Hebrew Names Version HNV
The Message Bible MSG
1 Sha'ul, an apostle of Messiah Yeshua through the will of God, and Timothy our brother, to the assembly of God which is at Corinth, with all the holy ones who are in the whole of Achaia:
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I, Paul, have been sent on a special mission by the Messiah, Jesus, planned by God himself. I write this to God's congregation in Corinth, and to believers all over Achaia province.
2 Grace to you and shalom from God our Father and the Lord Yeshua the Messiah.
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May all the gifts and benefits that come from God our Father and the Master, Jesus Christ, be yours! Timothy, someone you know and trust, joins me in this greeting.
3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Yeshua the Messiah, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort;
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All praise to the God and Father of our Master, Jesus the Messiah! Father of all mercy! God of all healing counsel!
4 who comforts us in all our affliction, that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, through the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.
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He comes alongside us when we go through hard times, and before you know it, he brings us alongside someone else who is going through hard times so that we can be there for that person just as God was there for us.
5 For as the sufferings of Messiah abound to us, even so our comfort also abounds through Messiah.
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We have plenty of hard times that come from following the Messiah, but no more so than the good times of his healing comfort - we get a full measure of that, too.
6 But if we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation. If we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which works in the patient enduring of the same sufferings which we also suffer.
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When we suffer for Jesus, it works out for your healing and salvation. If we are treated well, given a helping hand and encouraging word, that also works to your benefit, spurring you on, face forward, unflinching. Your hard times are also our hard times.
7 Our hope for you is steadfast, knowing that, since you are partakers of the sufferings, so also are you of the comfort.
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When we see that you're just as willing to endure the hard times as to enjoy the good times, we know you're going to make it, no doubt about it.
8 For we don't desire to have you uninformed, brothers, concerning our affliction which happened to us in Asia, that we were weighed down exceedingly, beyond our power, so much that we despaired even of life.
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We don't want you in the dark, friends, about how hard it was when all this came down on us in Asia province. It was so bad we didn't think we were going to make it.
9 Yes, we ourselves have had the sentence of death within ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God who raises the dead,
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We felt like we'd been sent to death row, that it was all over for us. As it turned out, it was the best thing that could have happened. Instead of trusting in our own strength or wits to get out of it, we were forced to trust God totally - not a bad idea since he's the God who raises the dead!
10 who delivered us out of so great a death, and does deliver; on whom we have set our hope that he will also still deliver us;
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And he did it, rescued us from certain doom. And he'll do it again, rescuing us as many times as we need rescuing.
11 you also helping together on our behalf by your supplication; that, for the gift bestowed on us by means of many, thanks may be given by many persons on your behalf.
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You and your prayers are part of the rescue operation - I don't want you in the dark about that either. I can see your faces even now, lifted in praise for God's deliverance of us, a rescue in which your prayers played such a crucial part.
12 For our boasting is this: the testimony of our conscience, that in holiness and sincerity of God, not in fleshly wisdom but in the grace of God we behaved ourselves in the world, and more abundantly toward you.
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Now that the worst is over, we're pleased we can report that we've come out of this with conscience and faith intact, and can face the world - and even more importantly, face you with our heads held high. But it wasn't by any fancy footwork on our part. It was God who kept us focused on him, uncompromised.
13 For we write no other things to you, than what you read or even acknowledge, and I hope you will acknowledge to the end;
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Don't try to read between the lines or look for hidden meanings in this letter. We're writing plain, unembellished truth, hoping that
14 as also you acknowledged us in part, that we are your boasting, even as you also are ours, in the day of our Lord Yeshua.
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you'll now see the whole picture as well as you've seen some of the details. We want you to be as proud of us as we are of you when we stand together before our Master Jesus.
15 In this confidence, I was determined to come first to you, that you might have a second benefit;
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Confident of your welcome, I had originally planned two great visits with you -
16 and by you to pass into Macedonia, and again from Macedonia to come to you, and to be sent forward by you on my journey to Yehudah.
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coming by on my way to Macedonia province, and then again on my return trip. Then we could have had a bon-voyage party as you sent me off to Judea. That was the plan.
17 When I therefore was thus determined, did I show fickleness? Or the things that I purpose, do I purpose according to the flesh, that with me there should be the "Yes, yes" and the "No, no?"
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Are you now going to accuse me of being flip with my promises because it didn't work out? Do you think I talk out of both sides of my mouth - a glib yes one moment, a glib no the next?
18 But as God is faithful, our word toward you was not "Yes and no."
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Well, you're wrong. I try to be as true to my word as God is to his. Our word to you wasn't a careless yes canceled by an indifferent no. How could it be?
19 For the Son of God, Yeshua the Messiah, who was preached among you by us, by me, Sila, and Timothy, was not "Yes and no," but in him is "Yes."
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When Silas and Timothy and I proclaimed the Son of God among you, did you pick up on any yes-and-no, on-again, off-again waffling? Wasn't it a clean, strong Yes?
20 For however many are the promises of God, in him is the "Yes." Therefore also through him is the "Amein," to the glory of God through us.
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Whatever God has promised gets stamped with the Yes of Jesus. In him, this is what we preach and pray, the great Amen, God's Yes and our Yes together, gloriously evident.
21 Now he who establishes us with you in Messiah, and anointed us, is God;
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God affirms us, making us a sure thing in Christ, putting his Yes within us.
22 who also sealed us, and gave us the down payment of the Spirit in our hearts.
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By his Spirit he has stamped us with his eternal pledge - a sure beginning of what he is destined to complete.
23 But I call God for a witness to my soul, that I didn't come to Corinth to spare you.
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Now, are you ready for the real reason I didn't visit you in Corinth? As God is my witness, the only reason I didn't come was to spare you pain. I was being considerate of you, not indifferent, not manipulative.
24 Not that we have lordship over your faith, but are fellow workers with you for your joy. For you stand firm in faith.
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We're not in charge of how you live out the faith, looking over your shoulders, suspiciously critical. We're partners, working alongside you, joyfully expectant. I know that you stand by your own faith, not by ours.
The Hebrew Names Version is in the public domain.