¹For as touching the ministering to the saints, it is superfluous for me to write to you:

²For I know the forwardness of your mind, for which I boast of you to them of Macedonia, that Achaia was ready a year ago; and your zeal hath provoked very many.

³Yet have I sent the brethren, lest our boasting of you should be in vain in this behalf; that, as I said, ye may be ready:

⁴Lest haply if they of Macedonia come with me, and find you unprepared, we (that we say not, ye) should be ashamed in this same confident boasting.

⁵Therefore I thought it necessary to exhort the brethren, that they would go before unto you, and make up beforehand your bounty, whereof ye had notice before, that the same might be ready, as a matter of bounty, and not as of covetousness.

⁶But this I say, He which soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly; and he which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully.

⁷Every man according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give; not grudgingly, or of necessity: for God loveth a cheerful giver.

⁸And God is able to make all grace abound toward you; that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work:

⁹(As it is written, He hath dispersed abroad; he hath given to the poor: his righteousness remaineth for ever.

¹⁰Now he that ministereth seed to the sower both minister bread for your food, and multiply your seed sown, and increase the fruits of your righteousness;)

¹¹Being enriched in every thing to all bountifulness, which causeth through us thanksgiving to God.

¹²For the administration of this service not only supplieth the want of the saints, but is abundant also by many thanksgivings unto God;

¹³Whiles by the experiment of this ministration they glorify God for your professed subjection unto the gospel of Christ, and for your liberal distribution unto them, and unto all men;

¹⁴And by their prayer for you, which long after you for the exceeding grace of God in you.

¹⁵Thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift.

¹Now I Paul myself beseech you by the meekness and gentleness of Christ, who in presence am base among you, but being absent am bold toward you:

²But I beseech you, that I may not be bold when I am present with that confidence, wherewith I think to be bold against some, which think of us as if we walked according to the flesh.

³For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh:

⁴(For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;)

⁵Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;

⁶And having in a readiness to revenge all disobedience, when your obedience is fulfilled.

⁷Do ye look on things after the outward appearance? If any man trust to himself that he is Christ’s, let him of himself think this again, that, as he is Christ’s, even so are we Christ’s.

⁸For though I should boast somewhat more of our authority, which the Lord hath given us for edification, and not for your destruction, I should not be ashamed:

⁹That I may not seem as if I would terrify you by letters.

¹⁰For his letters, say they, are weighty and powerful; but his bodily presence is weak, and his speech contemptible.

¹¹Let such an one think this, that, such as we are in word by letters when we are absent, such will we be also in deed when we are present.

¹²For we dare not make ourselves of the number, or compare ourselves with some that commend themselves: but they measuring themselves by themselves, and comparing themselves among themselves, are not wise.

¹³But we will not boast of things without our measure, but according to the measure of the rule which God hath distributed to us, a measure to reach even unto you.

¹⁴For we stretch not ourselves beyond our measure, as though we reached not unto you: for we are come as far as to you also in preaching the gospel of Christ:

¹⁵Not boasting of things without our measure, that is, of other men’s labours; but having hope, when your faith is increased, that we shall be enlarged by you according to our rule abundantly,

¹⁶To preach the gospel in the regions beyond you, and not to boast in another man’s line of things made ready to our hand.

¹⁷But he that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord.

¹⁸For not he that commendeth himself is approved, but whom the Lord commendeth.

¹Would to God ye could bear with me a little in my folly: and indeed bear with me.

²For I am jealous over you with godly jealousy: for I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ.

³But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.

⁴For if he that cometh preacheth another Jesus, whom we have not preached, or if ye receive another spirit, which ye have not received, or another gospel, which ye have not accepted, ye might well bear with him.

⁵For I suppose I was not a whit behind the very chiefest apostles.

⁶But though I be rude in speech, yet not in knowledge; but we have been throughly made manifest among you in all things.

⁷Have I committed an offence in abasing myself that ye might be exalted, because I have preached to you the gospel of God freely?

⁸I robbed other churches, taking wages of them, to do you service.

⁹And when I was present with you, and wanted, I was chargeable to no man: for that which was lacking to me the brethren which came from Macedonia supplied: and in all things I have kept myself from being burdensome unto you, and so will I keep myself.

¹⁰As the truth of Christ is in me, no man shall stop me of this boasting in the regions of Achaia.

¹¹Wherefore? because I love you not? God knoweth.

¹²But what I do, that I will do, that I may cut off occasion from them which desire occasion; that wherein they glory, they may be found even as we.

¹³For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ.

¹⁴And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light.

¹⁵Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works.

¹⁶I say again, Let no man think me a fool; if otherwise, yet as a fool receive me, that I may boast myself a little.

¹⁷That which I speak, I speak it not after the Lord, but as it were foolishly, in this confidence of boasting.

¹⁸Seeing that many glory after the flesh, I will glory also.

¹⁹For ye suffer fools gladly, seeing ye yourselves are wise.

²⁰For ye suffer, if a man bring you into bondage, if a man devour you, if a man take of you, if a man exalt himself, if a man smite you on the face.

²¹I speak as concerning reproach, as though we had been weak. Howbeit whereinsoever any is bold, (I speak foolishly,) I am bold also.

²²Are they Hebrews? so am I. Are they Israelites? so am I. Are they the seed of Abraham? so am I.

²³Are they ministers of Christ? (I speak as a fool) I am more; in labours more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequent, in deaths oft.

²⁴Of the Jews five times received I forty stripes save one.

²⁵Thrice was I beaten with rods, once was I stoned, thrice I suffered shipwreck, a night and a day I have been in the deep;

²⁶In journeyings often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils by mine own countrymen, in perils by the heathen, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren;

²⁷In weariness and painfulness, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness.

²⁸Beside those things that are without, that which cometh upon me daily, the care of all the churches.

²⁹Who is weak, and I am not weak? who is offended, and I burn not?

³⁰If I must needs glory, I will glory of the things which concern mine infirmities.

³¹The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which is blessed for evermore, knoweth that I lie not.

³²In Damascus the governor under Aretas the king kept the city of the Damascenes with a garrison, desirous to apprehend me:

³³And through a window in a basket was I let down by the wall, and escaped his hands.

¹It is not expedient for me doubtless to glory. I will come to visions and revelations of the Lord.

²I knew a man in Christ above fourteen years ago, (whether in the body, I cannot tell; or whether out of the body, I cannot tell: God knoweth;) such an one caught up to the third heaven.

³And I knew such a man, (whether in the body, or out of the body, I cannot tell: God knoweth;)

⁴How that he was caught up into paradise, and heard unspeakable words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter.

⁵Of such an one will I glory: yet of myself I will not glory, but in mine infirmities.

⁶For though I would desire to glory, I shall not be a fool; for I will say the truth: but now I forbear, lest any man should think of me above that which he seeth me to be, or that he heareth of me.

⁷And lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure.

⁸For this thing I besought the Lord thrice, that it might depart from me.

⁹And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.

¹⁰Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ’s sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong.

¹¹I am become a fool in glorying; ye have compelled me: for I ought to have been commended of you: for in nothing am I behind the very chiefest apostles, though I be nothing.

¹²Truly the signs of an apostle were wrought among you in all patience, in signs, and wonders, and mighty deeds.

¹³For what is it wherein ye were inferior to other churches, except it be that I myself was not burdensome to you? forgive me this wrong.

¹⁴Behold, the third time I am ready to come to you; and I will not be burdensome to you: for I seek not yours, but you: for the children ought not to lay up for the parents, but the parents for the children.

¹⁵And I will very gladly spend and be spent for you; though the more abundantly I love you, the less I be loved.

¹⁶But be it so, I did not burden you: nevertheless, being crafty, I caught you with guile.

¹⁷Did I make a gain of you by any of them whom I sent unto you?

¹⁸I desired Titus, and with him I sent a brother. Did Titus make a gain of you? walked we not in the same spirit? walked we not in the same steps?

¹⁹Again, think ye that we excuse ourselves unto you? we speak before God in Christ: but we do all things, dearly beloved, for your edifying.

²⁰For I fear, lest, when I come, I shall not find you such as I would, and that I shall be found unto you such as ye would not: lest there be debates, envyings, wraths, strifes, backbitings, whisperings, swellings, tumults:

²¹And lest, when I come again, my God will humble me among you, and that I shall bewail many which have sinned already, and have not repented of the uncleanness and fornication and lasciviousness which they have committed.

¹This is the third time I am coming to you. In the mouth of two or three witnesses shall every word be established.

²I told you before, and foretell you, as if I were present, the second time; and being absent now I write to them which heretofore have sinned, and to all other, that, if I come again, I will not spare:

³Since ye seek a proof of Christ speaking in me, which to you-ward is not weak, but is mighty in you.

⁴For though he was crucified through weakness, yet he liveth by the power of God. For we also are weak in him, but we shall live with him by the power of God toward you.

⁵Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates?

⁶But I trust that ye shall know that we are not reprobates.

⁷Now I pray to God that ye do no evil; not that we should appear approved, but that ye should do that which is honest, though we be as reprobates.

⁸For we can do nothing against the truth, but for the truth.

⁹For we are glad, when we are weak, and ye are strong: and this also we wish, even your perfection.

¹⁰Therefore I write these things being absent, lest being present I should use sharpness, according to the power which the Lord hath given me to edification, and not to destruction.

¹¹Finally, brethren, farewell. Be perfect, be of good comfort, be of one mind, live in peace; and the God of love and peace shall be with you.

¹²Greet one another with an holy kiss.

¹³All the saints salute you.

¹⁴The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Ghost, be with you all. Amen.

¹Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, to the saints which are at Ephesus, and to the faithful in Christ Jesus:

²Grace be to you, and peace, from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ.

³Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ:

⁴According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love:

⁵Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will,

⁶To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved.

⁷In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace;

⁸Wherein he hath abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence;

⁹Having made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself:

¹⁰That in the dispensation of the fulness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in him:

¹¹In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will:

¹²That we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ.

¹³In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise,

¹⁴Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory.