The Message Bible MSG
English Standard Version ESV
1 Companions as we are in this work with you, we beg you, please don't squander one bit of this marvelous life God has given us.
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Working together with him, then, we appeal to you not to receive the grace of God in vain.
2 God reminds us, I heard your call in the nick of time; The day you needed me, I was there to help.
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For he says, “In a favorable time I listened to you, and in a day of salvation I have helped you. ”Behold, now is the favorable time; behold, now is the day of salvation.
3 Don't put it off; don't frustrate God's work by showing up late, throwing a question mark over everything we're doing.
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We put no obstacle in anyone’s way, so that no fault may be found with our ministry,
4 Our work as God's servants gets validated - or not - in the details. People are watching us as we stay at our post, alertly, unswervingly . . . in hard times, tough times, bad times;
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but as servants of God we commend ourselves in every way: by great endurance, in afflictions, hardships, calamities,
5 when we're beaten up, jailed, and mobbed; working hard, working late, working without eating;
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beatings, imprisonments, riots, labors, sleepless nights, hunger;
6 with pure heart, clear head, steady hand; in gentleness, holiness, and honest love;
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by purity, knowledge, patience, kindness, the Holy Spirit, genuine love;
7 when we're telling the truth, and when God's showing his power; when we're doing our best setting things right;
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by truthful speech, and the power of God; with the weapons of righteousness for the right hand and for the left;
8 when we're praised, and when we're blamed; slandered, and honored; true to our word, though distrusted;
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through honor and dishonor, through slander and praise. We are treated as impostors, and yet are true;
9 ignored by the world, but recognized by God; terrifically alive, though rumored to be dead; beaten within an inch of our lives, but refusing to die;
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as unknown, and yet well known; as dying, and behold, we live; as punished, and yet not killed;
10 immersed in tears, yet always filled with deep joy; living on handouts, yet enriching many; having nothing, having it all.
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as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, yet possessing everything.
11 Dear, dear Corinthians, I can't tell you how much I long for you to enter this wide-open, spacious life.
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We have spoken freely to you, Corinthians; our heart is wide open.
12 We didn't fence you in. The smallness you feel comes from within you. Your lives aren't small, but you're living them in a small way.
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You are not restricted by us, but you are restricted in your own affections.
13 I'm speaking as plainly as I can and with great affection. Open up your lives. Live openly and expansively!
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In return (I speak as to children) widen your hearts also.
14 Don't become partners with those who reject God. How can you make a partnership out of right and wrong? That's not partnership; that's war. Is light best friends with dark?
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Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness?
15 Does Christ go strolling with the Devil? Do trust and mistrust hold hands?
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What accord has Christ with Belial? Or what portion does a believer share with an unbeliever?
16 Who would think of setting up pagan idols in God's holy Temple? But that is exactly what we are, each of us a temple in whom God lives. God himself put it this way: "I'll live in them, move into them; I'll be their God and they'll be my people.
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What agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God; as God said, “I will make my dwelling among them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
17 So leave the corruption and compromise; leave it for good," says God. "Don't link up with those who will pollute you. I want you all for myself.
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Therefore go out from their midst, and be separate from them, says the Lord, and touch no unclean thing; then I will welcome you,
18 I'll be a Father to you; you'll be sons and daughters to me."
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and I will be a father to you, and you shall be sons and daughters to me, says the Lord Almighty. ”
Published by permission. Originally published by NavPress in English as THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language copyright 2002 by Eugene Peterson. All rights reserved.
The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®) © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. All rights reserved. ESV Text Edition: 2025