2 Corinthians 12

¹²I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it; rather, I received it by revelation from Jesus Christ.

⁷or because of these surpassingly great revelations. So to keep me from becoming conceited, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me.

²⁰And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know Him who is true; and we are in Him who is true—in His Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life.

¹⁷Later, when I had returned to Jerusalem and was praying at the temple, I fell into a trance

¹⁸and saw the Lord saying to me, ‘Hurry! Leave Jerusalem quickly, because the people here will not accept your testimony about Me.’

²³“Everything is permissible,” but not everything is beneficial. “Everything is permissible,” but not everything is edifying.

¹⁰In Damascus there was a disciple named Ananias. The Lord spoke to him in a vision, “Ananias!” “Here I am, Lord,” he answered.

¹¹“Get up!” the Lord told him. “Go to the house of Judas on Straight Street and ask for a man from Tarsus named Saul, for he is praying.

¹⁷Later, when I had returned to Jerusalem and was praying at the temple, I fell into a trance

¹In the sixth year, on the fifth day of the sixth month, I was sitting in my house, and the elders of Judah were sitting before me; and there the hand of the Lord God fell upon me.

²Then I looked and saw a figure like that of a man. From His waist down His appearance was like fire, and from His waist up He was as bright as the gleam of amber.

¹⁷After that, we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will always be with the Lord.

²At once I was in the Spirit, and I saw a throne standing in heaven, with someone seated on it.

¹¹Why? Because I do not love you? God knows I do!

¹⁵For thus says the One who is high and lifted up, who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: “I dwell in a high and holy place, and with the oppressed and humble in spirit, to restore the spirit of the lowly and revive the heart of the contrite.

⁴³And Jesus said to him, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with Me in Paradise.”

⁷He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who overcomes, I will grant the right to eat from the tree of life in the Paradise of God.

⁹I made it beautiful with its many branches, the envy of all the trees of Eden, which were in the garden of God.’

³⁰If I must boast, I will boast of the things that show my weakness.

³I came to you in weakness and fear, and with much trembling.

⁹But He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is perfected in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly in my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest on me.

¹⁰That is why, for the sake of Christ, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

¹⁶I repeat: Let no one take me for a fool. But if you do, then receive me as a fool, so that I too may boast a little.

⁸For even if I boast somewhat excessively about the authority the Lord gave us for building you up rather than tearing you down, I will not be ashamed.

⁹I do not want to seem to be trying to frighten you by my letters.

³¹The God and Father of the Lord Jesus, who is forever worthy of praise, knows that I am not lying.

¹¹I have become a fool, but you drove me to it. In fact, you should have commended me, since I am in no way inferior to those “super-apostles,” even though I am nothing.

⁷or because of these surpassingly great revelations. So to keep me from becoming conceited, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me.

⁵What then is Apollos? And what is Paul? They are servants through whom you believed, as the Lord has assigned to each his role.

⁵⁵But if you do not drive out the inhabitants of the land before you, those you allow to remain will become barbs in your eyes and thorns in your sides; they will harass you in the land where you settle.

³So now I tell you that I will not drive out these people before you; they will be thorns in your sides, and their gods will be a snare to you.”

²⁵But because his heart was proud, Hezekiah did not repay the favor shown to him. Therefore wrath came upon him and upon Judah and Jerusalem.

²⁶Then Hezekiah humbled the pride of his heart—he and the people of Jerusalem—so that the wrath of the Lord did not come upon them during the days of Hezekiah.

¹³You know that it was because of an illness that I first preached the gospel to you.

⁵hand this man over to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved on the Day of the Lord.

³¹The sun rose above him as he passed by Penuel, and he was limping because of his hip.

⁷During the days of Jesus’ earthly life, He offered up prayers and petitions with loud cries and tears to the One who could save Him from death, and He was heard because of His reverence.

³⁹Going a little farther, He fell facedown and prayed, “My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me. Yet not as I will, but as You will.”

⁴⁰Then Jesus returned to the disciples and found them sleeping. “Were you not able to keep watch with Me for one hour?” He asked Peter.

¹¹“I regret that I have made Saul king, for he has turned away from following Me and has not carried out My instructions.” And Samuel was distressed and cried out to the Lord all that night.

¹⁶David pleaded with God for the boy. He fasted and went into his house and spent the night lying in sackcloth on the ground.

¹⁷The elders of his household stood beside him to help him up from the ground, but he was unwilling and would not eat anything with them.

²In the day of trouble I sought the Lord; through the night my outstretched hands did not grow weary; my soul refused to be comforted.

³I remembered You, O God, and I groaned; I mused and my spirit grew faint. Selah

²¹“What do you want?” He inquired. She answered, “Declare that in Your kingdom one of these two sons of mine may sit at Your right hand, and the other at Your left.”

²²“You do not know what you are asking,” Jesus replied. “Can you drink the cup I am going to drink?” “We can,” the brothers answered.

¹³I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength.

¹⁰That is why, for the sake of Christ, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

²⁹He gives power to the faint and increases the strength of the weak.

³⁰Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall.

¹⁶I ask that out of the riches of His glory He may strengthen you with power through His Spirit in your inner being,

⁹Have I not commanded you to be strong and courageous? Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”

²When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you go through the rivers, they will not overwhelm you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be scorched; the flames will not set you ablaze.

⁹But He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is perfected in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly in my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest on me.

¹⁰Finally, be strong in the Lord and in His mighty power.

³Not only that, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance;

⁴For He was indeed crucified in weakness, yet He lives by God’s power. For we are also weak in Him, yet by God’s power we will live with Him concerning you.

²Consider it pure joy, my brothers, when you encounter trials of many kinds,

⁶In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in various trials

⁷so that the proven character of your faith—more precious than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory, and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

⁵I consider myself in no way inferior to those “super-apostles.”

¹I hope you will put up with a little of my foolishness, but you are already doing that.

⁸And last of all He appeared to me also, as to one of untimely birth.

⁹For I am the least of the apostles and am unworthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God.

⁸Though I am less than the least of all the saints, this grace was given me: to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ,

²²whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or the present or the future. All of them belong to you,

¹⁰So you also, when you have done everything commanded of you, should say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done our duty.’”

¹⁸I will not presume to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me in leading the Gentiles to obedience by word and deed,

¹⁹by the power of signs and wonders, and by the power of the Spirit of God. So from Jerusalem all the way around to Illyricum, I have fully proclaimed the gospel of Christ.

²Instead, we have renounced secret and shameful ways. We do not practice deceit, nor do we distort the word of God. On the contrary, by open proclamation of the truth, we commend ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God.

¹⁸I thank God that I speak in tongues more than all of you.

⁴⁸Jesus said to him, “Unless you people see signs and wonders, you will never believe.”

¹Am I not free? Am I not an apostle? Have I not seen Jesus our Lord? Are you yourselves not my workmanship in the Lord?

²Even if I am not an apostle to others, surely I am to you. For you are the seal of my apostleship in the Lord.

⁶Although I am not a polished speaker, I am certainly not lacking in knowledge. We have made this clear to you in every way possible.

⁶Or are Barnabas and I the only apostles who must work for a living?

¹²If others have this right to your support, shouldn’t we have it all the more? But we did not exercise this right. Instead, we put up with anything rather than hinder the gospel of Christ.

⁷Was it a sin for me to humble myself in order to exalt you, because I preached the gospel of God to you free of charge?

⁸I robbed other churches by accepting their support in order to serve you.

¹⁴See, I am ready to come to you a third time, and I will not be a burden, because I am not seeking your possessions, but you. For children should not have to save up for their parents, but parents for their children.

¹⁵But I have not used any of these rights. And I am not writing this to suggest that something be done for me. Indeed, I would rather die than let anyone nullify my boast.

¹⁶Yet when I preach the gospel, I have no reason to boast, because I am obligated to preach. Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel!

¹⁴Houses and wealth are inherited from fathers, but a prudent wife is from the Lord.

³⁵“The Lord has greatly blessed my master, and he has become rich. He has given him sheep and cattle, silver and gold, menservants and maidservants, camels and donkeys.

³⁶My master’s wife Sarah has borne him a son in her old age, and my master has given him everything he owns.

³³as I also try to please everyone in all I do. For I am not seeking my own good, but the good of many, that they may be saved.

²²A good man leaves an inheritance to his children’s children, but the sinner’s wealth is passed to the righteous.

¹⁴And Rachel and Leah replied, “Do we have any portion or inheritance left in our father’s house?

¹⁵Are we not regarded by him as outsiders? Not only has he sold us, but he has certainly squandered what was paid for us.

²⁴No one should seek his own good, but the good of others.

⁸We cared so deeply that we were delighted to share with you not only the gospel of God, but our own lives as well. That is how beloved you have become to us.

⁶If we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation; if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which accomplishes in you patient endurance of the same sufferings we experience.

¹⁷But even if I am being poured out like a drink offering on the sacrifice and service of your faith, I am glad and rejoice with all of you.

²⁴Now I rejoice in my sufferings for you, and I fill up in my flesh what is lacking in regard to Christ’s afflictions for the sake of His body, which is the church.

¹⁰For this reason I endure all things for the sake of the elect, so that they too may obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus, with eternal glory.

³I wrote as I did so that on my arrival I would not be grieved by those who ought to make me rejoice. I had confidence in all of you, that you would share my joy.

