411 lines
93 KiB
Plaintext
Executable File
411 lines
93 KiB
Plaintext
Executable File
\id 2CO - Translation 4 Translators 1
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\ide 65001 - Unicode (UTF-8)
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\h 2 CORINTHIANS
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\toc1 2 Corinthians
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\toc2 2 Corinthians
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\toc3 2Co
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\mt2 The Apostle Paul wrote several letters to the Christians at Corinth. We call this letter
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\mt1 2 Corinthians
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\c 1
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\s1 2 Corinthians 1:1-2
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\s1 Paul and Timothy greet the Christians who are in Corinth.
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\p
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\v 1 \add I\add*, Paul, who \add write this letter to you\add*, became an apostle of Christ Jesus because God chose me for that. \add Timothy, our\add* fellow believer, \add is with me. I am sending this letter\add* to you who are God's people in the congregations in Corinth \add city. I want\add* the believers who live in \add other places\add* in Achaia \add province to also read this letter\add*.
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\v 2 \add We(exc) desire\add* that you will \add experience\add* God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ \add acting\add* kindly toward you and causing you to have \add inner\add* peace.
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\s1 We thank God that he encourages us in all our troubles so that we are able to encourage you when you suffer. We suffered so much in Asia province that we were sure that we were going to die, but we learned to trust in God. He saved us from death and he will continue to save us.
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\sr 2 Corinthians 1:3-11
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\p
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\v 3 \add We should\add* praise God, who is the father of our \add (inc)\add* Lord Jesus Christ. He always pities us and helps us \add because he is like\add* [MET] a father to us \add and we are like his children\add*. He always encourages us \add (inc)\add*.
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\v 4 He has encouraged us \add (exc)\add* whenever we suffered hardships. As a result, we \add (exc)\add* are able to encourage others whenever they suffer hardships, just as/just like ◄God has encouraged us \add (exc)\add*.
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\v 5 It is true that just like Christ suffered, we \add who serve him\add* also continually suffer \add because we belong to him\add*. But also, because we \add belong to\add* Christ, God greatly strengthens us just as/just like► \add God strengthened him\add*.
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\v 6 So, whenever we \add (exc)\add* experience sufferings, we \add learn how to encourage\add* you \add when you experience sufferings. As a result, you will become more and more the kind of people God\add* wants you to be. Whenever \add God\add* strengthens us \add (exc) in our sufferings, he\add* does that in order that you \add may see how he makes us strong when we are suffering. Then, as God\add* encourages \add you in that way\add*, you will learn to continue patiently \add trusting him\add* when you suffer as we do.
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\v 7 As a result, we \add (exc)\add* strongly expect that because you suffer just as/just like ◄we do, \add God\add* will encourage you just as/just like► \add he\add* encourages us.
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\p
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\v 8 \add Our\add* fellow believers, we \add (exc)\add* want you to know [LIT] about the trouble that we suffered in Asia \add province\add*. That trouble was so very great that it was much more than we were able to endure. As a result, we \add (exc)\add* thought that we would certainly die.
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\v 9 Indeed, we felt \add like a person feels when he has heard a judge say\add*, “I condemn you to die/be executed [MET].” But \add God allowed us to think that we were going to die\add* so that we would not ◄rely on/trust in► our own \add strength. He wanted us\add* instead \add to rely\add* only on his \add strength, because he\add* is the one who \add has power even to make\add* those who have died live \add again\add*.
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\v 10 And \add even though\add* we \add (exc)\add* were \add in terrible danger and were\add* about to die, God rescued us. And he will continue to rescue us \add whenever we are in trouble\add*. We confidently expect that he will continue to rescue us \add time after time\add*.
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\v 11 \add And we are also relying on\add* you to help us by praying for us \add (exc)\add*. \add If many people pray for us\add*, many people will also thank \add God\add* when \add he\add* kindly answers those many prayers \add and delivers us from danger\add*.
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\s1 You can trust what I tell you. I did not visit you, because I wanted to give you the opportunity to obey the instructions that I wrote to you. Now that you have punished enough the man who caused those problems, I urge you to forgive him and to encourage him.
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\sr 2 Corinthians 1:12—2:11
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\p
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\v 12 I am happy \add to say\add* that I have behaved toward all people [MTY] in an honest and sincere way. I am sure within myself \add that this is true\add*. Especially, I have behaved toward you \add honestly and sincerely because that is what\add* God wants us to do. As I have done that, \add my thoughts\add* have not been the thoughts that unbelieving people [MTY] \add think are\add* wise. Instead, \add I have behaved toward people only as God wants me to, depending on\add* God to help me in ways that I do not deserve.
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\v 13 \add I say that\add* because \add in all my letters to you\add* I have always written [LIT] clearly in a way that you can easily and completely understand \add when you\add* read them.
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\v 14 \add Previously some of\add* you, but not all of you, have completely understood \add that I am always honest and sincere with you\add*. But I confidently expect that \add soon\add* you will all be fully convinced \add about that\add*. Then when the Lord Jesus [MTY] \add returns, you will all be able to say that\add* you are pleased with me, just like I will \add be able to say that\add* I am pleased with you.
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\p
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\v 15-16 It was because I felt sure \add that all of you were pleased with me\add* that I was planning to visit you on my way from \add here\add* to Macedonia \add province\add*. I also planned to visit you again on my way back from there, so that I could \add spend time with you\add* twice, and be able to help you more, and I was hoping that you would \add give me things that I needed\add* [EUP] for my journey to Judea \add province\add*.
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\v 17 So then, even though I \add changed my mind later and did not do what\add* I \add first\add* planned to do, \add it was not because I did not have an important reason for changing my plans\add*. ◄Surely you do not \add really think\add* that I decide on what I am going to do like people who do not know God do!/Do you \add really think\add* that I decide on what I am going to do like people who do not know God do?► [RHQ] I am \add not like that\add*. I am not \add a person who\add* says \add to people\add*, “Yes, \add certainly I will do that\add*,” and then \add for no good reason changes his mind and says\add*, “No, \add I will not do it\add*.”
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\v 18 Just as surely as God always does what he says \add he will do, it is true that I have never said\add*, “Yes, \add I will do this\add*” when I \add really meant\add* “No.”
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\v 19 \add I follow the example of\add* God's Son, Jesus Christ. When I, along with Silas and Timothy, taught you \add about Christ\add*, we told you that he was not \add someone who said that he\add* would do \add something\add* and \add then\add* did not \add do it\add*. Jesus Christ never \add said to anyone\add*, “Yes, \add I will do what you desire\add*,” and \add then did\add* not \add do it\add*.
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\v 20 \add We(inc) know that is true\add*, because everything that God promised to do \add for his people\add*, he has done completely by \add sending\add* Christ \add to save us\add*. That is why we say, “Yes, it is true! \add God has done everything that he promised to do!\add*” And we praise him!
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\v 21 Now it is only God himself who causes us \add (exc)\add*, as well as you, to keep on \add believing\add* strongly in Christ. God is the one who chose us \add (inc) to belong to him and to have a close relationship\add* with Christ.
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\v 22 He also sent his Holy Spirit into our \add (inc)\add* lives to mark us as belonging to himself [MET]. Also, since he has sent his Spirit to live inside of us \add (inc)\add*, \add he wants us to know by this that\add* he guarantees [MET] \add to give us every other\add* ◄\add blessing/good thing\add*► \add that he has promised\add*.
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\p
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\v 23 So now \add I will tell you why I changed my mind and did not visit you as I intended to do\add*: God himself knows \add that what I am telling you is true\add*. The reason that I did not return to Corinth was so that I might not have to \add speak to you severely about the wrong that you had done\add*.
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\v 24 It is not that Silas, Timothy and I want to boss you \add and tell you that you must\add* believe only what we say. \add Not at all!\add* On the contrary, we \add (exc)\add* are working as partners \add with you\add* in order to make you happy. \add We do not try to force you to believe everything that we believe, because we are sure that you are continuing to\add* trust \add the Lord Jesus Christ\add* and that you are remaining firmly committed to him.
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\c 2
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\p
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\v 1 Anyway, I definitely decided that I would not come to visit you again \add now. If I had come, I would have spoken severely to you again, and\add* I would have made you unhappy as I did the last time \add I visited you\add*.
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\v 2 \add And\add* if I make you unhappy, I will have made unhappy \add the only people who can cheer me up\add*, so ◄there will be none of you to cheer me up!/who would cheer me up?► [RHQ]
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\v 3 So, \add instead of going to visit you at that time\add*, I wrote a letter \add and sent it to you\add*. I wrote it the way I did so that \add you would know what you should do. Then\add* when I come to visit you, you will not make me unhappy when you should be causing me to rejoice. I was quite sure that all of you \add would do what I told you to do in that letter, and because of that\add* I would be happy and you would be happy, too.
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\v 4 I wrote to you \add the way I did\add* because I felt very troubled and distressed about you. I was even crying very much as I wrote. \add My purpose in writing was\add* not in order to make you feel bad, but, instead, in order that you might know how deeply/much I love you.
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\p
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\v 5 \add Now I want to write about the man who\add* caused all this anguish. \add What he did was very wrong, but\add* I know that it has caused you much more sorrow than it has caused me, because \add what he did\add* has \add affected\add* all of you \add to some extent. I say\add*, “to some extent,” \add because I do not want to say that he has\add* done more harm \add than he really has done\add*.
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\v 6 \add Since he has now stopped sinning in that way\add*, the punishment that nearly all of you \add decided was right for him\add* has continued long enough.
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\v 7 So now, instead \add of punishing him any longer\add*, you need to forgive him and deal kindly with him. \add If you do not forgive him\add*, he may become so sad that he will begin to \add think that you will never forgive him\add* (OR, will stop \add believing in Christ\add*).
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\p
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\v 8 For those reasons, I beg you to \add forgive him and accept him into your group again, and thus\add* assure him that you truly love him.
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\v 9 \add I feel sure that you will do as I ask\add*, because when I wrote \add severely\add* to you \add before\add*, I did it to test you by seeing whether or not you really would do everything \add that I, as your apostle, asked you to do\add*.
