1 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother, to the church of God in Corinth, together with all the saints throughout Achaia: 2 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. 3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, 4 who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we can comfort those in any affliction with the comfort we ourselves receive from God. 5 For just as the sufferings of Christ overflow to us, so through Christ our comfort also overflows. 6 If we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation; if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which works in you as you patiently endure the same sufferings we also endure. 7 Our hope for you is firm, because we know that as you share in the sufferings, you also share in the comfort. 8 For we do not want you to be unaware, brothers and sisters, of the affliction that came upon us in Asia. We were burdened far beyond our strength, so that we despaired even of life. 9 Indeed, we felt within ourselves that we had received the sentence of death, so that we would rely on God, who raises the dead, rather than on ourselves. 10 He rescued us from so great a danger of death and will rescue us. In him we have set our hope that he will rescue us yet again, 11 as you also help us by your prayers, so that many may give thanks on our behalf for the gift granted to us through many. 12 For this is our boast: our conscience testifies that we have conducted ourselves in the world, and especially toward you, with holiness and sincerity from God, by God's grace rather than by fleshly wisdom. 13 For we write you nothing other than what you read and understand, and I hope you will understand to the end, 14 just as you have understood us in part, that we are your reason to boast, as you also are ours on the day of our Lord Jesus. 15 With this confidence I intended to visit you first, so that you might receive a second blessing, 16 and to pass through your region on my way to Macedonia, then return to you from Macedonia and have you send me on my way to Judea. 17 When I intended this, was I acting lightly? Or do I make my plans according to the flesh, so that with me there is both “Yes, yes” and “No, no”? 18 As surely as God is faithful, our word to you is not “Yes” and “No.” 19 For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, whom we proclaimed among you—Silvanus, Timothy, and I—was not “Yes” and “No.” In him it has always been “Yes.” 20 For all God's promises have their “Yes” in him. That is why through him we also say “Amen” to God, to his glory through us. 21 It is God who establishes us together with you in Christ and has anointed us. 22 He has also set his seal on us and given us the Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee. 23 But I call God as witness on my life that it was to spare you that I did not return to Corinth. 24 We do not lord it over your faith, but work with you for your joy, because you stand firm by faith.