2 Corinthians 6

¹⁵See to it that no one falls short of the grace of God, and that no root of bitterness springs up to cause trouble and defile many.

⁹For we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field, God’s building.

¹⁰As good stewards of the manifold grace of God, each of you should use whatever gift he has received to serve one another.

²¹I do not set aside the grace of God. For if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died for nothing.

¹⁸All this is from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation:

¹⁹that God was reconciling the world to Himself in Christ, not counting men’s trespasses against them. And He has committed to us the message of reconciliation.

¹Therefore I urge you, brothers, on account of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.

⁸This is what the Lord says: “In the time of favor I will answer You, and in the day of salvation I will help You; I will keep You and appoint You to be a covenant for the people, to restore the land, to apportion its desolate inheritances,

⁷God again designated a certain day as “Today,” when a long time later He spoke through David as was just stated: “Today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts.”

¹³But exhort one another daily, as long as it is called today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness.

²to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor and the day of our God’s vengeance, to comfort all who mourn,

⁷Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says: “Today, if you hear His voice,

⁴²and said, “If only you had known on this day what would bring you peace! But now it is hidden from your eyes.

⁴³For the days will come upon you when your enemies will barricade you and surround you and hem you in on every side.

¹³Therefore let us stop judging one another. Instead, make up your mind not to put any stumbling block or obstacle in your brother’s way.

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.

²²To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all people so that by all possible means I might save some.

⁶But if anyone causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to stumble, it would be better for him to have a large millstone hung around his neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea.

³²Do not become a stumbling block, whether to Jews or Greeks or the church of God—

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.

²⁷“But so that we may not offend them, go to the sea, cast a hook, and take the first fish you catch. When you open its mouth, you will find a four-drachma coin. Take it and give it to them for My tax and yours.”

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.

⁸We are hard pressed on all sides, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair;

²⁷in labor and toil and often without sleep, in hunger and thirst and often without food, in cold and exposure.

¹¹To this very hour we are hungry and thirsty, we are poorly clothed, we are brutally treated, we are homeless.

¹²We work hard with our own hands. When we are vilified, we bless; when we are persecuted, we endure it;

³⁵Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?

³⁶As it is written: “For Your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.”

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

⁴perseverance, character; and character, hope.

²³Are they servants of Christ? (I am speaking as if I were out of my mind.) I am so much more: in harder labor, in more imprisonments, in worse beatings, in frequent danger of death.

²⁴Five times I received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one.

²⁷in labor and toil and often without sleep, in hunger and thirst and often without food, in cold and exposure.

³⁶Still others endured mocking and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment.

²³About that time there arose a great disturbance about the Way.

²⁴It began with a silversmith named Demetrius who made silver shrines of Artemis, bringing much business to the craftsmen.

⁵The Jews, however, became jealous. So they brought in some troublemakers from the marketplace, formed a mob, and sent the city into an uproar. They raided Jason’s house in search of Paul and Silas, hoping to bring them out to the people.

¹²While Gallio was proconsul of Achaia, the Jews coordinated an attack on Paul and brought him before the judgment seat.

¹³“This man is persuading the people to worship God in ways contrary to the law,” they said.

³²Be kind and tenderhearted to one another, forgiving each other just as in Christ God forgave you.

²⁷To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.

²²But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,

²with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love,

⁴For through many tears I wrote you out of great distress and anguish of heart, not to grieve you but to let you know how much I love you.

¹⁵And for the sake of your souls, I will most gladly spend my money and myself. If I love you more, will you love me less?

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.

⁴The weapons of our warfare are not the weapons of the flesh. Instead, they have divine power to demolish strongholds.

⁵We demolish arguments and every presumption set up against the knowledge of God; and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.

¹⁵Make every effort to present yourself approved to God, an unashamed workman who accurately handles the word of truth.

¹¹Put on the full armor of God, so that you can make your stand against the devil’s schemes.

¹²For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this world’s darkness, and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.

²⁰Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us,

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.

⁶³“Sir,” they said, “we remember that while He was alive that deceiver said, ‘After three days I will rise again.’

¹⁴If you are insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you.

¹⁰To this end we labor and strive, because we have set our hope on the living God, who is the Savior of everyone, and especially of those who believe.

²²But we consider your views worth hearing, because we know that people everywhere are speaking against this sect.”

⁹As for those who belong to the synagogue of Satan, who claim to be Jews but are liars instead, I will make them come and bow down at your feet, and they will know that I love you.

⁵We have found this man to be a pestilence, stirring up dissension among the Jews all over the world. He is a ringleader of the sect of the Nazarenes,

¹⁰We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body.

¹¹For we who are alive are always consigned to death for Jesus’ sake, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our mortal body.

³⁶As it is written: “For Your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.”

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.

⁸We do not want you to be unaware, brothers, of the hardships we encountered in the province of Asia. We were under a burden far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired even of life.

⁹Indeed, we felt we were under the sentence of death, in order that we would not trust in ourselves, but in God, who raises the dead.

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.

¹⁷I will not die, but I will live and proclaim what the Lord has done.

¹⁸The Lord disciplined me severely, but He has not given me over to death.

²²So also you have sorrow now, but I will see you again and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take away your joy.

⁹For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sake He became poor, so that you through His poverty might become rich.

⁵Listen, my beloved brothers: Has not God chosen the poor of this world to be rich in faith and to inherit the kingdom He promised those who love Him?

