2 Corinthians 7

⁷For God has not called us to impurity, but to holiness.

¹¹Beloved, I urge you, as foreigners and exiles, to abstain from the desires of the flesh, which war against your soul.

⁸Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.

¹³To fear the Lord is to hate evil; I hate arrogant pride, evil conduct, and perverse speech.

¹⁰Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.

³And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as Christ is pure.

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

¹²It is not our affection, but yours, that is restrained.

¹³As a fair exchange—I speak as to my children—open wide your hearts also.

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.

¹⁸For such people are not serving our Lord Christ, but their own appetites. By smooth talk and flattery they deceive the hearts of the naive.

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

⁴Instead, we speak as those approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel, not in order to please men but God, who examines our hearts.

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.

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

⁹And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight,

¹¹We have spoken freely to you, Corinthians. Our hearts are open wide.

¹²It is not our affection, but yours, that is restrained.

¹⁶But Ruth replied: “Do not urge me to leave you or to turn from following you. For wherever you go, I will go, and wherever you live, I will live; your people will be my people, and your God will be my God.

¹⁷Where you die, I will die, and there I will be buried. May the Lord punish me, and ever so severely, if anything but death separates you and me.”

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.

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?

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

⁴who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God.

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

¹²Therefore, since we have such a hope, we are very bold.

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

⁴I always thank my God for you because of the grace He has given you in Christ Jesus.

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.

¹³I had no peace in my spirit, because I did not find my brother Titus there. So I said goodbye to them and went on to Macedonia.

²⁵Outside, the sword will take their children, and inside, terror will strike the young man and the young woman, the infant and the gray-haired man.

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.

²⁸Come to Me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.

²⁹Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.

¹When the uproar had ended, Paul sent for the disciples. And after encouraging them, he said goodbye to them and left for Macedonia.

⁵For this reason, when I could bear it no longer, I sent to find out about your faith, for fear that the tempter had somehow tempted you and that our labor might have been in vain.

¹⁶Now may our Lord Jesus Christ Himself and God our Father, who by grace has loved us and given us eternal comfort and good hope,

¹⁷encourage your hearts and strengthen you in every good word and deed.

³Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort,

⁴who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God.

²Beloved, I pray that in every way you may prosper and enjoy good health, as your soul also prospers.

³For I was overjoyed when the brothers came and testified about your devotion to the truth, in which you continue to walk.

¹³On account of this, we are encouraged. In addition to our own encouragement, we were even more delighted by the joy of Titus. For his spirit has been refreshed by all of you.

¹³Then the maidens will rejoice with dancing, young men and old as well. I will turn their mourning into joy, and give them comfort and joy for their sorrow.

¹⁸I have seen his ways, but I will heal him; I will guide him and restore comfort to him and his mourners,

³Beloved, although I made every effort to write to you about the salvation we share, I felt it necessary to write and urge you to contend earnestly for the faith entrusted once for all to the saints.

⁴I was overjoyed to find some of your children walking in the truth, just as the Father has commanded us.

¹⁷Elijah was a man just like us. He prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the land for three and a half years.

⁹Grieve, mourn, and weep. Turn your laughter to mourning, and your joy to gloom.

¹⁰Humble yourselves before the Lord, and He will exalt you.

⁵For although I am absent from you in body, I am present with you in spirit, and I delight to see your orderly condition and firm faith in Christ.

²For in this tent we groan, longing to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling,

¹⁹Those I love I rebuke and discipline. Therefore be earnest and repent.

⁶Instead, your hearts are filled with sorrow because I have told you these things.

²²So Moses returned to the Lord and asked, “Lord, why have You brought trouble upon this people? Is this why You sent me?

²³Ever since I went to Pharaoh to speak in Your name, he has brought trouble on this people, and You have not delivered Your people in any way.”

⁹Furthermore, we have all had earthly fathers who disciplined us, and we respected them. Should we not much more submit to the Father of our spirits and live?

¹⁰Our fathers disciplined us for a short time as they thought best, but God disciplines us for our good, so that we may share in His holiness.

⁷You have deceived me, O Lord, and I was deceived. You have overcome me and prevailed. I am a laughingstock all day long; everyone mocks me.

⁸For whenever I speak, I cry out; I proclaim violence and destruction. For the word of the Lord has become to me a reproach and derision all day long.

²For if I grieve you, who is left to cheer me but those whom I have grieved?

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.

⁷I tell you that in the same way there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous ones who do not need to repent.

