] [B15000].
To look up a word in a dictionary, select the word with your mouse and press 'd' on your keyboard.
1 From Paul, an apostle of Christ
Jesus by God's will, and from
our brother Timothy—
1 To the church of God in Corinth,
and to all God's people throughout
Achaia: note
2 May God our Father and the
Lord Jesus Christ give you grace and
peace.
Paul Gives Thanks to God
3 Let us give thanks to the God
and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
the merciful Father, the God from
whom all help comes!
4 He helps us
in all our troubles, so that we are
able to help others who have all
kinds of troubles, using the same
help that we ourselves have received
from God.
5 Just as we have a share
in Christ's many sufferings, so also
through Christ we share in God's
great help.
6 If we suffer, it is for
your help and salvation; if we are
helped, then you too are helped and
given the strength to endure with
patience the same sufferings that we
also endure.
7 So our hope in you is
never shaken; we know that just as
you share in our sufferings, you also
share in the help we receive.
8 We want to remind you, brothers,
of the trouble we had in the
province of Asia. The burdens laid
upon us were so great and so heavy
that we gave up all hope of staying
alive. note
9 We felt that the death sentence
had been passed on us. But
this happened so that we should
rely, not on ourselves, but only on
God, who raises the dead.
10 From
such terrible dangers of death note he
saved us, and will save us; and we
have placed our hope in him that he
will save us again,
11 as you help us
by means of your prayers for us. So
it will be that the many prayers for
us will be answered, and God will
bless us; and many will raise their
voices to him in thanksgiving for us.
The Change in Paul's Plans
12 We are proud that our conscience
assures us that our lives in
this world, and especially our relations
with you, have been ruled by
God-given frankness note and sincerity,
by the power of God's grace and not
by human wisdom.
13
14 We write to
you only what you can read and understand.
But even though you now
understand us only in part, I hope
that you will come to understand us
completely, so that in the Day of our
Lord Jesus you can be as proud of us
as we shall be of you.
15 I was so sure of all this that I
made plans at first to visit you, in
order that you might be blessed
twice.
16 For I planned to visit you on
my way to Macedonia and again on
my way back, in order to get help
from you for my trip to Judea. note
17 In
planning this, did I appear fickle?
When I make my plans, do I make
them from selfish motives, ready to
say “Yes, yes” and “No, no” at the
same time?
18 As surely as God
speaks the truth, my promise to you
was not a “Yes” and a “No.”
19 For
Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who
was preached among you by Silas,
Timothy, and myself, is not one who
is “Yes” and “No.” On the contrary,
he is God's “Yes”; note
20 for it is he who
is the “Yes” to all of God's promises.
This is why through Jesus Christ our
“Amen” is said to the glory of God.
21 It is God himself who makes us,
together with you, sure of our life in
union with Christ; it is God himself
who has set us apart,
22 who has
placed his mark of ownership upon
-- --
us, and who has given us the Holy
Spirit in our hearts as the guarantee
of all that he has in store for us.
23 I call God as my witness—he
knows my heart! It was in order to
spare you that I decided not to go to
Corinth.
24 We are not trying to dictate
to you what you must believe;
we know that you stand firm in the
faith. Instead, we are working with
you for your own happiness.
Good News [1976], GOOD NEWS BIBLE WITH DEUTEROCANONICALS / APOCRYPHA Today's English Version (AMERICAN BIBLE SOCIETY, New York) [word count] [B15000].
|