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\v 10 So \add since you obeyed what I told you before, I feel sure that now you will obey what I am writing in this letter\add* and forgive the man, as I have done, because I indeed have forgiven him for the wrong thing that he did. Anything he needed me to forgive him for, I have forgiven, and Christ knows \add that I have forgiven him sincerely. I have done that mainly\add* to help you \add so that you and I will again have fellowship with each other, and that you will accept him into your group again\add*.
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\v 11 \add I want you to forgive him\add* so that Satan will not be able to take advantage of \add the problems among\add* us \add and make the situation worse\add*. We know very well [LIT] that he is always planning to \add cause problems among us\add*.
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\s1 I did not find Titus in Troas, so I went on to Macedonia province. Everywhere we go, God causes people to know Christ through our teaching. We do not teach in order to get money; we teach with sincere motives. \sr 2 Corinthians 2:12-17
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\p
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\v 12 \add I will continue by telling you what I did after I wrote to you from Ephesus city\add*. I went to Troas \add city\add* in order to \add tell people\add* the message \add about\add* Christ. \add When I arrived there\add*, I found \add many people\add* who had been prepared by the Lord \add Jesus\add* [MET] \add to listen to what I told them about him\add*.
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\v 13 But because my fellow believer Titus had not \add arrived with a report from you\add*, I still felt very anxious and concerned \add about you\add*. So, \add after spending only a short time at Troas\add*, I said ❛goodbye❜ to \add the believers who were there\add* and came \add here\add* to Macedonia \add province to find Titus\add*.
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\v 14 However, \add before I tell you anymore about that\add*, I \add want to\add* thank God \add for what he is doing. As a great leader of fighting men causes all his prisoners to take part in his victory parade\add* [MET], God leads us \add who are his workers\add* to always win out \add over Satan because of our(exc) close relationship with Christ. God causes people to come to\add* know Jesus Christ as a result of our \add (exc) teaching his message. That message is like\add* [MET] the smell of perfume.
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\v 15 \add When we(exc) tell God's message\add* about Christ, it \add spreads out among people\add* like the smell of perfume. \add Those who believe the message that we tell them\add* are saved {\add Jesus Christ\add* saves them} \add from the guilt of their sin. But those who reject that message\add* will be separated from God \add forever\add*.
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\v 16 To those who \add are on the way to hell, our message is like\add* [MET] a foul smell \add because it is about dying\add* and being separated from God forever. But, to those \add on the way to heaven, the message that we teach is like\add* a pure fragrant smell, \add because we tell them\add* that they will live \add forever with God. As we think about that, we think\add* ◄no one can have enough ability \add to do\add* such important work \add for God!\add*/how can anyone have enough ability \add to do\add* such important work \add for God\add*?► [RHQ]
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\v 17 \add But perhaps God considers us(exc) sufficient\add*, because we do not work/act like so many \add others whom you know\add*. They teach God's message in a way that \add they think people will like, and they think that\add* people will pay them for teaching that way. We \add (exc) certainly do not do that\add*. On the contrary, \add as servants of\add* Christ, and knowing that God is watching us \add (exc)\add*, we teach sincerely \add the message that\add* God sent us to proclaim.
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\c 3
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\s1 The way you now live proves that we teach the truth about Jesus Christ.
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\sr 2 Corinthians 3:1-6
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\p
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\v 1 \add As I write these things about myself\add*, I am [RHQ] not \add doing it\add* to boast about how good I am, \add as some of you say I do\add*. Some people always carry letters with them that tell how well they work, \add that other people\add* have \add written\add*. But I do not [RHQ] need \add to bring\add* letters like that \add when I come to you\add*. Nor do I need to ask you \add to write\add* letters like that \add for me when I go to other congregations\add*.
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\v 2 You yourselves are [MET] \add like a\add* letter that recommends my work \add for God to everyone\add*. People see \add how Christ changed\add* your \add lives when you believed the message that I taught you\add*. Everyone \add who knows you\add* can see \add the result of my work for God\add*.
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\v 3 You are [MET] \add like\add* a letter that Christ himself \add has written\add* that says good things about \add my work for God in your lives\add*. You show \add people by the way you now conduct your lives that God has changed your lives\add* as a result of my work \add among you. People did\add* not \add find out about you by\add* reading \add a letter that was written to them on paper\add* with \add pen and\add* ink. Instead, \add they saw how\add* the Spirit of the all-powerful God \add has changed your lives\add*. Nor \add did people find out about you by reading\add* a letter that was carved on stone slabs \add like the stone slabs that God gave to Moses\add*. Instead, \add it was the change that God's Spirit made in\add* your lives [MET] \add that they saw\add*.
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\p
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\v 4 I \add can very\add* confidently \add write these things about the work that Silas, Timothy, and I did among you, because God knows that what I write is true. We(exc) are true workers\add* for God \add because of what\add* Christ \add has done for us\add*.
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\v 5 We \add (exc)\add*, by ourselves, do not have the ability \add to do this work\add*. None of us \add apostles\add* can say, “\add I have changed the lives of these people\add*.” God is the one \add who has given us this ability\add*.
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\v 6 He is the one who enables us \add (exc)\add* to be his messengers. \add He has enabled us to tell people the message\add* about the new agreement \add that he is making with them\add*. This is not a \add message about obeying all the\add* written laws \add of his old agreement that he made with the Jewish people\add*. Instead, \add it is a message about God giving us his\add* Spirit. \add Previously, God condemned people to be\add* separated from him forever \add if they did not obey his laws\add*. But by \add God's new agreement\add* his Spirit enables people to live \add eternally\add*.
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\s1 Our work of teaching people about God's New Agreement is much greater than the work of teaching people about his Old Agreement.
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\sr 2 Corinthians 3:7-11
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\p
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\v 7 \add Moses\add* taught \add the people that if they did not obey God's laws completely they would be\add* separated from God forever. God wrote \add his laws\add* on stone slabs. \add Then he gave them to Moses to teach them to the people. Although God's laws condemned\add* the people to die, \add when Moses brought those laws down from Sinai\add* Mountain, \add God caused Moses' face to shine\add* with radiance \add to show the people that these laws were God's laws\add*. The radiance was \add so bright that\add* the people of Israel could not keep looking at Moses' face. \add They had to look away\add*. But although the radiance \add was bright, it\add* was slowly fading away.
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\v 8 \add So\add*, \add since God showed in such a wonderful way that those laws that condemned them to die were from him\add*, surely when we \add (exc)\add* teach \add people about how God's\add* Spirit will \add change their lives\add*, ◄\add God will show\add* in an even more wonderful way \add that\add* it is \add his message./will not God show\add* in an even more wonderful way \add that\add* it is \add his message\add*?► [RHQ]
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\v 9 The message \add that Moses taught them was wonderful, but when people heard\add* that message, \add they realized that they were sinners and that God\add* would punish them. But God's message that we \add (exc) teach is a\add* much more wonderful message. We teach people that God will ◄erase the record of/declare people no longer guilty for► \add the sinful things that they have done\add*.
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\v 10 \add The truth is that, although the work of teaching the people to obey God's laws\add* was once important, it is not as important now, because \add the work of teaching people that God will forgive them and\add* enable them to live to please him is far more important.
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\v 11 Furthermore, \add the message that Moses taught was not a lasting message, just like\add* the brightness on his face was not lasting and soon faded away. But \add when God gives his Spirit to people\add*, the wonderful work that \add God's Spirit does in their lives\add* is much greater \add because\add* it lasts forever.
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\s1 We teach a message that transforms people's lives. So we teach it with great confidence.
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\sr 2 Corinthians 3:12-18
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\p
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\v 12 We \add (exc)\add* know that the message that we teach is a \add much more wonderful message than the message that Moses taught\add*. So we \add can preach\add* boldly.
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\v 13 We do not \add need to put a veil over our faces when we teach people\add*, as Moses did. Moses put a veil over his face so that the Israelites would not see that the radiance \add on his face\add* soon faded away. \add Similarly, the glory of the old agreement has also faded away\add*.
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\v 14 But the Israelites stubbornly refused to \add understand that the old agreement would end\add*. Even now, when they read the old agreement, \add they still do not realize that it has ended. It is as if\add* [MET] that same veil \add that Moses put on his face\add* is now over their \add minds, keeping them from understanding God's true message\add*. They will \add understand that message\add* only when \add they come to trust\add* in Christ. Then \add it will be as though God\add* has removed the veil.
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\v 15 \add Throughout all these years\add*, even until now, when \add the Israelites\add* read what Moses \add write, it is as though\add* a veil is covering their minds.
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\v 16 But when any of them believes in the Lord \add Jesus\add*, \add God\add* removes that veil from them.
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\v 17 \add It is by the power of his\add* Spirit that the Lord \add works in our lives\add*, and the Lord's Spirit has set us free \add from trying to obey the all the rules and rituals that God gave Moses\add*.
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\v 18 \add It is as though God\add* has removed the veil from our faces [MET]. We realize how awesome Jesus is. As we realize that, we are continually being changed {\add the Holy Spirit is\add* continually changing us} to become more and more like Jesus, \add so that people can see\add*, more and more, how awesome \add Jesus is\add*. It is the Spirit of the Lord who does \add this\add*.
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\c 4
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\s1 We are servants of Jesus. It is Jesus who has shown us how great God is.
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\sr 2 Corinthians 4:1-6
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\p
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\v 1 So, because God has acted so kindly \add toward me\add* enabling \add me to teach\add* this great \add message to people\add*, I never get \add so\add* discouraged \add that I stop teaching it\add*.
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\v 2 And I have determined that we \add (exc)\add* will be honest [LIT] in everything that we do. We will not \add do anything that would cause\add* us to be ashamed \add if people found out about it\add*. We never try to deceive \add you with clever arguments, as some other people do\add*. We never \add try to deceive you\add* by changing God's message, \add as those same people do\add*. Instead, we always teach \add people only\add* the truth \add about Christ\add*, and we teach it clearly. Knowing that God is watching what we do, we \add teach his message in an honest way, with the result that\add* no one can \add accuse\add* us \add (exc) of being deceitful\add*.
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\v 3 And if, \add as some of you say, some people are\add* not able to understand the message \add that we teach about Christ, it is not because we do not teach it clearly\add*. It is because those people \add do not want to believe it\add*. They are on the road to eternal death.
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\v 4 \add Satan, who is\add* the one \add who rules\add* this world, controls the thoughts of those unbelievers. He prevents them from understanding the message about how wonderful Christ is. \add They are not able to understand that\add* Jesus is like God \add in every way\add*.
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\v 5 That is why, \add when we(exc) teach people\add*, we do not boast about ourselves, \add as some people say that we do\add*. Instead, \add we teach you\add* that Jesus Christ is our Lord. We ourselves are \add only\add* your servants. \add We want to honor and obey\add* Jesus.
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\v 6 When God \add created the world\add*, he commanded the light to shine \add where there was nothing but\add* darkness. He is the one who has \add made his message about Jesus to be like\add* [MET] a light shining into our \add (inc)\add* minds. \add God\add* has done that \add for all of us who believe in Jesus. He has done that so that we will understand that when people saw\add* Christ, they saw how awesome God himself was.
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\s1 As Jesus' servants we suffer, but through our suffering many people will receive eternal life and thank and praise God.
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\sr 2 Corinthians 4:7-15
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\p
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\v 7 \add This work that God has given to\add* us \add (exc)\add* is [MET] \add like\add* a very valuable treasure. But we who have that treasure \add are as weak as fragile\add* [MET] clay pots. \add God has planned it like that\add* in order that \add people\add* will know that the power \add that changes lives\add* is God's power, and not any power of our own.
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\v 8 We are continually oppressed {\add People\add* continually oppress us} in many ways, but \add we have\add* not been prevented {\add God has\add* not \add allowed them to\add* prevent us} \add from teaching the message about Jesus Christ\add*. We often do not know what to do \add in difficult situations\add*, but we never say, “God has abandoned us.”
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\v 9 \add We are frequently\add* persecuted {\add People frequently\add* cause us to suffer}, but \add God\add* never leaves us alone. \add Sometimes we are\add* badly wounded {\add people\add* badly wound us}, but \add God does\add* not \add allow\add* us \add to\add* be killed {\add them to\add* kill us}.
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\v 10 \add Wherever we(exc) go\add*, we continually \add realize that because people killed\add* Jesus, \add people may\add* kill us \add for teaching his message. But we are willing to go on living this way\add* in order that \add people\add* will know that Jesus is alive and \add that he is directing\add* us [SYN].
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\v 11 \add So, although\add* we are \add still\add* alive, we always realize that we may be killed {that \add people some day\add* may kill us} because \add we teach about\add* Jesus. \add God allows us to suffer\add* in order that \add people\add* will see that Jesus is alive and that he is \add strengthening\add* our bodies that are some day going to die.
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\v 12 So \add I conclude that although\add* we \add apostles\add* are constantly \add suffering and may soon\add* die, \add the result of that is that all of\add* you \add have now received eternal\add* life.
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\p
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\v 13 We are not discouraged. We are like \add the person who\add* wrote \add in the Scriptures\add*, “\add God\add*, I trusted \add in you\add* and so I continue speaking \add your message\add*.” We \add (exc)\add* also trust \add in God\add*, so we continue speaking \add his message\add*.
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\v 14 \add We do this\add* because we \add (exc)\add* know that \add although people might kill us, God\add*, who caused the Lord Jesus to live again after he died, will also cause us \add (exc)\add* to live again \add after we die. God will do this because we belong to\add* Jesus. \add And then God\add* will bring us \add (exc)\add*, together with you, to be with him.
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\v 15 \add So I say that\add* all these things \add that we(exc) suffer\add* are in order to help you. \add We have suffered all this\add* in order that more and more people, \add as a result of hearing that God will\add* kindly/freely \add forgive their sins\add*, will thank \add him and praise him. Then\add* they will greatly honor him \add and worship him\add*.
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\s1 As our bodies get weaker, God continually makes our inner lives stronger. He will reward us for all that we have suffered.
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\sr 2 Corinthians 4:16-18
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\p
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\v 16 So, \add because we know that as a result of our suffering many people will honor God\add*, we \add (exc)\add* never get so discouraged \add that we stop teaching his message\add*. Although our bodies are getting weaker, \add God\add* encourages us every day and strengthens us in our inner beings/hearts.
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\v 17 \add I know that\add* all these troubles that \add happen to us in this life are\add* not significant and will not last forever. \add When we think of\add* the glorious things \add that God is preparing\add* for us \add to enjoy\add* forever \add in heaven\add*, all \add our suffering now\add* is not important.
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\v 18 That is why we say, “We will not continue thinking about \add all the suffering that we\add* are experiencing now. Even though \add we\add* cannot see \add all the things that God has prepared for us in heaven\add*, those are what we should be thinking about.” \add That is how we should think\add*, because \add all these troubles\add* that \add we(exc)\add* have \add now\add* will last only a short time. But what \add we will have in heaven\add*, what \add we\add* cannot see \add now\add*, will last forever.
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\c 5
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\s1 God will give all of us new heavenly bodies, and he will reward us according to what we did while we were living in our earthly bodies.
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\sr 2 Corinthians 5:1-10
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\p
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\v 1 We know that \add these bodies\add* we live in \add here in this world are like\add* [MET] tents. \add They are like temporary living/dwelling places\add*. \add So we should not be concerned about what happens to our bodies\add*. We know that if we are killed {if \add someone\add* kills us}, God will give us \add permanent living places. Those permanent living places\add* [MET] will not be houses that people have made. They \add will be new bodies in which we will live forever\add* in heaven.
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\v 2 \add While we are here on earth, we suffer\add*. We often groan because we desire \add to go\add* to heaven \add where God\add* will give us our new \add bodies\add* [MET].
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\v 3 When \add God gives us(inc) our new bodies\add* [MET], our \add spirits will have\add* [LIT, MET] bodies to live in \add that will last forever\add*.
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\p
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\v 4 \add It is true that\add* while we are still living in these bodies [MET] \add that do not last forever\add*, we often groan [DOU] \add because we desire to be free from them\add*. We are not longing to be without a body. Instead, \add we groan because\add* we desire to receive our new bodies [MET] in heaven. We long for this to happen so that these bodies that are going to die some day will suddenly be changed \add into bodies\add* that will live \add forever\add*.
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\v 5 It is God himself who has prepared us to \add receive\add* these \add new bodies\add*. He is also the one who has guaranteed/assured us \add (inc)\add* that this will happen. He has guaranteed it by sending his Spirit \add to live inside us now\add*.
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\p
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\v 6 So, \add because God's Spirit lives in us\add*, we are always confident \add that God will give us new bodies\add*. We know that as long as we live in our bodies here on \add earth\add*, we are not yet \add living together\add* with the Lord \add Jesus in heaven\add*.
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\v 7 While we \add (exc)\add* live \add here, we\add* do not have our \add new bodies, but we are\add* trusting \add that God will give them to us\add*.
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\v 8 \add As I said\add*, we \add (exc)\add* are confident \add that he will give us new bodies\add*. We \add (exc)\add* would much prefer to leave these bodies \add in which we are now living\add*, and be with the Lord \add Jesus in our\add* home in \add heaven\add*.
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\v 9 Because of all that, we always want to please \add Jesus in everything that we do\add*. Whether we \add (exc)\add* are \add still living\add* here \add in these\add* bodies or whether we have \add left\add* them and are living in our home \add in heaven\add*, we want to please him.
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\v 10 \add And we need to try hard to do that\add* because each one of us \add believers\add* must stand before Christ \add to be\add* judged \add by him\add* {\add when he will\add* judge \add his people\add*}. \add At that time\add* he will \add reward each one of\add* us according to what we have done \add while we lived in this world\add* in these bodies. \add He will reward us according to\add* whether we have done good or whether we have done evil.
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\s1 Christ has shown me how much he loves people. That is why I teach his message with all the strength that I have. Therefore, I plead with you to believe that God will forgive you because of what Christ did for you.
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\sr 2 Corinthians 5:11—6:2
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\p
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\v 11 It makes me fearful \add to think that some day I will stand before the Lord for him to judge me\add*. So I \add do everything that I can to\add* convince people \add that they should believe\add* (OR, \add that I teach\add* sincerely) \add God's message\add*. God knows very well \add how I conduct my life and what I teach\add*, and I really believe that you also know it, within yourselves.
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\v 12 Once again \add I say, as I write this\add*, I am not just \add trying to\add* make you think well/highly of me, \add as some people will probably say that I am\add*. Instead, I am \add telling you in this letter why you have\add* good reason \add to tell those who criticize me\add* that you think highly of me. \add I am telling you this\add* so that you will know what to say to those \add teachers of false doctrine among you\add*. They are proud \add of what they have done\add*, instead of \add making sure that\add* their hearts \add are right with God and being pleased with that\add*.
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\v 13 \add Some of them say that after God has enabled me to see visions\add*, I \add talk like\add* a crazy person. If \add that is so, I want you to realize that I talk that way in order to please\add* God. On the other hand, if \add you think that\add* I \add speak and act\add* wisely, \add that is good. I want you to know that I do\add* that in order to \add help\add* you.
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\v 14 \add I speak and act the way I do\add* because the love that Christ \add has for people\add* influences me \add in everything that I say and do\add*. When he died, \add he suffered the punishment\add* for \add the sins of\add* all people. So, we should all \add think of ourselves as having\add* died with him, \add being as unresponsive to sinful desires as\add* [MET] a corpse is.
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\v 15 When \add Christ\add* died for the sake of all people, he died in order that \add we believers who are alive now\add* should not conduct our lives in a way that will just \add please ourselves\add*. Instead, \add we should conduct our lives in a way that will please\add* him, \add because\add* he is the one who died for us and was raised {whom \add God\add* raised} to life again.
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\p
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\v 16 So, \add because I realize how much Christ loves all people\add*, I no longer think about people in the way that those who do not believe \add in Christ\add* think about \add them\add*. Before I \add was a believer\add*, I thought about Christ in the way that other non-believers did. But I do not think of him that way anymore.
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\v 17 The fact is that God makes every one \add of us\add* who \add trusts\add* in Christ to be completely different \add than we were before\add*. Our old \add way of conducting our lives\add* is gone. We now have a \add completely\add* new way of \add conducting our lives\add*.
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\v 18 This \add complete change in our lives\add* is all something that God \add does\add*. It is God who made it possible for us to have a peaceful relationship with him. \add He was able to do that\add* because of what Christ \add did for us\add*. Now God \add has sent\add* me, and those \add who work\add* with me, to tell \add people that they\add* can have a peaceful relationship with him.
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\v 19 That is, \add he sent us(exc) to tell them that\add* when Christ \add died\add*, God was \add making it possible for all the people of\add* [MTY] the world to have a peaceful relationship with him. He no longer keeps a record of the sinful things that \add we believers\add* have done. The message that \add God\add* has given to us \add to tell people is how we can have a\add* peaceful relationship with him.
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\v 20 So, it is I and my companions who are Christ's representatives \add in this world. When we tell people the message about Christ\add*, it is God himself who is pleading with them by means of what we \add say\add*. So, as true representatives of Christ, we plead with you: \add Believe God's true message about Christ in order that you may\add* be reconciled to {have a peaceful relationship with} him.
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\v 21 \add You must believe that even though\add* Jesus never sinned, God \add punished him for all the\add* sinful things \add that people do, just\add* as \add if Jesus had done those sinful things himself\add*. And because of our close relationship with Christ, God has erased the record of our sins/declared us no longer guilty for our sins.
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\c 6
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|
\p
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|
\v 1 \add Therefore\add*, because I am working together with God \add himself\add*, I say this to you very strongly: God has \add already\add* kindly \add forgiven you because Christ died for you\add*, so do not now \add say\add* “It does not matter \add if I live just to please myself\add*.”
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|
\v 2 For God said \add long ago in the Scriptures\add*:
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|
\p When it is the right time \add for me\add* to help you, \add you will ask me to help you\add*, and I will hear you. Then I will \add send\add* a Savior to help you.
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\p \add So listen to what\add* I am telling you: God \add has sent\add* his Savior, so now is the time when \add God is ready to\add* save \add people from the guilt of their sins\add*.
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\s1 In spite of much suffering, we have lived as servants of God should live.
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|
\sr 2 Corinthians 6:3-10
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|
\p
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|
\v 3 Neither I nor the men \add working\add* with me do anything that would hinder people from trusting in Christ, and so we cannot be accused {no one can accuse \add us\add*} \add of not\add* serving \add God properly\add*.
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\v 4 Instead, in everything \add that we(exc) say and do\add*, we show \add people\add* that we serve God faithfully. We patiently endure \add all the things that happen to us. People cause us\add* many troubles and, as a result, we are anxious \add and often do not know what to do\add*.
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\v 5 Sometimes we have been beaten \add and bound\add* {People have beaten \add us and tied us\add*} \add with\add* chains in prison. \add Angry mobs\add* have attacked us, \add wanting to kill us\add*. We have continued working \add for God until we had no more strength to work\add*. We have had many sleepless nights, and we have \add often been without food\add*.
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\v 6 \add All that we think about and all that we do is\add* pure \add in God's sight\add*. Knowing \add how God wants us to conduct our lives, we do what pleases him\add*. We are patient \add with those who oppose us\add*. We are kind \add to all people. We depend on\add* the Holy Spirit \add to help us\add*. We love people sincerely \add as God wants us to love them\add*.
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\v 7 We faithfully teach \add the true\add* message \add about Christ\add*, and God \add gives us\add* his power \add as we teach it. Like soldiers\add* using weapons [MET] \add in a battle\add*, we, by \add living\add* righteously, \add defend God's message and refute those who attack it\add*.
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\v 8 \add We serve God faithfully\add* whether \add people\add* praise us \add (exc)\add* or \add whether they\add* despise us, whether \add people say\add* bad things \add about us(exc)\add* or \add whether they say\add* good things \add about us. We keep teaching\add* the truth, \add even though some people say that\add* we are deceiving \add people\add*.
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\v 9 \add Some people\add* know \add well that we are true servants of God, and yet others\add*, who know us, refuse to \add believe that. People have often tried to\add* kill us \add (inc)\add*, yet we are still alive. We have \add often\add* been beaten, but we have not been killed {\add People have often\add* beaten us \add (exc)\add*, but \add they\add* have not killed us}.
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\v 10 Although we \add (exc)\add* are often very sad \add because people have rejected our message\add*, we are always happy \add because of all that God has done for us\add*. Even though we \add (exc)\add* are poor, we make \add it possible for\add* many people to be \add spiritually\add* rich. It is true that \add in this world\add* we \add (exc)\add* have nothing \add valuable\add* [HYP], but \add because we belong to God's family\add*, all \add that God has\add* belongs to us.
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\s1 I ask you to accept us and love us as we love you.
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|
\sr 2 Corinthians 6:11-13
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|
\p
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\v 11 You \add fellow believers\add* in Corinth, \add I have been\add* completely honest with you. \add I have told you exactly how we(exc) feel about you, that\add* we love you very much [IDM].
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\v 12 We are not \add treating you as though we do not\add* love you, but you are \add treating us as though you do\add* not love us.
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\v 13 In return \add for our loving you, will you not\add* love \add us\add* [IDM] just as \add much as we love you?\add* I am writing \add to you\add* as if you were my own children.
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\s1 Do not get involved with people who do not honor God.
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|
\sr 2 Corinthians 6:14—7:1
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|
\p
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|
\v 14 Do not ◄team up/have a close relationship► with anyone who does not trust \add in Christ. I say this\add* because we who \add trust in Christ and do\add* what is right should not [RHQ] \add want to do things\add* with wicked people. Or \add to say it in another way\add*, just like light and darkness never join together, so \add those who belong to Christ and those who belong to Satan should never join together\add* [RHQ].
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\v 15 There is no [RHQ] agreement of any kind between Christ and Satan. \add So\add*, believers have no [RHQ] common interests with unbelievers.
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\v 16 \add Just\add* as no one would \add dare to bring\add* idols into the Temple \add in Jerusalem\add*, believers should never [RHQ] join with those who worship idols. \add I say that\add* because [MET] \add the Holy Spirit lives in us, and so\add* we are \add like\add* the Temple of the all-powerful God. \add It is\add* as God himself said \add in the Scriptures\add*:
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|
\q I will live in \add my people\add*.
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|
\q I will always be with/helping them.
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|
\q \add They will say to me\add*, “You are our God,” and
|
|
\q \add I will say to them\add*, “You are my people.”
|
|
\p
|
|
\v 17 \add In another place in the Scriptures we read that\add* the Lord said:
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|
\q Get away from those who do evil;
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|
\q keep yourselves separated from them.
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|
\q Do \add nothing sinful that would make you\add* unacceptable to me.
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|
\q Then I will welcome you \add as members of my family\add*.
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|
\p
|
|
\v 18 \add The Lord also said\add*:
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\q I will \add care for you\add* as [MET] a loving father \add cares for his children\add*,
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\q and \add it will be as though\add* you are my own sons and daughters.
|
|
\q I, the all-powerful Lord, am saying this \add to you\add*.
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|
\c 7
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|
\p
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|
\v 1 My friends, whom I love, because \add God\add* has promised like this \add to accept us(inc) as his children\add*, we \add (inc)\add* must stop doing anything that is sinful. We must not do sinful things with our bodies, and we must not \add think\add* sinful thoughts. \add Because\add* we greatly revere God, we must strive to \add live\add* a completely pure life. By doing that we will become the kind of people that he wants us to be.
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|
\s1 I love you all and I have great confidence in you.
|
|
\sr 2 Corinthians 7:2-4
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|
\p
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|
\v 2 So, as I just wrote, I want you to love me (OR, us [IDM] \add who are true apostles of Christ\add*). I/we \add (exc)\add* have never done anything wrong to any of you. I/we have not done anything to harm any one of you spiritually or financially. Nor have I/we tried to get money from \add you\add* ◄for myself/for ourselves►.
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\v 3 \add It is true that some people among you have said that I have done such things. Nevertheless\add*, I am not trying to make you all feel ashamed because, as I wrote before, I will continue to love you all very much [IDM], whether I live with you or die with you. I am very confident about you.
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\v 4 I am very pleased with you. You have greatly encouraged me, so that I am now very happy in spite of all the hardships that I have endured.
|
|
\s1 Titus told me that my letter caused you to repent, and so now I am very happy.
|
|
\sr 2 Corinthians 7:5-16
|
|
\p
|
|
\v 5 Now \add I will write more about what I was saying about Titus\add*. When I \add left Troas and\add* came \add here to\add* Macedonia \add province\add*, I still did not get rest for my body. Everywhere we \add (exc)\add* went, \add people were constantly\add* causing us trouble. \add And not only were\add* people \add constantly causing us\add* trouble, but I was greatly concerned \add about you all\add*.
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\v 6 But God, who always encourages his people when they are discouraged, encouraged us by \add sending\add* Titus back to us.
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\v 7 I was encouraged by \add seeing\add* Titus, \add but when I heard how\add* you had encouraged him, that encouraged me even more. He told me how much you wanted \add to see me. He told me\add* that you were very sorry \add that you had made me so unhappy. He also told me\add* that you are very eager for me \add to continue to serve as your apostle. When Titus told me those things\add*, I was very, very happy.
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|
\p
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\v 8 Even though what \add I wrote\add* in my letter ◄distressed you/made you sad►, I am not sorry \add that I wrote it\add*. For a while I was sorry that I had written it, \add because I knew that it would distress you\add*. Now \add Titus has also told\add* me that it did distress you \add when you read it\add*, but you were distressed only for a short time.
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\v 9 \add So now\add* I am happy \add that I wrote it\add*. I am not happy that you were distressed {that \add I\add* distressed you}, but \add I am happy\add* because, when you became distressed, you became sorry for what you had done and \add you asked God to forgive you. What I mean is that you became sorry in the way that God wanted you to be sorry, so my making\add* you sorry did not harm you at all.
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\v 10 \add The fact is that\add* when God causes \add us to be\add* truly sorry for having sinned and we turn from our sinful behavior, then God saves us \add and will not punish us for the sinful things that we have done\add*. And no one is ever sorry about that. \add However\add*, the people who do not trust \add in God\add* [MTY] may be sorry \add for the sinful things that they have done\add*. But \add if they do not turn from their sinful behavior and ask God to forgive them\add*, they will remain separated from him forever.
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\v 11 But \add think about what happened when you read my letter\add*. God caused you to be truly sorry \add for what you had done\add*. You eagerly \add wanted to do what was right\add*, and you wanted to show \add God\add* (OR, \add me\add*) that you had done the right thing. You were angry \add about what had happened\add*, and you were worried \add that God would punish you if the situation continued\add*. You also wanted me \add to visit you to encourage and help you\add*. You wanted me to know \add that you really do accept me as your apostle, and that you punished the man who had sinned as I told you to do. By doing\add* all of those things, you have shown \add me\add* that you have done what is right in this matter.
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|
\v 12 So, even though I wrote that \add severe\add* letter to you, I did not \add write it just\add* so that \add you would punish\add* the man who had done what was wrong. Also, I \add did not write it\add* for the benefit of the person whom \add he\add* had wronged. Instead, \add I wrote it\add* so that, when you \add read the letter\add*, God would enable you to realize how much you really do respect \add my authority\add*.
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\v 13 So, \add because you listened to me and did what I asked you to do\add*, ◄I was/we \add (exc)\add* were all► encouraged. Not only ◄was I/were we► encouraged, but ◄I was/we \add (exc)\add* were► \add also\add* very happy to see how happy Titus was \add when he arrived here. He told me/us that\add* he did not need to worry anymore, because \add he saw\add* that you all \add had a good attitude toward me\add*.
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\v 14 I had told Titus that I was pleased about you. And I did not need to be ashamed \add for having boasted about you like that, because you did what I knew that you would do\add*. Just like everything that I have taught you \add and written to you\add* has been the truth, just as the good things that I told Titus about you were also true.
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|
\v 15 Now he thinks \add back\add* happily on how you all \add were willing to\add* do \add what I asked you to do\add*. He is \add also happy about the way you\add* treated him with great respect. \add When he thinks about those things\add*, \add it makes\add* him love you even more \add than he did when he was with you\add*.
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\v 16 \add As for me\add*, I am very happy \add because now\add* I am certain that I can depend on you \add to do what you know God wants you to do\add*.
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|
\c 8
|
|
\s1 The believers in Macedonia have already collected the money that they are going to send to the believers in Jerusalem. You should also finish collecting the money that you are preparing to send, and have it ready to send to Jerusalem soon.
|
|
\sr 2 Corinthians 8:1-15
|
|
\p
|
|
\v 1 Now, my fellow believers, I want to tell you \add the results of\add* God's \add acting\add* kindly \add in the lives\add* of \add the believers in\add* the congregations \add here\add* in Macedonia \add province\add*.
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\v 2 Even though \add the non-believers here\add* have been severely causing the believers to suffer, the believers are always rejoicing very much. \add Although they\add* are very poor, \add they gave\add* very generously \add to help other believers\add*.
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|
\v 3 \add I know that this is true\add*, because I have seen for myself that they not only gave \add money\add* [EUP] that they were able \add to give\add*, they gave \add so much money that they did\add* not even keep enough \add to buy what they needed for themselves\add*. Without anyone telling them \add to share their possessions\add*,
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|
\v 4 they themselves kept requesting us to let them participate in what \add other believers\add* are doing in \add sending a gift of money to\add* [EUP] God's people \add in Judea province\add*.
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|
\v 5 I thought \add that they would give only a little of their money, but\add* they did much \add more than that\add* First, they told the Lord \add Jesus\add* that they wanted to do \add what pleases him. After that, they told\add* me that they wanted to do \add whatever I thought was good for them to do, because they were sure that\add* would be what God \add wanted them to do\add*.
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\v 6 So, because Titus was the one who \add helped you to\add* begin \add gathering the money\add* [EUP, MTY] for your gift, I urged him to also \add help you\add* to finish \add collecting the rest of\add* your generous and loving gift.
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|
\v 7 You are doing very well in so many \add other\add* ways. \add God's Spirit enables you to\add* believe that \add God\add* will \add do miracles. His Spirit has given you the ability to\add* tell \add God's message to others. His Spirit makes you able to\add* know things that he reveals to you. You eagerly \add want to help people\add*, and you love us \add (exc)\add* very much. \add So now\add*, try to do well in getting your generous \add gift of money\add* [EUP] \add ready to send to the believers in Judea province\add*.
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|
\p
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|
\v 8 I am not commanding you \add to do this\add*. But \add because I have seen how believers in\add* other \add places\add* are eager \add to help other believers who do not have\add* ◄\add what they need/enough to live on\add*►, I want you similarly to show that you love others sincerely.
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|
\v 9 You already know \add how much\add* our Lord Jesus \add did for you\add* that you did not deserve. Everything \add in heaven\add* belonged to him. But in order to benefit you, \add he left all of those things behind and became a human being. Here on earth he had\add* very few possessions \add of his own\add*. But because he became poor like that, he is \add able to cause\add* you \add (pl)\add* to become \add spiritually\add* rich.
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|
\v 10 So, \add as you think of our Lord's example, I will tell you\add* what I think that you should do in this matter \add of giving money. As you know\add*, last year, because you desired \add to give money to help God's people in Judea province\add*, you began \add collecting money\add* [EUP].
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|
\v 11 So now you should finish \add collecting\add* the money [EUP] that you began \add to gather\add*. In that way, \add everyone will know that you are just\add* as ready to finish \add collecting this gift\add* as you were to begin collecting it. Give what you are able to give.
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|
\v 12 \add Keep in mind that\add* if you really want to \add give something to help others\add*, whatever any one of you is \add able to give\add* will be pleasing \add to God. God does not expect his people to give more\add* than they can afford to give.
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\v 13 I do not mean that \add you should give so much to help others that\add* you yourselves do not have what you need. No, what I want is that \add both you and others\add* will have what \add you need\add*.
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\v 14 Right now, when you have ◄more \add than you need/\add*plenty► and \add the believers in Judea\add* do not have ◄enough/all that they need►, \add with your gift you will enable them to have enough. Maybe some day\add* when you do not have ◄enough/all that you need► and they have more than they need, they will \add be able to\add* help you. Then everyone will have enough (OR, In that way each will share alike).
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\v 15 \add If that happens, the result will be like it is written\add* {\add like someone/Moses\add* wrote} \add in the Scriptures about the time when God provided manna for his people\add*,
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\p If someone gathered a lot \add of manna\add*, he still did not have more than he needed, \add because he gave some to someone who did not have enough\add*. And those who gathered only a little \add manna\add* still had all that they needed [LIT], \add because others who gathered more than they needed gave some manna to them\add*.
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\s1 I am sending Titus to you, along with two other believers, to help you get your gift ready. They are all well respected and trustworthy men, so treat them well. It will be good if you have your gift ready to send to Judea province by the time I arrive in Corinth.
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\sr 2 Corinthians 8:16—9:5
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\p
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\v 16 \add So now I am sending Titus to visit you again\add*. God has caused him to be just as eager \add to help you prepare your gift\add* as I am. I thank God for that.
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\v 17 \add He is going there\add*, not only because we urged him to go, but because he himself is very eager \add to visit you again\add*.
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\v 18 I am sending with Titus another believer \add whom you know well\add*. All the groups of believers \add in this area\add* think highly of him because he has \add faithfully taught\add* the good message \add about Christ\add*.
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\v 19 Not only that, but he was appointed by the congregations \add in this area\add* {the congregations \add in this area\add* appointed him} to \add go\add* there with us \add (exc)\add*. He \add will go\add* with us \add when we take\add* the generous gift of money [EUP] \add to the believers in Jerusalem. We are taking this\add* gift to honor the Lord \add Jesus\add* and to show them that we all \add very much\add* want to \add help them\add*.
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\p
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\v 20 \add The believers have\add* given money [EUP] generously. So, \add by sending that fellow believer along with Titus\add* to take the money \add to Jerusalem\add*, we are trying to make sure that no one will be able to accuse us \add (exc) of taking some of the money for ourselves\add*.
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\v 21 \add I say that\add* because we \add (exc)\add* want to make sure that the Lord \add God\add* will see that what we \add (exc)\add* do is right, and other people will see it, too.
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\v 22 Furthermore, there is also another believer \add here\add* whom we are sending \add to you along with the two\add* men \add whom I have just mentioned\add*. Many times I have seen his good work \add for the Lord\add*, and I know that he is eager \add to serve the Lord\add*. Now, because he knows for sure that you \add want to give this gift the same as other believers do\add*, he is even more eager than he was before \add to go with the two other men\add*.
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\v 23 As for Titus, \add I have chosen him because\add* he is my partner, and he has worked faithfully with me \add to help you\add*. As for the other two men, the congregations \add in this area\add* are sending them as their messengers. These two men honor Christ \add by everything they do\add*.
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\v 24 So then, show them that you truly love \add others\add*, and \add in that way\add* help their congregations to understand \add why\add* we \add (exc)\add* are always saying such good things about you.
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\c 9
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\s1 You and I will be ashamed if your gift is not ready when I arrive.
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\sr 2 Corinthians 9:1-5
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\p
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\v 1 Now \add I want to write\add* more about the gift \add of money\add* [EUP] that \add you and other believers are preparing to send\add* to the believers \add in Judea province\add*. I do not \add really\add* need to \add continue writing to you about it\add*,
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\v 2 because I already know that you really want to help them. In fact, I have been boasting \add about you\add*, telling the \add believers here in\add* Macedonia \add province\add* that \add you people in\add* Achaia \add province\add* have been ready to help, beginning from last year. As a result, because you are very eager to help \add the believers in Judea province\add*, you have made most of \add the believers here in Macedonia province also want\add* to give \add a gift\add*.
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\v 3 However, I am sending Titus and the other two believers in order that \add they will be able to help you finish collecting the money. Then when I and others arrive later, the people with me will see for themselves that\add* the things that I have been boasting about you are true [LIT]. \add I want\add* you \add to have your gift\add* ready \add for us(exc) to take to Jerusalem\add*, just like I have been telling them that you were ready.
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\v 4 When I come, if any of \add the believers from\add* Macedonia come with me, \add I do not want them to find that your gift is\add* [MTY, EUP] not ready. If that were \add to happen\add*, I would be very ashamed, and you yourselves would be even more ashamed.