⁹I know your affliction and your poverty—though you are rich! And I am aware of the slander of those who falsely claim to be Jews, but are in fact a synagogue of Satan.

³⁴You sympathized with those in prison and joyfully accepted the confiscation of your property, knowing that you yourselves had a better and permanent possession.

⁸For physical exercise is of limited value, but godliness is valuable in every way, holding promise for the present life and for the one to come.

³²I run in the path of Your commandments, for You will enlarge my heart.

³I do not say this to condemn you. I have said before that you so occupy our hearts that we live and die together with you.

⁴Great is my confidence in you; great is my pride in you; I am filled with encouragement; in all our troubles my joy overflows.

¹⁵And for the sake of your souls, I will most gladly spend my money and myself. If I love you more, will you love me less?

⁸God is my witness how I long for all of you with the affection of Christ Jesus.

⁴For through many tears I wrote you out of great distress and anguish of heart, not to grieve you but to let you know how much I love you.

¹O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? Before your very eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed as crucified.

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

⁷Should it be said, O house of Jacob, “Is the Spirit of the Lord impatient? Are these the things He does?” Do not My words bring good to him who walks uprightly?

⁸God is my witness how I long for all of you with the affection of Christ Jesus.

¹⁶Indeed, He drew you from the jaws of distress to a spacious and broad place, to a table full of richness.

¹⁷If anyone with earthly possessions sees his brother in need, but withholds his compassion from him, how can the love of God abide in him?

¹²When you walk, your steps will not be impeded; when you run, you will not stumble.

¹⁸Little children, let us love not in word and speech, but in action and truth.

⁴I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth.

¹⁴I am not writing this to shame you, but to warn you as my beloved children.

¹⁵Even if you have ten thousand guardians in Christ, you do not have many fathers; for in Christ Jesus I became your father through the gospel.

⁷Little children, let no one deceive you: The one who practices righteousness is righteous, just as Christ is righteous.

¹My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you will not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate before the Father—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One.

¹¹For you know that we treated each of you as a father treats his own children—

³³Do not be deceived: “Bad company corrupts good character.”

²¹You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons too; you cannot partake in the table of the Lord and the table of demons too.

⁴You adulteresses! Do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Therefore, whoever chooses to be a friend of the world renders himself an enemy of God.

⁶Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of such things the wrath of God is coming on the sons of disobedience.

⁷Therefore do not be partakers with them.

¹⁹You are to keep My statutes. You shall not crossbreed two different kinds of livestock; you shall not sow your fields with two kinds of seed; and you shall not wear clothing made of two kinds of material.

⁹But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, to proclaim the virtues of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.

¹⁰Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.

²⁰No, but the sacrifices of pagans are offered to demons, not to God. And I do not want you to be participants with demons.

²¹You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons too; you cannot partake in the table of the Lord and the table of demons too.

¹¹And this is that testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son.

¹²Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.

²¹Then Elijah approached all the people and said, “How long will you waver between two opinions? If the Lord is God, follow Him. But if Baal is God, follow him.” But the people did not answer a word.

²carried it into the temple of Dagon, and set it beside his statue.

³When the people of Ashdod got up early the next morning, there was Dagon, fallen on his face before the ark of the Lord. So they took Dagon and returned him to his place.

³But Zerubbabel, Jeshua, and the other heads of the families of Israel replied, “You have no part with us in building a house for our God, since we alone must build it for the Lord, the God of Israel, as Cyrus king of Persia has commanded us.”

²⁰But Peter replied, “May your silver perish with you, because you thought you could buy the gift of God with money!

³And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying: “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man, and He will dwell with them. They will be His people, and God Himself will be with them as their God.

⁴⁵Then I will dwell among the Israelites and be their God.

¹⁰For this is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord. I will put My laws in their minds and inscribe them on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they will be My people.

¹²I will walk among you and be your God, and you will be My people.

²⁶And I will make a covenant of peace with them; it will be an everlasting covenant. I will establish them and multiply them, and I will set My sanctuary among them forever.

²⁷My dwelling place will be with them; I will be their God, and they will be My people.

³⁸They will be My people, and I will be their God.

¹¹Depart, depart, go out from there! Touch no unclean thing; come out from it, purify yourselves, you who carry the vessels of the Lord.

⁴Then I heard another voice from heaven say: “Come out of her, My people, so that you will not share in her sins or contract any of her plagues.

¹Therefore, beloved, since we have these promises, let us cleanse ourselves from everything that defiles body and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.

¹Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, or set foot on the path of sinners, or sit in the seat of mockers.

²But his delight is in the Law of the Lord, and on His law he meditates day and night.

²⁶And he warned the congregation, “Move away now from the tents of these wicked men. Do not touch anything that belongs to them, or you will be swept away because of all their sins.”

¹¹Now, therefore, make a confession to the Lord, the God of your fathers, and do His will. Separate yourselves from the people of the land and from your foreign wives.”

⁷The one who overcomes will inherit all things, and I will be his God, and he will be My son.

¹²But to all who did receive Him, to those who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God—

¹⁴I will be his Father, and he will be My son. When he does wrong, I will discipline him with the rod of men and with the blows of the sons of men.

¹⁴For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.

¹⁵For you did not receive a spirit of slavery that returns you to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption to sonship, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!”

⁵to redeem those under the law, that we might receive our adoption as sons.

⁶And because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying out, “Abba, Father!”

²⁶You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus.