2 Corinthians 4:9

9 persecuted, but not abandoned; cast down, but not destroyed;

2 Corinthians 4:9 Meaning and Commentary

2 Corinthians 4:9

Persecuted, but not forsaken
Pursued from place to place, and followed with menaces, curses, and reproaches; laid hold on, proscribed, imprisoned, and threatened with the severest tortures, and death itself; but our God never leaves us nor forsakes us; though we are followed close by evil men, and left by our friends, we are not forsaken of God:

cast down
we sometimes are, as an earthen vessel; ( 2 Corinthians 4:7 ) , which may be cast out of a man's hands, in order to be dashed to pieces; or as a man in wrestling, see ( Ephesians 6:12 ) may be thrown to the ground by his antagonist, so we are sometimes foiled by sin, Satan, and the world:

but not destroyed;
we are still safe in the hands of Christ, and are kept by the power of God; and, indeed, to what else can all this be ascribed? it is surprising that earthen vessels should bear and suffer so much, and not fall, or be dashed to pieces.

2 Corinthians 4:9 In-Context

7 But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the surpassingness of the power may be of God, and not from us:

8 every way afflicted, but not straitened; seeing no apparent issue, but our way not entirely shut up;

9 persecuted, but not abandoned; cast down, but not destroyed;

10 always bearing about in the body the dying of Jesus, that the life also of Jesus may be manifested in our body;

11 for we who live are always delivered unto death on account of Jesus, that the life also of Jesus may be manifested in our mortal flesh;