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\v 5 So that is why I felt that it was necessary to urge these \add three\add* believers to go \add and visit\add* you before I \add come. In that way, they would be able to help you to finish\add* collecting the generous gift [EUP] that had been promised by you {you had said you would give}. \add If you do that, not only will\add* the gift be ready \add by the time that we arrive, but everyone will see that you have given because you really want to give, and\add* not because anyone has forced you to give.
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\s1 If you give generously and willingly, God will always continue to bless you so that you will have enough to continue giving generously, and your generosity will cause many other people to praise and honor God.
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\sr 2 Corinthians 9:6-15
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\p
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\v 6 Do not forget this: “\add A farmer\add* who sows only a few \add seeds\add* will not gather/reap a large \add harvest\add*, but the one who sows a lot \add of seeds\add* will gather/reap a large \add harvest\add* [MET].” \add Similarly, if you give just a little to help others, God will give you only a few blessings. But if you give willingly and cheerfully to help people, you will receive in return many blessings from God\add*.
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\v 7 Each of you should decide within yourself how much you \add (sg)\add* should give, \add and then give that amount\add*. You \add (sg)\add* should not \add be thinking to yourself\add*, “\add I really\add* do not want to give this money.” \add And you(sg) should\add* not give \add just\add* because someone tells \add you to give. Instead, you should give willingly and cheerfully\add*, because God loves those who give cheerfully.
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\v 8 Moreover, God can enable you to \add give to others cheerfully. If you give that way\add*, God will \add in return\add* give you many good blessings. He will do that so that at all times you will always have all that you need. Indeed, you will have even more \add than you need. As a result, you will be able to do\add* many more good things \add to help others\add*.
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\v 9 \add Those who give willingly and cheerfully will be rewarded like the man about whom\add* it is written {\add about whom\add* ◄someone/the Psalmist► wrote} in the Scriptures,
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\q He generously \add helps others\add*,
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\q \add he gives to those\add* who are poor.
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\q \add God will remember\add* the good things that he did,
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\q \add and reward him with\add* good things forever.
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\p
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\v 10 \add God always\add* gives seeds to farmers to plant, and also gives them food to eat. \add So, similarly, God will\add* always make it possible for you to have enough money [MET], so that you will be able more and more to generously \add help those who are needy\add*.
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\v 11 \add God\add* will \add give you\add* many blessings in many different ways as a result of your generously \add helping others\add*. Furthermore, \add the\add* generous \add gift that you are getting ready for\add* us \add (exc) to take to the believers in Judea province\add* will cause \add many people\add* to thank God.
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\p
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\v 12 \add Also remember that\add* when you give money to [EUP] help God's people, you not only give them what they need, but also, \add because of that\add*, \add many people will\add* thank God very much \add for you and for what you have done\add*.
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\v 13 As a result of your giving \add money to help others\add*, they will praise God, not only because you have believed the good message about Christ, but also because you have \add generously given some of your possessions\add* so that they and other \add believers will all have\add* ◄\add enough/their needs supplied\add*►.
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\v 14 Also, when they pray for you, \add asking God to bless you, they will remember how grateful they are\add* [IDM] that God \add caused you to give\add* very willingly and cheerfully.
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\v 15 \add Finally, we should all\add* thank God \add because he gave us the greatest gift of all when he sent his Son to save/rescue us(inc)\add* ◄\add from the guilt of our sin/from being punished for our sin\add*►. That is a gift too wonderful for anyone to be able to tell about completely!
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\c 10
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\s1 I Paul say to you, “Do not listen to those who say that I am afraid to rebuke you when I am with you and that I behave like people do who are not believers.”
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\sr 2 Corinthians 10:1-6
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\p
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\v 1 Now I myself, Paul, appeal to you in a gentle and humble way, like Christ \add would. Certain people among you have falsely accused me by saying\add*, “When \add Paul\add* is with you, he is humble \add and speaks gently\add* to you, but when he is away from you, \add in the letters he writes to you\add* he threatens \add to punish\add* you.” \add Those people claim that I do not have authority over you as an apostle\add*.
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\v 2 I strongly plead with you, “\add Please do not listen to people who say things like that!\add*” \add I strongly plead with you to not listen to them\add*, so that when I am there \add with you\add* I will not \add need to\add* speak severely \add to you\add* in the same severe way as I \add plan to\add* speak to those people who think that I behave like people who are not believers.
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\v 3 \add Remember that\add* although I am \add human like everyone else\add* in the world, I do not fight \add against those who oppose me\add* in the way that people who are not believers fight those who oppose them.
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\v 4 \add I will tell you what I mean by that: Just like soldiers use\add* various weapons \add to fight their enemies\add* [MET], \add I\add* ◄\add fight against/oppose\add*► \add those who\add* oppose God's message, but I do it in a different way. I do not \add use human arguments and clever/sweet talk\add*, like unbelievers do. Instead, \add I fight against my opponents\add* by the powerful means that God \add has given me\add*. With that power \add I destroy their arguments against God's message and against me, just like soldiers destroy\add* [MET] the fortresses \add of their enemies\add*.
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\v 5 \add Specifically\add*, I show that the \add human\add* arguments that they use to deceive \add people are completely wrong\add*. When they \add proudly say things that\add* keep other people from knowing God, \add I show them that they are completely wrong. I also enable people to\add* change their ways of thinking so that they think about everything as Christ \add wants them to think\add*.
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\v 6 I am also ready to discipline everyone \add among you\add* who has not obeyed \add the things that Christ taught. I will do this\add* as soon as you \add who truly want to obey Christ show me that\add* you are \add going to\add* obey him completely.
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\s1 Those who teach what is false must come to realize that I also belong to Christ and that God has given me authority over you. I worry that they will deceive you and that you will stop being faithful to Christ alone.
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\sr 2 Corinthians 10:7—11:6
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\p
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\v 7 \add I want you to understand what is\add* happening among you. There are certain \add people there who are telling you that\add* they know for sure that they are Christ's \add representatives and that I am not\add*. Those people should realize that I \add represent\add* Christ as much as they do.
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\v 8 \add I say that\add* because the authority that the Lord gave me \add as his apostle\add* is to help you to become mature believers, not to cause you to stop \add trusting in Christ\add*. So even if I were to boast a little more than I have \add already done\add* (OR, proudly talk a little more than I have \add already talked\add* about the authority the Lord gave me \add as his apostle\add*), \add no one would be able to make me\add* ashamed \add by proving that Jesus has not given me that authority\add*.
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\v 9 I do not intend to make you afraid of me by the letters that I \add write to you\add*.
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\v 10 \add I say that\add* because some people are saying, “\add When Paul writes\add* letters, he says severe things \add in order to make you obey him\add*, but when he is here with you, \add people look at him and say\add* he is weak, and he certainly is not a skillful speaker.”
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\v 11 The \add people who say\add* such things should think carefully about this: The kind of \add severe\add* person that \add you think\add* me to be when you read my letters is exactly the kind of person I will be when I come. \add I will do what I wrote that I would do\add*.
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\p
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\v 12 \add Those who oppose me\add* tell others how good they are. \add If they really were superior to me\add* [IRO], I would not be so bold as to say that I \add was equal to them, or\add* to compare myself with them. \add But they are not superior to me\add*. They make up their own standards \add about what God's servants should be like\add*, and then they look at their own \add conduct\add* and decide \add whether or not they meet those standards. By doing that, they show that\add* they are foolish.
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\v 13 But as for me, I will not boast about \add working among people living in\add* areas outside of the areas \add that God sent/assigned me to work in\add*. But \add it is right for\add* me to say that \add I have worked\add* in the areas that God assigned to me. \add And since those areas\add* include the one where you live,
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\v 14 \add when I talk about working among you\add*, I am not boasting \add about working in an area where God did not give me the right to work. What those who oppose me say about my not having authority as an apostle to you might be true\add* if I had not already come all the way to your area. \add But that is not true\add*, because I was the one who first brought the message about Christ to you. \add I came to Corinth before they did.\add*
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\p
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\v 15 Also, \add my opponents\add* boast about work that others have done \add as if it were their own work\add*. It is improper for them to do that, but I do not do as they do. I confidently expect that as you trust more and more \add in the good message that I preach\add*, you will more and more \add agree that God has given me the right to\add* work \add as Christ's representative\add* among you.
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\v 16 Then I will be able to go to places beyond where you \add are\add*. I will be able to tell the good message about Christ \add to people in areas where no one has yet gone to tell that message\add*. And \add I will be able to talk about the work I myself have done in that area\add*, instead of boasting about work that someone else has already done \add as if it were my work\add*.
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\v 17 \add I try to do according to what someone/Jeremiah wrote in the Scriptures\add*,
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\q If anyone wants to boast \add about something\add*, he should boast \add only\add* about what the Lord \add God has done\add*.
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\p
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\v 18 \add You can realize, then, that\add* it is not those who ◄praise themselves/tell you what great things they have done►, \add as my opponents do\add*, whom you should accept \add as apostles\add*. Instead, you \add should accept as true apostles only\add* those whom the Lord commends.
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\c 11
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\p
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\v 1 \add But now, because my opponents are saying that Christ sent them to you as his representatives and that he did not send me\add*, please be patient with me, too, \add while I say a\add* few things \add that may sound as if\add* [IRO] \add I am praising myself, like\add* a foolish person \add would do. You have been\add* ◄\add putting up with/tolerating\add*► \add those who teach what is false;\add* now then, ◄put up with/tolerate► me \add too\add*.
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\v 2 I really do care about \add what happens to\add* you, just as God cares about \add what happens to you. Just like a father wants his daughter to be sexually pure when he presents her to the man she will marry\add* [MET], I \add want you to belong\add* to Christ \add alone and to no other\add*. I want to present you \add to him\add* as people who remain faithful to him \add only, and who have not believed the deceitful message of those who are teaching what is false\add*.
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\v 3 However, just like \add Satan, when he\add* cunningly \add appeared as a\add* snake, deceived Eve's thinking \add and caused her to disobey the Lord God\add*, I am concerned that \add those teachers\add* will cause you to think wrongly so that you will no longer \add be faithful to\add* Christ alone.
