5 We know that when the tent which houses us here on earth is torn down, we have a permanent building from God, a building not made by human hands, to house us in heaven. ² For in this tent, our earthly body, we groan with desire to have around us the home from heaven that will be ours. ³ With this around us we will not be found naked. ⁴ Yes, while we are in this body, we groan with the sense of being oppressed: it is not so much that we want to take something off, but rather to put something on over it; so that what must die may be swallowed up by the Life. ⁵ Moreover, it is God who has prepared us for this very thing, and as a pledge he has given us his Spirit.

⁶ So we are always confident — we know that so long as we are at home in the body, we are away from our home with the Lord; ⁷ for we live by trust, not by what we see. ⁸ We are confident, then, and would much prefer to leave our home in the body and come to our home with the Lord.

⁹ Therefore, whether at home or away from home, we try our utmost to please him; ¹⁰ for we must all appear before the Messiah’s court of judgment, where everyone will receive the good or bad consequences of what he did while he was in the body.

¹¹ So it is with the fear of the Lord before us that we try to persuade people. Moreover, God knows us as we really are; and I hope that in your consciences you too know us as we really are. ¹² We are not recommending ourselves to you again but giving you a reason to be proud of us, so that you will be able to answer those who boast about a person’s appearance rather than his inner qualities. ¹³ If we are insane, it is for God’s sake; and if we are sane, it is for your sake. ¹⁴ For the Messiah’s love has hold of us, because we are convinced that one man died on behalf of all mankind (which implies that all mankind was already dead), ¹⁵ and that he died on behalf of all in order that those who live should not live any longer for themselves but for the one who on their behalf died and was raised. ¹⁶ So from now on, we do not look at anyone from a worldly viewpoint. Even if we once regarded the Messiah from a worldly viewpoint, we do so no longer. ¹⁷ Therefore, if anyone is united with the Messiah, he is a new creation — the old has passed; look, what has come is fresh and new! ¹⁸ And it is all from God, who through the Messiah has reconciled us to himself and has given us the work of that reconciliation, ¹⁹ which is that God in the Messiah was reconciling mankind to himself, not counting their sins against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. ²⁰ Therefore we are ambassadors of the Messiah; in effect, God is making his appeal through us. What we do is appeal on behalf of the Messiah, “Be reconciled to God! ²¹ God made this sinless man be a sin offering on our behalf, so that in union with him we might fully share in God’s righteousness.”

6 As God’s fellow-workers we also urge you not to receive his grace and then do nothing with it. ² For he says,

³ We try not to put obstacles in anyone’s path, so that no one can find fault with the work we do. ⁴ On the contrary, we try to commend ourselves in every way as workers for God by continually enduring troubles, hardships, calamities, ⁵ beatings, imprisonments, riots, overwork, lack of sleep and food. ⁶ We commend ourselves by our purity, knowledge, patience and kindness; by the Ruach HaKodesh; by genuineness of love ⁷ and truthfulness of speech; and by God’s power. We commend ourselves through our use of righteous weapons, whether for pressing our cause or defending it; ⁸ through being honored and dishonored, praised and blamed, considered deceptive and sincere, ⁹ unknown and famous. And we commend ourselves as God’s workers headed for death, yet look! we’re alive! as punished, yet not killed; ¹⁰ as having reason to be sad, yet always filled with joy; as poor, yet making many people rich; as having nothing, yet having everything!

¹¹ Dear friends in Corinth! We have spoken frankly to you, we have opened our hearts wide. ¹² Any constraint you feel has not been imposed by us, but by your own inner selves. ¹³ So, just to be “fair” (I am using the language of children), open wide your hearts too.

¹⁴ Do not yoke yourselves together in a team with unbelievers. For how can righteousness and lawlessness be partners? What fellowship does light have with darkness? ¹⁵ What harmony can there be between the Messiah and B’liya‘al? What does a believer have in common with an unbeliever? ¹⁶ What agreement can there be between the temple of God and idols? For we are the temple of the living God — as God said,

¹⁷ Therefore Adonai says,

says Adonai-Tzva’ot.”^[e]

7 Therefore, my dear friends, since we have these promises, let us purify ourselves from everything that can defile either body or spirit, and strive to be completely holy, out of reverence for God.

² Make room for us in your hearts — we haven’t wronged anyone, we haven’t corrupted anyone, we haven’t exploited anyone. ³ I am not saying this to put blame on you, for I have already said that you have a place in our hearts, whether we live together or die together; ⁴ that I am very confident in you; that I am very proud of you; that you have filled me with encouragement; and that in spite of all our troubles, I am overflowing with joy.

⁵ For indeed when we came into Macedonia, our bodies had no rest. On the contrary, we faced all kinds of troubles — altercations without, apprehensions within. ⁶ But God, who encourages the downhearted, encouraged us with the arrival of Titus! ⁷ However, it was not only his arrival which encouraged us, but also how encouraged he was about you, as he told us how you long to see me, how distressed you are over my situation, how zealous you are in my defense — this news made me even happier!

