2 Corinthians 4:7–18

TREASURE IN CLAY JARS

⁷Now we have this treasure in clay jars, so that this extraordinary power^g may be from God and not from us. ⁸We are afflicted in every way but not crushed; we are perplexed but not in despair; ⁹we are persecuted but not abandoned; we are struck down but not destroyed. ¹⁰We always carry the death of Jesus^h in our body, so that the life of Jesus may also be displayed in our body. ¹¹For we who live are always being given over to deathⁱ for Jesus’s sake, so that Jesus’s life may also be displayed in our mortal flesh. ¹²So then, death is at work in us, but life in you. ¹³And since we have the same spirit of faith in keeping with what is written, I believed, therefore I spoke,^Aj we also believe, and therefore speak. ¹⁴For we know that the one who raised the Lord Jesus will also raise us with Jesus^k and present us with you. ¹⁵Indeed, everything is for your benefit so that, as grace extends through more and more people, it may cause thanksgiving^l to increase to the glory of God.

¹⁶Therefore we do not give up.^m Even though our outer person is being destroyed, our inner personⁿ is being renewed day by day. ¹⁷For our momentary light affliction^o is producing for us an absolutely incomparable eternal weight of glory.^{p 18}So we do not focus on what is seen,^q but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.