¹And I decided this to myself, not again to come in sorrow unto you, ²for if I make you sorry, then who is he who is making me glad, except he who is made sorry by me? ³and I wrote to you this same thing, that having come, I may not have sorrow from them of whom it behoved me to have joy, having confidence in you all, that my joy is of you all, ⁴for out of much tribulation and pressure of heart I wrote to you through many tears, not that ye might be made sorry, but that ye might know the love that I have more abundantly toward you.

⁵And if any one hath caused sorrow, he hath not caused sorrow to me, but in part, that I may not burden you all; ⁶sufficient to such a one is this punishment, that is by the more part, ⁷so that, on the contrary, it is rather for you to forgive and to comfort, lest by over abundant sorrow such a one may be swallowed up; ⁸wherefore, I call upon you to confirm love to him, ⁹for, for this also did I write, that I might know the proof of you, whether in regard to all things ye are obedient. ¹⁰And to whom ye forgive anything—I also; for I also, if I have forgiven anything, to whom I have forgiven it, because of you—in the person of Christ—I forgive it, ¹¹that we may not be over-reached by the Adversary, for of his devices we are not ignorant.

¹²And having come to Troas for the good news of the Christ, and a door to me having been opened in the Lord, ¹³I have not had rest to my spirit, on my not finding Titus my brother, but having taken leave of them, I went forth to Macedonia; ¹⁴and to God are thanks, who at all times is leading us in triumph in the Christ, and the fragrance of His knowledge He is manifesting through us in every place, ¹⁵because of Christ a sweet fragrance we are to God, in those being saved, and in those being lost; ¹⁶to the one, indeed, a fragrance of death to death, and to the other, a fragrance of life to life; and for these things who is sufficient? ¹⁷for we are not as the many, adulterating the word of God, but as of sincerity—but as of God; in the presence of God, in Christ we do speak.

Chapter 3

¹Do we begin again to recommend ourselves, except we need, as some, letters of recommendation unto you, or from you? ²our letter ye are, having been written in our hearts, known and read by all men, ³manifested that ye are a letter of Christ ministered by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God, not in the tablets of stone, but in fleshy tablets of the heart, ⁴and such trust we have through the Christ toward God, ⁵not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think anything, as of ourselves, but our sufficiency is of God.

⁶Who also made us sufficient to be ministrants of a new covenant, not of letter, but of spirit; for the letter doth kill, and the spirit doth make alive. ⁷and if the ministration of the death, in letters, engraved in stones, came in glory, so that the sons of Israel were not able to look stedfastly to the face of Moses, because of the glory of his face—which was being made useless, ⁸how shall the ministration of the Spirit not be more in glory? ⁹for if the ministration of the condemnation is glory, much more doth the ministration of the righteousness abound in glory; ¹⁰for also even that which hath been glorious, hath not been glorious—in this respect, because of the superior glory; ¹¹for if that which is being made useless is through glory, much more that which is remaining is in glory.

¹²Having, then, such hope, we use much freedom of speech, ¹³and are not as Moses, who was putting a vail upon his own face, for the sons of Israel not stedfastly to look to the end of that which is being made useless, ¹⁴but their minds were hardened, for unto this day the same vail at the reading of the Old Covenant doth remain unwithdrawn—which in Christ is being made useless— ¹⁵but till to-day, when Moses is read, a vail upon their heart doth lie, ¹⁶and whenever they may turn unto the Lord, the vail is taken away. ¹⁷And the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty; ¹⁸and we all, with unvailed face, the glory of the Lord beholding in a mirror, to the same image are being transformed, from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.

Chapter 4

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