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\v 4 \add I say that\add* because some people have come among you who are teaching \add their own thoughts about\add* Jesus. They \add are saying about him\add* things that are \add entirely\add* different from what I taught you. \add They are urging\add* you to receive a \add powerful\add* spirit who \add would come to live inside of you\add*, but it is not the same \add Spirit\add* that you received \add from God when you believed in Christ\add*. They preach \add what they call\add* a good message, and you accept \add their message, even though it is not the same as the good message about Christ that you heard from me. And\add* you have gladly accepted them and their message!
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\v 5 I consider that [LIT] none of those \add men, even though they think of themselves as being\add* [IRO] extra-special apostles, are in any way greater than I am.
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\v 6 \add I admit that\add* I am not an eloquent speaker, but I do know \add God's message\add*. I have made that clear to you by everything \add that I have done among you and by all that I have taught you\add*.
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\s1 You are mistaken if you think that I do not love you because I refused to accept money from you for my teaching. I will go on doing that to prevent those false apostles among you from boasting that they work just as I do.
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\sr 2 Corinthians 11:7-15
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\p
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\v 7 \add I refused to accept money\add* from you as pay for teaching you God's message about Christ. ◄It is ridiculous for you to think that what I did was wrong!/Was that wrong?► [RHQ] \add I know that by teaching you without pay\add*, I made myself seem [IRO] unimportant to you. \add But I did it\add* to honor you.
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\v 8 \add Some people might say that it was as though\add* [IRO] I was robbing other congregations because I accepted money from them in order that I might work among you.
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\v 9 Furthermore, when I was \add there\add* with you and had no \add money to buy the things that I needed\add*, I did not cause any difficulty to any \add of you\add* ◄\add by depending on you/by asking you for money/support\add*►, because our \add (inc)\add* fellow believers who came from \add here in\add* Macedonia \add province\add* brought enough \add money for me to buy everything\add* that I needed. So I have not caused you any difficulty at all \add by asking you for money\add*, and I never will \add ask you for money\add* [EUP].
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\v 10 \add And\add* as \add sure as you know that\add* everything that Christ says is true, \add you can be sure that what\add* I say \add to you now is true. Wherever I go\add* there in Achaia \add province\add*, \add I do not let you believers pay me for doing God's work among you\add*. And no one will be able to prevent me from boasting \add about that\add*.
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\v 11 No one should wrongly [RHQ] think that it is because I do not love you that \add I do not take pay from you\add*. God knows \add that you truly/really are very dear to me\add*.
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\p
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\v 12 There are \add some men there among you\add* who would like to be able to say boastfully that they \add work among you\add* just as I do. So, in order to make it impossible [IDM] \add for them to say that\add*, I have \add refused to accept pay from you\add*, and I will continue doing that.
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\v 13 Those men are lying \add when they say that they are\add* apostles. They work deceitfully. \add Even though they say that they work for God, they are working only for themselves\add*. They try to make people think that Christ \add sent them\add* as his apostles, \add but they do not truly represent him\add*.
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\v 14 I am not surprised \add that they act like that\add*, because Satan himself causes people to think \add that he has come\add* as a shining messenger \add from God\add*.
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\v 15 So it should not surprise \add you\add* if these men, who \add really\add* serve \add Satan, do good deeds in order\add* to make you think they \add serve God\add*. Some day God will \add punish them\add* according to what they deserve because of their \add evil\add* deeds.
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\s1 You seem to listen to those who boast, so I too will boast. I will boast about being a Jew (as those others do), and I will boast about having suffered greatly for Christ, and about an extraordinary vision that God gave me. Although God caused me to suffer an affliction, he promised that he would help me and strengthen me.
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\sr 2 Corinthians 11:16—12:10
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\p
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\v 16 I say again: I do not want anyone \add among you\add* to think that my \add boasting about myself\add* is like foolish \add people\add* boast. But even if anyone \add thinks that I am boasting about myself like a foolish person boasts, listen to\add* what I \add have to say anyway, just like you listen to those false apostles\add*. They really \add speak\add* foolishly! Listen to me while I also boast a little.
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\v 17 About the things that I am \add going to tell you\add*, boasting confidently \add about myself, surely you know that they are not the kind of things\add* that the Lord \add Jesus\add* would say. Instead, \add I will speak\add* as a foolish \add person would speak\add*.
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\v 18 Because many \add among you\add* are boasting \add about their own work\add*, as unbelievers do, I will also boast \add about myself and my work\add* [MTY, IRO].
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\v 19 \add I am sure that you, who think that you are so wise, will accept what I say\add* because you gladly \add accept the\add* false teachers and the foolish things \add that they say\add*.
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\v 20 When people \add treat\add* you as if they were your bosses, you gladly submit \add to them. You think that it is all right when others\add* force you provide for their needs. You think that it is all right \add when people\add* take control over you, when they boast about themselves, \add or when they insult you by\add* slapping you in the face.
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\v 21 I agree that I was not bold enough to treat you in such ways. \add So do you think that\add* [IRO] I should feel ashamed \add because I did not do that?\add*
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\p So now, talking like a person who does not have any sense, I will boldly tell you \add some things about myself, just like those false apostles tell you things about themselves\add*.
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\v 22 Do \add they tell you\add* that they are Hebrews \add and can speak in the Hebrew language?\add* Well, I can say the same thing \add about myself\add*. Do they \add tell you that they\add* belong \add to God's people\add*, the nation of Israel? Well, I can say the same thing \add about myself\add*. \add Do they tell you that\add* they are descendants of \add our great\add* ancestor Abraham? Well, he is my ancestor, too.
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\v 23 \add Do they tell you how much\add* work they have done for Christ? Now I am talking like a crazy person talks [EUP]. Well, I work for Christ much more \add than they do. I have been\add* in prison many more times \add than they have. Many times I\add* have been beaten {\add people\add* have beaten me} very severely \add because I believe in and obey Christ\add*. Many times I almost died \add because of serving Christ\add*.
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\v 24 On five occasions Jewish \add religious leaders\add* beat me 39 times with a whip.
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\v 25 On three occasions I was beaten {\add Roman\add* officials beat me} with wooden sticks. On one occasion \add a large crowd of people\add* threw stones at me \add to kill me\add*. On three occasions the ship \add that I was traveling in\add* was wrecked \add and sank. On one of those occasions\add* I was \add floating\add* in the water a night and a day \add before I was rescued\add*.
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\v 26 As I have often traveled to other places, \add I have often risked losing my life. For example\add*, sometimes I have been in danger \add crossing\add* rivers. \add I have been\add* in danger \add traveling in places\add* where there were bandits. \add At times I have been in\add* danger among people of my own nation, \add the Jews\add*, and \add at other times I been in\add* danger among those who are not Jews. \add I have been\add* in danger in cities, and I have been in dangerous situations in barren areas. I have been in dangerous situations \add when I was traveling in ships\add*. \add I have been in\add* danger among people who falsely \add claim to be\add* fellow believers.
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\v 27 I have worked very hard [DOU] \add to earn\add* ◄\add a living/what I need\add*►, and often I did not sleep. At times I was hungry and thirsty, and at times I did not have enough time to eat. Sometimes I was cold \add because\add* I did not have enough clothes \add to wear\add*.
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\v 28 In addition to all that, I am constantly and deeply concerned about all the congregations \add that I have helped to begin\add*.
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\v 29 \add Every time that I hear about fellow believers\add* [RHQ] who are not strong \add spiritually\add*, I sympathize with them \add and try to help them. Every time that I learn about a fellow believer\add* [RHQ] who causes \add another believer\add* to do something wrong, that makes me very angry.
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\p
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\v 30 Because \add it seems that\add* it is necessary for me to \add continue\add* boasting \add about myself\add*, I will boast about things that \add caused some people to think of me\add* as being weak.
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\v 31 God, who is the Father of our \add (inc)\add* Lord Jesus, and who is the one \add whom we should\add* praise forever, knows that I am not lying \add about this\add*.
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\v 32 \add One time when I was\add* in Damascus \add city\add*, the governor whom King Aretas \add had appointed\add* to rule \add part of his area told his soldiers\add* to guard \add the gates of\add* the city so that they could seize me \add if I tried to leave the city\add*.
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\v 33 But \add my friends\add* enabled me to escape \add by\add* putting me in a large basket and lowering me \add to the ground by a rope\add* through an opening in the \add city\add* wall. \add That was really humiliating!\add*
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\c 12
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\p
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\v 1 \add It seems that\add* it is necessary for me to go on boasting \add about myself\add*. Although \add I do\add* not \add think that my telling you about\add* this will help \add you to accept me as Christ's representative to you\add*, I \add will say this anyway\add*. I will tell you about visions that the Lord \add gave a certain man\add* and about things that he \add supernaturally\add* revealed \add to that man. I will tell you this because some of the people among you boast that it was in visions that they received the things that they teach\add*.
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\v 2 The man that I will tell you about is one \add who believes\add* in Christ. Fourteen years ago he was taken {\add Christ\add* took him} up into the highest heaven, \add the place where God is\add*. I do not know whether he went there \add in his physical body\add* or whether he was outside of his body \add at that time and only his spirit went\add*. Only God really knows.
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\v 3-4 But he was \add suddenly\add* taken {\add Christ suddenly\add* took him} up to \add a place called\add* Paradise, \add that wonderful place where God lives. I repeat that\add* I do not know whether his body \add went there\add* or only his spirit. Only God knows \add that. While he was there, God\add* told him some things that he does not allow \add human beings\add* to tell \add others about\add*.
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\v 5 I will proudly talk about that man. However, I will not be boasting \add as\add* I say that I \add am the one who saw and heard those wonderful things\add*. I will talk only about the things that \add cause others to think of\add* me as a weak \add human being like everyone else\add*.
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\v 6 But even if I should choose to boast \add to you about such wonderful things that happened to me\add*, I would not be \add speaking like\add* a fool, because I would be telling you the truth. But I will not \add talk proudly about such things\add*, because I do not want any of you to think highly of me \add because of the things that have happened to me\add*. Instead, \add I want you to decide what kind of person I am by the way you see\add* me \add acting\add* and by what you hear me teach.
