2 Corinthians 4:9

9 we suffer persecution, but we be not forsaken; we be made low, but we be not confounded; we be cast down, but we perish not.

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 And we have this treasure in brittle vessels, that the worthiness be of God's virtue [that the highness be of God's virtue], and not of us.

8 In all things we suffer tribulation, but we be not anguished, or distressed; we be made poor, but we lack nothing; [+In all things we suffer tribulation, but we be not made strait/but we be not anguished thereby in soul; we be made poor, but we be not destitute, either cast away;]

9 we suffer persecution, but we be not forsaken; we be made low, but we be not confounded; we be cast down, but we perish not.

10 And evermore we bear about the slaying of Jesus in our body [Evermore bearing about the mortifying of Jesus Christ in our body], that also the life of Jesus be showed in our bodies.

11 For evermore we that live, be taken into death for Jesus, that [and] the life of Jesus be showed in our deadly flesh.