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8 We do not want you to be unaware, brothers and sisters,^* of the affliction we experienced in Asia; for we were so utterly, unbearably crushed that we despaired of life itself. ⁹Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death so that we would rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead. ¹⁰He who rescued us from so deadly a peril will continue to rescue us; on him we have set our hope that he will rescue us again, ¹¹as you also join in helping us by your prayers, so that many will give thanks on our^* behalf for the blessing granted to us through the prayers of many.

The Postponement of Paul’s Visit

12 Indeed, this is our boast, the testimony of our conscience: we have behaved in the world with frankness^* and godly sincerity, not by earthly wisdom but by the grace of God—and all the more towards you. ¹³For we write to you nothing other than what you can read and also understand; I hope you will understand until the end— ¹⁴as you have already understood us in part—that on the day of the Lord Jesus we are your boast even as you are our boast.

15 Since I was sure of this, I wanted to come to you first, so that you might have a double favour;^{* 16}I wanted to visit you on my way to Macedonia, and to come back to you from Macedonia and have you send me on to Judea. ¹⁷Was I vacillating when I wanted to do this? Do I make my plans according to ordinary human standards,^* ready to say ‘Yes, yes’ and ‘No, no’ at the same time? ¹⁸As surely as God is faithful, our word to you has not been ‘Yes and No.’ ¹⁹For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, whom we proclaimed among you, Silvanus and Timothy and I, was not ‘Yes and No’; but in him it is always ‘Yes.’ ²⁰For in him every one of God’s promises is a ‘Yes.’ For this reason it is through him that we say the ‘Amen’, to the glory of God. ²¹But it is God who establishes us with you in Christ and has anointed us, ²²by putting his seal on us and giving us his Spirit in our hearts as a first instalment.