¹⁸I have surely heard Ephraim’s moaning: ‘You disciplined me severely, like an untrained calf. Restore me, that I may return, for You are the Lord my God.

¹⁹After I returned, I repented; and after I was instructed, I struck my thigh in grief. I was ashamed and humiliated because I bore the disgrace of my youth.’

³Sorrow is better than laughter, for a sad countenance is good for the heart.

⁸For we cannot do anything against the truth, but only for the truth.

⁹In fact, we rejoice when we are weak but you are strong, and our prayer is for your perfection.

¹⁰Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation without regret, but worldly sorrow brings death.

¹¹Consider what this godly sorrow has produced in you: what earnestness, what eagerness to clear yourselves, what indignation, what alarm, what longing, what zeal, what vindication! In every way you have proved yourselves to be innocent in this matter.

¹⁸Yes, I confess my iniquity; I am troubled by my sin.

¹⁹Repent, then, and turn back, so that your sins may be wiped away,

¹⁸When they heard this, they had no further objections, and they glorified God, saying, “So then, God has granted even the Gentiles repentance unto life.”

²⁵He must gently reprove those who oppose him, in the hope that God may grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth.

²⁶Then they will come to their senses and escape the snare of the devil, who has taken them captive to his will.

¹³Then David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the Lord.” “The Lord has taken away your sin,” Nathan replied. “You will not die.

¹³But the tax collector stood at a distance, unwilling even to lift up his eyes to heaven. Instead, he beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner!’

¹⁰In the same way, I tell you, there is joy in the presence of God’s angels over one sinner who repents.”

¹⁸For whoever serves Christ in this way is pleasing to God and approved by men.

²¹I solemnly charge you before God and Christ Jesus and the elect angels to maintain these principles without bias, and to do nothing out of partiality.

²²Do not be too quick in the laying on of hands and thereby share in the sins of others. Keep yourself pure.

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

¹¹Serve the Lord with fear, and rejoice with trembling.

¹¹Have no fellowship with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them.

¹⁹Those I love I rebuke and discipline. Therefore be earnest and repent.

⁹My purpose in writing you was to see if you would stand the test and be obedient in everything.

⁵For if someone does not know how to manage his own household, how can he care for the church of God?

⁸Even if I caused you sorrow by my letter, I do not regret it. Although I did regret it—for I see that my letter caused you sorrow, but only for a short time—

¹⁷For we are not like so many others, who peddle the word of God for profit. On the contrary, in Christ we speak before God with sincerity, as men sent from God.

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.

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.

²⁸Apart from these external trials, I face daily the pressure of my concern for all the churches.

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

³²so that by God’s will I may come to you with joy and together with you be refreshed.

⁸Finally, all of you, be like-minded and sympathetic, love as brothers, be tenderhearted and humble.

¹³Be on the alert. Stand firm in the faith. Be men of courage. Be strong.

¹⁵Rejoice with those who rejoice; weep with those who weep.

²⁶If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it.

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

⁴That is why we boast among God’s churches about your perseverance and faith in the face of all the persecution and affliction you are enduring.

¹⁸But as surely as God is faithful, our message to you is not “Yes” and “No.”

¹⁹For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who was proclaimed among you by me and Silvanus and Timothy, was not “Yes” and “No,” but in Him it has always been “Yes.”

²For I know your eagerness to help, and I have been boasting to the Macedonians that since last year you in Achaia were prepared to give. And your zeal has stirred most of them to do likewise.

³But I am sending the brothers in order that our boasting about you in this matter should not prove empty, but that you will be prepared, just as I said.

²⁴In full view of the churches, then, show these men the proof of your love and the reason for our boasting about you.

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

¹²Therefore, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed, not only in my presence, but now even more in my absence, continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling.

⁹My purpose in writing you was to see if you would stand the test and be obedient in everything.

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?

¹²⁰My flesh trembles in awe of You; I stand in fear of Your judgments.

²Has not My hand made all these things? And so they came into being,” declares the Lord. “This is the one I will esteem: he who is humble and contrite in spirit, who trembles at My word.

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.

⁶And we will be ready to punish every act of disobedience, as soon as your obedience is complete.

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.

⁸So although in Christ I am bold enough to order you to do what is proper,

²¹Confident of your obedience, I write to you, knowing that you will do even more than I ask.

⁴And we have confidence in the Lord that you are doing and will continue to do what we command.