⁸ If I caused you pain by my letter, I do not regret it. Even if I did regret it before — for I do see that that letter did distress you, though only for a short time — ⁹ now I rejoice not because you were pained, but because the pain led you to turn back to God. For you handled the pain in God’s way, so that you were not harmed by us at all. ¹⁰ Pain handled in God’s way produces a turning from sin to God which leads to salvation, and there is nothing to regret in that! But pain handled in the world’s way produces only death. ¹¹ For just look at what handling the pain God’s way produced in you! What earnest diligence, what eagerness to clear yourselves, what indignation, what fear, what longing, what zeal, what readiness to put things right! In everything you have proved yourselves blameless in the matter. ¹² So even though I wrote to you, it was not for the sake of either the one who did the wrong or the one wronged, but so that before God you could see for yourselves how deep is your devotion to us. ¹³ This is the reason we have been encouraged.

Besides our own encouragement, we had the even greater joy of seeing how happy Titus was, because all of you set his mind at rest. ¹⁴ For I had boasted somewhat about you to him, and now I have not been made to look foolish. On the contrary, just as everything we have said to you is true, so too our boasting in front of Titus has proved true. ¹⁵ And his affection for you is all the greater as he remembers how ready you were to obey and how you received him with reverence and respect. ¹⁶ I am glad that I can have such complete confidence in you.

8 Now, brothers, we must tell you about the grace God has given the congregations in Macedonia. ² Despite severe trials, and even though they are desperately poor, their joy has overflowed in a wealth of generosity. ³ I tell you they have not merely given according to their means, but of their own free will they have given beyond their means. ⁴ They begged and pleaded with us for the privilege of sharing in this service for God’s people. ⁵ Also, they didn’t do this in the way we had expected, but first they gave themselves to the Lord, which means, by God’s will, to us.

⁶ All this has led us to urge Titus to bring this same gracious gift to completion among you, since he has already made a beginning of it. ⁷ Just as you excel in everything — in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in diligence of every kind, and in your love for us — see that you excel in this gift too. ⁸ I am not issuing an order; rather, I am testing the genuineness of your love against the diligence of others. ⁹ For you know how generous our Lord Yeshua the Messiah was — for your sakes he impoverished himself, even though he was rich, so that he might make you rich by means of his poverty. ¹⁰ As I say, in regard to this matter I am only giving an opinion. A year ago you were not only the first to take action but the first to want to do so. Now it would be to your advantage ¹¹ to finish what you started, so that your eagerness in wanting to commence the project may be matched by your eagerness to complete it, as you contribute from what you have. ¹² For if the eagerness to give is there, the acceptability of the gift will be measured by what you have, not by what you don’t have. ¹³ It is not that relief for others should cause trouble for you, but that there should be a kind of reciprocity: ¹⁴ at present your abundance can help those in need; so that when you are in need, their abundance can help you — thus there is reciprocity. ¹⁵ It is as the Tanakh says,

¹⁶ Now I thank God for making Titus as devoted to you as we are; ¹⁷ for he not only responded to our urging, but, being so devoted, he is coming to you on his own initiative. ¹⁸ And with him we are sending the brother whose work for the Good News is praised in all the congregations; ¹⁹ not only that, he has also been appointed by the congregations to travel with us, so that the way we administer this charitable work will bring honor to the Lord and show our eagerness to help. ²⁰ Our aim in this is to show that our conduct in dealing with these substantial sums is above reproach; ²¹ for we take pains to do what is right not only in the sight of God but also in the sight of other people.^{[g] 22} With these two we are sending another brother of ours, one whose diligence we have tested many times in many ways, but who is now all the more diligent because of his great confidence in you. ²³ As for Titus, he is my partner who works with me on your behalf; and the other brothers with him are emissaries of the congregations and bring honor to the Messiah. ²⁴ So the love you show these men will justify our pride in you to them, and through them to the congregations that sent them.

9 There is really no need for me to write you about this offering for God’s people — ² I know how eager you are, and I boast about you to the Macedonians. I tell them, “Achaia has been ready since last year,” and it was your zeal that stirred up most of them. ³ But now I am sending the brothers so that our boast about you in this regard will not prove hollow, so that you will be ready, as I said you would be. ⁴ For if some Macedonians were to come with me and find you unprepared, we would be humiliated at having been so confident — to say nothing of how you would feel. ⁵ So I thought it necessary to urge these brothers to go on to you ahead of me and prepare your promised gift in plenty of time; this way it will be ready when I come and will be a genuine gift, not something extracted by pressure.

⁶ Here’s the point: he who plants sparingly also harvests sparingly. ⁷ Each should give according to what he has decided in his heart, not grudgingly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.^{[h] 8} Moreover, God has the power to provide you with every gracious gift in abundance, so that always in every way you will have all you need yourselves and be able to provide abundantly for every good cause — ⁹ as the Tanakh says,

¹⁰ He who provides both seed for the planter and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed and increase the harvest of your tzedakah. ¹¹ You will be enriched in every way, so that you can be generous in everything. And through us your generosity will cause people to thank God, ¹² because rendering this holy service not only provides for the needs of God’s people, but it also overflows in the many thanks people will be giving to God. ¹³ In offering this service you prove to these people that you glorify God by actually doing what your acknowledgement of the Good News of the Messiah requires, namely, sharing generously with them and with everyone. ¹⁴ And in their prayers for you they will feel a strong affection for you because of how gracious God has been to you. ¹⁵ Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift!