The SECOND LETTER of PAUL to the CORINTHIANS Chapter 1

The Second  Letter of Paul to the  

CORINTHIANS

Chapter One

An Overview of 2 Corinthians by the "Bible Project"

Greeting

1 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother,

To the church of God that is at Corinth, with all the saints who are in the whole of Achaia:

2 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

God of All Comfort

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 may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. 

5 For as we share abundantly in Christ's sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too.

6 If we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation; and if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which you experience when you patiently endure the same sufferings that we suffer. 

7 Our hope for you is unshaken, for we know that as you share in our sufferings, you will also share in our comfort.

8 For we do not want you to be unaware, brothers, of the affliction we experienced in Asia. For we were so utterly burdened beyond our strength that we despaired of life itself. 

9 Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death. But that was to make us rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead. 

10 He delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us. On him we have set our hope that he will deliver us again. 

11 You also must help us by prayer, so that many will give thanks on our behalf for the blessing granted us through the prayers of many.

Paul's Change of Plans

12 For our boast is this, the testimony of our conscience, that we behaved in the world with simplicity and godly sincerity, not by earthly wisdom but by the grace of God, and supremely so toward you. 

13 For we are not writing to you anything other than what you read and understand and I hope you will fully understand— 

14 just as you did partially understand us—that on the day of our Lord Jesus you will boast of us as we will boast of you.

15 Because I was sure of this, I wanted to come to you first, so that you might have a second experience of grace. 

16 I wanted to visit you on my way to Macedonia, and to come back to you from Macedonia and have you send me on my way to Judea. 

17 Was I vacillating when I wanted to do this? Do I make my plans according to the flesh, ready to say “Yes, yes” and “No, no” at the same time? 

18 As surely as God is faithful, our word to you has not been Yes and No. 

19 For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, whom we proclaimed among you, Silvanus and Timothy and I, was not Yes and No, but in him it is always Yes. 

20 For all the promises of God find their Yes in him. That is why it is through him that we utter our Amen to God for his glory. 

21 And it is God who establishes us with you in Christ, and has anointed us, 

22 and who has also put his seal on us and given us his Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee.

23 But I call God to witness against me—it was to spare you that I refrained from coming again to Corinth. 

24 Not that we lord it over your faith, but we work with you for your joy, for you stand firm in your faith.

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The FIRST LETTER of PAUL to the THESSALONIANS Chapter 5

The First Letter of Paul to the  

THESSALONIANS

Chapter Five

The Day of the Lord

1 Now concerning the times and the seasons, brothers, you have no need to have anything written to you. 

2 For you yourselves are fully aware that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. 

3 While people are saying, “There is peace and security,” then sudden destruction will come upon them as labor pains come upon a pregnant woman, and they will not escape. 

4 But you are not in darkness, brothers, for that day to surprise you like a thief. 

5 For you are all children of light, children of the day. We are not of the night or of the darkness. 

6 So then let us not sleep, as others do, but let us keep awake and be sober. 

7 For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk, are drunk at night. 

8 But since we belong to the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet the hope of salvation. 

9 For God has not destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, 

10 who died for us so that whether we are awake or asleep we might live with him. 

11 Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing.

Final Instructions and Benediction

12 We ask you, brothers, to respect those who labor among you and are over you in the Lord and admonish you, 

13 and to esteem them very highly in love because of their work. Be at peace among yourselves. 

14 And we urge you, brothers, admonish the idle, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with them all. 

15 See that no one repays anyone evil for evil, but always seek to do good to one another and to everyone. 

16 Rejoice always, 

17 pray without ceasing, 

18 give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. 

19 Do not quench the Spirit. 

20 Do not despise prophecies, 

21 but test everything; hold fast what is good. 

22 Abstain from every form of evil.

23 Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. 

24 He who calls you is faithful; he will surely do it.

25 Brothers, pray for us.

26 Greet all the brothers with a holy kiss.

27 I put you under oath before the Lord to have this letter read to all the brothers.

28 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.

The FIRST LETTER of PAUL to The THESSALONIANS Chapter 4

The First Letter of Paul to the  

THESSALONIANS

Chapter Four

A Life Pleasing to God

1 Finally, then, brothers, we ask and urge you in the Lord Jesus, that as you received from us how you ought to walk and to please God, just as you are doing, that you do so more and more. 

2 For you know what instructions we gave you through the Lord Jesus. 

3 For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you abstain from sexual immorality; 

4 that each one of you know how to control his own body in holiness and honour, 5 not in the passion of lust like the Gentiles who do not know God; 

6 that no one transgress and wrong his brother in this matter, because the Lord is an avenger in all these things, as we told you beforehand and solemnly warned you. 

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

8 Therefore whoever disregards this, disregards not man but God, who gives his Holy Spirit to you.

9 Now concerning brotherly love you have no need for anyone to write to you, for you yourselves have been taught by God to love one another, 

10 for that indeed is what you are doing to all the brothers throughout Macedonia. But we urge you, brothers, to do this more and more, 

11 and to aspire to live quietly, and to mind your own affairs, and to work with your hands, as we instructed you, 12 so that you may walk properly before outsiders and be dependent on no one.

The Coming of the Lord

13 But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. 

14 For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep. 

15 For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord,[ that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. 

16 For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. 

17 Then we who are alive, who are left, 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. 

18 Therefore encourage one another with these words.

PSALM 69

Psalm 69

Save Me, O God

To the choirmaster: according to Lilies. 

A Psalm of David.

1  

Save me, O God!

    For the waters have come up to my neck.

2 

I sink in deep mire,

    where there is no foothold;

I have come into deep waters,

    and the flood sweeps over me.

3 

I am weary with my crying out;

    my throat is parched.

My eyes grow dim

    with waiting for my God.

4 

More in number than the hairs of my head

    are those who hate me without cause;

mighty are those who would destroy me,

    those who attack me with lies.

What I did not steal 

    must I now restore?

5 

O God, you know my folly;

    the wrongs I have done are not hidden from you.

6 

Let not those who hope in you be put to shame through me,

    O Lord God of hosts;

let not those who seek you be brought to dishonour through me,

    O God of Israel.

7 

For it is for your sake that I have borne reproach,

    that dishonour has covered my face.

8 

I have become a stranger to my brothers,

    an alien to my mother's sons.

9 

For zeal for your house has consumed me,

    and the reproaches of those who reproach you have fallen on me.

10 

When I wept and humbled my soul with fasting,

    it became my reproach.

11 

When I made sackcloth my clothing,

    I became a byword to them.

12 

I am the talk of those who sit in the gate,

    and the drunkards make songs about me.

13 

But as for me, my prayer is to you, O Lord.

    At an acceptable time, O God,

    in the abundance of your steadfast love answer me 

in your saving faithfulness.

14 

Deliver me

    from sinking in the mire;

let me be delivered from my enemies

    and from the deep waters.

15 

Let not the flood sweep over me,

    or the deep swallow me up,

    or the pit close its mouth over me.

16 

Answer me, O Lord, for your steadfast love is good;

    according to your abundant mercy, turn to me.

17 

Hide not your face from your servant,

    for I am in distress; make haste to answer me.

18 

Draw near to my soul, redeem me;

    ransom me because of my enemies!

19 

You know my reproach,

    and my shame and my dishonour;

    my foes are all known to you.

20 

Reproaches have broken my heart,

    so that I am in despair.

I looked for pity, but there was none,

    and for comforters, but I found none.

21 

They gave me poison for food,

    and for my thirst they gave me sour wine to drink.

22 

Let their own table before them become a snare;

    and when they are at peace, let it become a trap.

23 

Let their eyes be darkened, so that they cannot see,

    and make their loins tremble continually.

24 

Pour out your indignation upon them,

    and let your burning anger overtake them.

25 

May their camp be a desolation;

    let no one dwell in their tents.

26 

For they persecute him whom you have struck down,

    and they recount the pain of those you have wounded.

27 

Add to them punishment upon punishment;

    may they have no acquittal from you.

28 

Let them be blotted out of the book of the living;

    let them not be enrolled among the righteous.

29 

But I am afflicted and in pain;

    let your salvation, O God, set me on high!

30 

I will praise the name of God with a song;

    I will magnify him with thanksgiving.

31 

This will please the Lord more than an ox

    or a bull with horns and hoofs.

32 

When the humble see it they will be glad;

    you who seek God, let your hearts revive.

33 

For the Lord hears the needy

    and does not despise his own people who are prisoners.

34 

Let heaven and earth praise him,

    the seas and everything that moves in them.

35 

For God will save Zion

    and build up the cities of Judah,

and people shall dwell there and possess it;

36 

    the offspring of his servants shall inherit it,

    and those who love his name shall dwell in it.

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Psalm 67 and 68

Psalm 67

Make Your Face Shine upon Us

To the choirmaster: with stringed instruments. 

A Psalm. A Song.

1 

May God be gracious to us and bless us

    and make his face to shine upon us, Selah

2 

that your way may be known on earth,

    your saving power among all nations.

3 

Let the peoples praise you, O God;

    let all the peoples praise you!

4 

Let the nations be glad and sing for joy,

    for you judge the peoples with equity

    and guide the nations upon earth. Selah

5 

Let the peoples praise you, O God;

    let all the peoples praise you!

6 

The earth has yielded its increase;

    God, our God, shall bless us.

7 

God shall bless us;

    let all the ends of the earth fear him!

Psalm 68

God Shall Scatter His Enemies

To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David. A Song.

1 

God shall arise, his enemies shall be scattered;

    and those who hate him shall flee before him!

2 

As smoke is driven away, so you shall drive them away;

    as wax melts before fire,

    so the wicked shall perish before God!

3 

But the righteous shall be glad;

    they shall exult before God;

    they shall be jubilant with joy!

4 

Sing to God, sing praises to his name;

    lift up a song to him who rides through the deserts;

his name is the Lord;

    exult before him!

5 

Father of the fatherless and protector of widows

    is God in his holy habitation.

6 

God settles the solitary in a home;

    he leads out the prisoners to prosperity,

    but the rebellious dwell in a parched land.

7 

O God, when you went out before your people,

    when you marched through the wilderness, Selah

8 

the earth quaked, the heavens poured down rain,

    before God, the One of Sinai,

    before God, the God of Israel.

9 

Rain in abundance, O God, you shed abroad;

    you restored your inheritance as it languished;

10 

your flock found a dwelling in it;

    in your goodness, O God, you provided for the needy.

11 

The Lord gives the word;

    the women who announce the news are a great host:

12 

    “The kings of the armies—they flee, they flee!”

The women at home divide the spoil—

13 

    though you men lie among the sheepfolds—

the wings of a dove covered with silver,

    its pinions with shimmering gold.

14 

When the Almighty scatters kings there,

    let snow fall on Zalmon.

15 

O mountain of God, mountain of Bashan;

    O many-peake mountain, mountain of Bashan!

16 

Why do you look with hatred, O many-peaked mountain,

    at the mount that God desired for his abode,

    yes, where the Lord will dwell forever?

17 

The chariots of God are twice ten thousand,

    thousands upon thousands;

    the Lord is among them; Sinai is now in the sanctuary.

18 

You ascended on high,

    leading a host of captives in your train

    and receiving gifts among men,

even among the rebellious, that the Lord God may dwell there.

19 

Blessed be the Lord,

    who daily bears us up;

    God is our salvation. Selah

20 

Our God is a God of salvation,

    and to God, the Lord, belong deliverances from death.

21 

But God will strike the heads of his enemies,

    the hairy crown of him who walks in his guilty ways.

22 

The Lord said,

    “I will bring them back from Bashan,

I will bring them back from the depths of the sea,

23 

that you may strike your feet in their blood,

    that the tongues of your dogs may have their portion from the foe.”

24 

Your procession is seen, O God,

    the procession of my God, my King, into the sanctuary—

25 

the singers in front, the musicians last,

    between them virgins playing tambourines:

26 

“Bless God in the great congregation,

    the Lord, O you who are of Israel's fountain!”

27 

There is Benjamin, the least of them, in the lead,

    the princes of Judah in their throng,

    the princes of Zebulun, the princes of Naphtali.

28 

Summon your power, O God,

    the power, O God, by which you have worked for us.

29 

Because of your temple at Jerusalem

    kings shall bear gifts to you.

30 

Rebuke the beasts that dwell among the reeds,

    the herd of bulls with the calves of the peoples.

Trample underfoot those who lust after tribute;

    scatter the peoples who delight in war.

31 

Nobles shall come from Egypt;

    Cush shall hasten to stretch out her hands to God.

32 

O kingdoms of the earth, sing to God;

    sing praises to the Lord, Selah

33 

to him who rides in the heavens, the ancient heavens;

    behold, he sends out his voice, his mighty voice.

34 

Ascribe power to God,

    whose majesty is over Israel,

    and whose power is in the skies.

35 

Awesome is God from his sanctuary;

    the God of Israel—he is the one who gives power and strength to his people.

Blessed be God!