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\v 7 In order that I might not become proud because of those many wonderful things \add that Christ\add* revealed to me, \add God permitted\add* Satan to send a messenger \add to humble me\add* (OR, to \add make me sick\add*). \add What he did to me was painful, like\add* [MET] a thorn pricking my body.
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\v 8 Three times I prayed to the Lord about it, begging him to take this away from me.
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\v 9 But he said to me, “\add No, I will not take this away from you. Instead\add*, I will kindly help you, and that will be all that you need, because it is \add when you are\add* weak that I \add can\add* best \add work\add* powerfully \add to help you\add*.” So, because of \add what the Lord said to me\add*, I will very gladly boast about \add the things that make\add* me \add seem\add* weak, so that \add people may realize\add* that it is Christ who gives me power \add to serve him\add*.
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\v 10 For that reason, \add whenever I am\add* weak, or \add when people\add* insult me, \add or when I have to endure\add* hardships, or \add when I am persecuted\add* {\add people\add* cause me to suffer} or \add when I am in situations that\add* distress me, I am content because \add I am serving\add* Christ. \add I can say that\add* because at any time when I myself am weak, that is the \add very\add* time when \add Christ\add* powerfully \add helps me\add*.
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\s1 When I was with you, I did things that showed you that I am truly Christ's representative. But I still will not take pay from you when I come to visit you again. And those people are wrong who say that I tricked you by sending Titus to get money for myself from you.
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\sr 2 Corinthians 12:11-18
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\p
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\v 11 It has been foolish for me \add to talk about myself like this\add*, but it is you who forced me to do it. Truly \add if the Lord would not help me\add*, I would be worthless, \add as my opponents say that I am\add*. But none of the men whom you \add wrongfully think\add* [IRO] are great apostles are greater in any way than I am. So it would have been right/proper for you to say good things about me.
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\v 12 \add You should have done that, because\add* when I was with you \add I\add* repeatedly did the things that showed you that \add I am truly\add* an apostle, such as performing many [DOU] miracles.
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\v 13 And I have \add certainly treated\add* you as well as \add I treated\add* the other congregations \add that I helped to start. Or do you think that\add* by not asking you \add to pay me for my work\add*, I was not treating you as well as I treated the other congregations? ◄It is foolish for you to \add think that\add* [IRO] \add it\add* was wrong for me not \add to ask for pay from you for my work, and therefore I should ask\add* you to forgive me for that!/Do you \add think that it\add* was wrong for me not \add to ask for pay from you for my work, and therefore I should ask\add* you to forgive me for that?► [RHQ]
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\p
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\v 14 Now listen to me! It is time for me to come to you for a third \add visit. When I come\add*, I \add still\add* will not insist that you \add pay me for my work\add*, because I do not want \add any of\add* your \add money\add* [EUP]! What I want is for you [MTY] \add to love and appreciate me\add*. It is not \add normally the duty of\add* children to save \add money to provide for the needs of\add* their parents. Instead, it \add is the duty of\add* parents to \add provide\add* for their children [MET]. In the same way, \add it is not your duty to provide for me. Instead, it is my duty to provide spiritual help for you because you are my spiritual children\add*.
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\v 15 So, on my part, \add as a good parent would do\add*, I will be very happy to use everything that I have, and do everything that I possibly can, \add in order to help you\add*. And because I love you very much, ◄I will be very disappointed if \add you\add* do not love me a little bit, too./will \add you\add* not love me a little bit, too?► [RHQ]
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\p
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\v 16 \add You all\add* know that I did not depend on you \add to provide for my needs\add*. However, \add there are some who accuse me, saying that\add* [IRO] I was very clever and got money from you by tricking you.
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\v 17 But did I ever do that? No! I never [RHQ] asked any of the men whom I sent to you \add to get money\add* from you \add and bring it to me\add*
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\v 18 Titus went \add and visited you because\add* I urged him to do so. I also sent the other believer, \add whom you know\add*, to go with Titus. \add You know that\add* Titus did not [RHQ] trick \add you in order to get money from you. And you certainly know that\add* he and I have always [RHQ] acted in exactly the same \add honest\add* way \add towards you\add*.
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\s1 I am worried that when I visit you I will find that many of you are still sinning. I pray that God will help you turn from your sinful behavior, so that I will not have to discipline you when I come.
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\sr 2 Corinthians 12:19—13:10
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\p
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\v 19 While \add you have been reading this letter, if\add* you have been thinking that I have \add just\add* been \add saying these things to\add* defend myself \add against those who accuse me, you are wrong\add*. I have been saying \add these things honestly, knowing\add* that God is listening \add to me. I also speak as one who has a close relationship\add* with Christ. Everything that I do and \add everything that I say is\add* to \add help you\add* whom I love ◄to grow \add spiritually/\add*to become \add spiritually\add* mature►.
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\v 20 \add I have written this way to you\add* because I worry that when I come \add to visit you\add*, I will see that \add some of\add* you are \add not conducting your lives the way\add* that I want you \add to\add*. If that is so, \add when I get there\add* you will see that I will have \add to act\add* in a \add very severe way toward you, and I am sure\add* that you do not want that. Specifically, I am afraid that \add some of you\add* may be quarreling, or that you are being jealous \add of each other\add*, or that you quickly \add show others that you are\add* very angry \add with them\add*, or that you are acting selfishly, or that \add some of\add* you are saying bad things about others, or that you are ◄spreading false rumors/saying false things► about each other, or that you are acting proudly, or that you are \add doing things\add* in a disorderly manner.
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\v 21 \add I\add* ◄\add feel anxious/am concerned\add*► \add about you. I worry that\add* when I visit you again, God, the one whom I \add serve\add*, will make me feel ashamed of you \add when I see that\add* you \add still are not conducting your lives as believers should\add*. Then I will feel very sad about \add some of\add* you who were sinning previously and have not turned from your sinful behavior. \add Some of you\add* may still have impure \add thoughts. Some of you\add* may be having sexual intercourse with those to whom you are not married. \add And some of you\add* may be doing other shameful things.
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\c 13
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\p
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\v 1 \add In the Scriptures it is stated that when one person\add* accuses \add another of wrongdoing, you must not believe his\add* accusation \add right away\add*. \add First, you must listen to at least\add* two or three people who actually saw what happened. \add So keep in mind that\add* this will be the third time that I will visit you!
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\v 2 When I visited you the second time, I warned you \add that I was going to punish all the wrongdoers among you\add*. \add And now\add* I am \add warning you\add* again while I am still away \add from you\add*. When I visit you this third time, I will punish those who were sinning \add at the time when I visited you\add* before \add and who are still sinning\add*, and I will \add punish\add* the others \add who have been sinning since then, if they have not turned away from their sinful behavior\add*.
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\v 3 Because you have demanded that I prove to you that Christ is speaking \add to you when\add* I \add speak to you, I will show you that I speak to you as his apostle. Christ\add* does not approve of your sinful behavior. On the contrary, he will powerfully \add discipline you\add*.
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\v 4 \add It is true that\add* Christ \add seemed to be\add* weak when he was crucified {when \add people\add* killed him by nailing him to the cross}. But \add it is also true that\add* he \add now\add* lives because God \add worked\add* powerfully \add to make him alive again. Similarly\add*, as I \add serve\add* God, I also am a weak human \add being as Christ was\add*. But I am also \add have a close relationship with\add* Christ \add who is now alive again\add*. And with his \add authority\add* I will use God's power \add to discipline\add* you.
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\p
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\v 5 Each of you should ask yourself: “\add Do I\add* believe \add God's message about Christ?\add*” Each of you should \add test yourselves to\add* make sure that you truly do \add believe\add* in Christ \add and thus truly belong to him\add*, and that \add his Spirit lives\add* within you \add (pl)\add*. When you test yourselves \add in that way\add*, I am sure that you will [RHQ] say \add to me\add*, “Yes, of course we \add belong to\add* Christ.”
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\v 6 I am \add also\add* certain that you will know that I \add belong to Christ, just like you do\add*.
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\v 7 But \add because I do not want to have to punish you\add*, I am praying to God that he will help you not to do anything evil \add that would cause me to have to punish you. I pray this\add*, not in order that when people \add who say that I am not your apostle\add* realize \add that my ministry among you has been very successful, they will have to agree\add* that I do have authority from Christ. Instead, \add I pray this because I want\add* you to do what is right, even though that might mean that \add my opponents would think\add* that I do not have authority from Christ, \add since I would not have an opportunity to show my authority to discipline you\add*.
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\v 8 \add If you do what is right, I will not discipline you\add*, \add because it would\add* not \add be right for me to do that if you are conducting your lives the way you should, like\add* God's true \add message says that you should. What God asks me to do is to help people to know and obey his\add* true \add message\add*.
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\v 9 I am happy \add whenever\add* you are strongly \add trusting and obeying Christ, and because of that I do not have to use my authority to discipline you. It does not matter to me if that makes people think that I do not have any authority\add*. Truly, what I am praying for is that \add God\add* will \add help\add* you to completely change your conduct.
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\v 10 That is why I am writing these things while I am still away from you. \add What I want is that\add* when I visit you, \add you will already be conducting your lives as God wants you to\add*, and so I will not have to \add discipline you\add* severely, as the \add Lord Jesus Christ gave me\add* the authority to do. The authority that I have from the Lord is to help you to become \add spiritually\add* mature believers, not to cause you to stop \add trusting in him\add*.
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\s1 I finish my letter with some advice. All of us here send you our greetings, and I pray that God will bless you.
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\sr 2 Corinthians 13:11-14
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\p
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\v 11 Finally, my fellow believers, \add I say to you\add*, rejoice. Completely \add change how you conduct your lives\add*, and do what I have urged you \add to do\add*. Be united in what you think \add about the matters about which I have written to you\add*. Live peacefully \add with each other. If you do those things\add*, God, who \add enables you to\add* love \add each other\add* and be peaceful, will bless [MTY] you.
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\v 12 Greet each other affectionately as \add fellow members\add* of God's family \add should\add*.
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\v 13 All God's people \add here\add* send you greetings.
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\v 14 \add I pray that\add* the Lord Jesus Christ will act kindly \add toward\add* all of you, in ways that you do not deserve, that God will \add show all of you how much he\add* loves you, and that the Holy Spirit \add will cause you to have good\add* fellowship \add with him and with each other\add*.
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