¹²For this is our boast: Our conscience testifies that we have conducted ourselves in the world, and especially in relation to you, in the holiness and sincerity that are from God—not in worldly wisdom, but in the grace of God.

²Make room for us in your hearts. We have wronged no one, we have corrupted no one, we have exploited no one.

²I beg you that when I come I may not need to be as bold as I expect toward those who presume that we live according to the flesh.

³For though we live in the flesh, we do not wage war according to the flesh.

¹³In what way were you inferior to the other churches, except that I was not a burden to you? Forgive me this wrong!

⁹And when I was with you and in need, I was not a burden to anyone; for the brothers who came from Macedonia supplied my needs. I have refrained from being a burden to you in any way, and I will continue to do so.

¹⁰As surely as the truth of Christ is in me, this boasting of mine will not be silenced in the regions of Achaia.

³For our appeal does not arise from deceit or ulterior motives or trickery.

¹⁰If Timothy comes, see to it that he has nothing to fear while he is with you, for he is doing the work of the Lord, just as I am.

¹⁶But Elisha replied, “As surely as the Lord lives, before whom I stand, I will not accept it.” And although Naaman urged him to accept it, he refused.

¹⁷That is why I have sent you Timothy, my beloved and faithful child in the Lord. He will remind you of my way of life in Christ Jesus, which is exactly what I teach everywhere in every church.

¹⁸I urged Titus to visit you, and I sent our brother with him. Did Titus exploit you in any way? Did we not walk in the same Spirit and follow in the same footsteps?

⁵So I thought it necessary to urge the brothers to visit you beforehand and make arrangements for the generous gift you had promised. This way, your gift will be prepared generously and not begrudgingly.

²⁰Gehazi, the servant of Elisha the man of God, said, “Look, my master has spared this Aramean, Naaman, by not accepting what he brought. As surely as the Lord lives, I will run after him and get something from him.”

²¹So Gehazi pursued Naaman. And when Naaman saw him running toward him, he got down from the chariot to meet him and asked, “Is everything all right?”

⁶So we urged Titus to help complete your act of grace, just as he had started it.

¹²And he is also the father of the circumcised who not only are circumcised, but who also walk in the footsteps of the faith that our father Abraham had before he was circumcised.

⁶But God, who comforts the downcast, comforted us by the arrival of Titus,

¹⁹Now I hope in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you soon, that I also may be cheered when I learn how you are doing.

²⁰I have nobody else like him who will genuinely care for your needs.

²Make room for us in your hearts. We have wronged no one, we have corrupted no one, we have exploited no one.

³³I have not coveted anyone’s silver or gold or clothing.

³⁴You yourselves know that these hands of mine have ministered to my own needs and those of my companions.

¹I speak the truth in Christ; I am not lying, as confirmed by my conscience in the Holy Spirit.

²⁶What then shall we say, brothers? When you come together, everyone has a psalm or a teaching, a revelation, a tongue, or an interpretation. All of these must be done to build up the church.

⁸For even if I boast somewhat excessively about the authority the Lord gave us for building you up rather than tearing you down, I will not be ashamed.

¹⁴Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry.

¹Therefore, my brothers, whom I love and long for, my joy and crown, that is how you must stand firm in the Lord, my beloved.

¹Are we beginning to commend ourselves again? Or do we need, like some people, letters of recommendation to you or from you?

¹Rid yourselves, therefore, of all malice, deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander.

¹⁹The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity, and debauchery;

²⁰idolatry and sorcery; hatred, discord, jealousy, and rage; rivalries, divisions, factions,

²⁹They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed, and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, and malice. They are gossips,

¹¹My brothers, some from Chloe’s household have informed me that there are quarrels among you.

¹⁶These men are discontented grumblers, following after their own lusts; their mouths spew arrogance; they flatter others for their own advantage.

¹⁵But if you keep on biting and devouring one another, watch out, or you will be consumed by one another.

²I already warned you the second time I was with you. So now in my absence I warn those who sinned earlier and everyone else: If I return, I will not spare anyone,

⁵Put to death, therefore, the components of your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires, and greed, which is idolatry.

⁹I wrote you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people.

¹⁰I was not including the sexually immoral of this world, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters. In that case you would have to leave this world.

²Consequently, he does not live out his remaining time on earth for human passions, but for the will of God.

³For you have spent enough time in the past carrying out the same desires as the Gentiles: living in debauchery, lust, drunkenness, orgies, carousing, and detestable idolatry.

⁸But to the cowardly and unbelieving and abominable and murderers and sexually immoral and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars, their place will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur. This is the second death.”

¹⁹The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity, and debauchery;