1. From Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus. I am an apostle because that is what God wanted. Also from Timothy our brother in Christ. To the church of God in Corinth, and to all of God's people everywhere in Southern Greece:
2. Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
3. Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is the Father who is full of mercy and all comfort.
4. He comforts us every time we have trouble, so when others have trouble, we can comfort them with the same comfort God gives us.
5. We share in the many sufferings of Christ. In the same way, much comfort comes to us through Christ.
6. If we have troubles, it is for your comfort and salvation, and if we have comfort, you also have comfort. This helps you to accept patiently the same sufferings we have.
7. Our hope for you is strong, knowing that you share in our sufferings and also in the comfort we receive.
8. Brothers and sisters, we want you to know about the trouble we suffered in Asia. We had great burdens there that were beyond our own strength. We even gave up hope of living.
9. Truly, in our own hearts we believed we would die. But this happened so we would not trust in ourselves but in God, who raises people from the dead.
10. God saved us from these great dangers of death, and he will continue to save us. We have put our hope in him, and he will save us again.
11. And you can help us with your prayers. Then many people will give thanks for us -- that God blessed us because of their many prayers.
12. This is what we are proud of, and I can say it with a clear conscience: In everything we have done in the world, and especially with you, we have had an honest and sincere heart from God. We did this by God's grace, not by the kind of wisdom the world has.