New International Version NIV
Weymouth New Testament WNT
1 For we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands.
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For we know that if this poor tent, our earthly house, is taken down, we have in Heaven a building which God has provided, a house not built by human hands, but eternal.
2 Meanwhile we groan, longing to be clothed instead with our heavenly dwelling,
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For in this one we sigh, because we long to put on over it our dwelling which comes from Heaven--
3 because when we are clothed, we will not be found naked.
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if indeed having really put on a robe we shall not be found to be unclothed.
4 For while we are in this tent, we groan and are burdened, because we do not wish to be unclothed but to be clothed instead with our heavenly dwelling, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life.
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Yes, we who are in this tent certainly do sigh under our burdens, for we do not wish to lay aside that with which we are now clothed, but to put on more, so that our mortality may be absorbed in Life.
5 Now the one who has fashioned us for this very purpose is God, who has given us the Spirit as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.
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And He who formed us with this very end in view is God, who has given us His Spirit as a pledge and foretaste of that bliss.
6 Therefore we are always confident and know that as long as we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord.
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We have therefore a cheerful confidence. We know that while we are at home in the body we are banished from the Lord;
7 For we live by faith, not by sight.
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for we are living a life of faith, and not one of sight.
8 We are confident, I say, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord.
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So we have a cheerful confidence, and we anticipate with greater delight being banished from the body and going home to the Lord.
9 So we make it our goal to please him, whether we are at home in the body or away from it.
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And for this reason also we make it our ambition, whether at home or in exile, to please Him perfectly.
10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each of us may receive what is due us for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad.
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For we must all of us appear before Christ's judgement-seat in our true characters, in order that each may then receive an award for his actions in this life, in accordance with what he has done, whether it be good or whether it be worthless.
11 Since, then, we know what it is to fear the Lord, we try to persuade others. What we are is plain to God, and I hope it is also plain to your conscience.
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Therefore, because we realize how greatly the Lord is to be feared, we are endeavouring to win men over, and God recognizes what our motives are, and I hope that you, in your hearts, recognize them too.
12 We are not trying to commend ourselves to you again, but are giving you an opportunity to take pride in us, so that you can answer those who take pride in what is seen rather than in what is in the heart.
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We are not again commending ourselves to your favour, but are furnishing you with a ground of boasting on our behalf, so that you may have a reply ready for those with whom superficial appearances are everything and sincerity of heart counts for nothing.
13 If we are “out of our mind,” as some say, it is for God; if we are in our right mind, it is for you.
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For if we have been beside ourselves, it has been for God's glory; or if we are now in our right senses, it is in order to be of service to you.
14 For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died.
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For the love of Christ overmasters us, the conclusion at which we have arrived being this--that One having died for all, His death was their death,
15 And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again.
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and that He died for all in order that the living may no longer live to themselves, but to Him who died for them and rose again.
16 So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer.
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Therefore for the future we know no one simply as a man. Even if we have known Christ as a man, yet now we do so no longer.
17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!
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So that if any one is in Christ, he is a new creature: the old state of things has passed away; a new state of things has come into existence.
18 All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation:
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And all this is from God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Christ, and has appointed us to serve in the ministry of reconciliation.
19 that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation.
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We are to tell how God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not charging men's transgressions to their account, and that He has entrusted to us the Message of this reconciliation.
20 We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God.
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On Christ's behalf therefore we come as ambassadors, God, as it were, making entreaty through our lips: we, on Christ's behalf, beseech men to be reconciled to God.
21 God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
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He has made Him who knew nothing of sin to be sin for us, in order that in Him we may become the righteousness of God.
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The Weymouth New Testament is in the public domain.