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Today's Bible Reading :: 2 Corinthians 10 - 13 (ESV)

2 Corinthians 10Listen to the passage

2 Corinthians 11Listen to the passage

2 Corinthians 12Listen to the passage

2 Corinthians 13Listen to the passage

2 Corinthians 10

Paul Defends His Ministry

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Unchecked Copy Box 2Co 10:1

Unchecked Copy Box2Co 10:1 - I, Paul, myself entreat you, by the meekness and gentleness of Christ—I who am humble when face to face with you, but bold toward you when I am away!—

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Unchecked Copy Box 2Co 10:2

Unchecked Copy Box2Co 10:2 - I beg of you that when I am present I may not have to show boldness with such confidence as I count on showing against some who suspect us of walking according to the flesh.

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Unchecked Copy Box 2Co 10:3

Unchecked Copy Box2Co 10:3 - For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh.

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Unchecked Copy Box 2Co 10:4

Unchecked Copy Box2Co 10:4 - For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds.

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Unchecked Copy Box 2Co 10:5

Unchecked Copy Box2Co 10:5 - We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ,

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Unchecked Copy Box 2Co 10:6

Unchecked Copy Box2Co 10:6 - being ready to punish every disobedience, when your obedience is complete.

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Unchecked Copy Box 2Co 10:7

Unchecked Copy Box2Co 10:7 - Look at what is before your eyes. If anyone is confident that he is Christ’s, let him remind himself that just as he is Christ’s, so also are we.

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Unchecked Copy Box 2Co 10:8

Unchecked Copy Box2Co 10:8 - For even if I boast a little too much of our authority, which the Lord gave for building you up and not for destroying you, I will not be ashamed.

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Unchecked Copy Box 2Co 10:9

Unchecked Copy Box2Co 10:9 - I do not want to appear to be frightening you with my letters.

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Unchecked Copy Box 2Co 10:10

Unchecked Copy Box2Co 10:10 - For they say, “His letters are weighty and strong, but his bodily presence is weak, and his speech of no account.”

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Unchecked Copy Box 2Co 10:11

Unchecked Copy Box2Co 10:11 - Let such a person understand that what we say by letter when absent, we do when present.

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Unchecked Copy Box 2Co 10:12

Unchecked Copy Box2Co 10:12 - Not that we dare to classify or compare ourselves with some of those who are commending themselves. But when they measure themselves by one another and compare themselves with one another, they are without understanding.

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Unchecked Copy Box 2Co 10:13

Unchecked Copy Box2Co 10:13 - But we will not boast beyond limits, but will boast only with regard to the area of influence God assigned to us, to reach even to you.

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Unchecked Copy Box 2Co 10:14

Unchecked Copy Box2Co 10:14 - For we are not overextending ourselves, as though we did not reach you. For we were the first to come all the way to you with the gospel of Christ.

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Unchecked Copy Box 2Co 10:15

Unchecked Copy Box2Co 10:15 - We do not boast beyond limit in the labors of others. But our hope is that as your faith increases, our area of influence among you may be greatly enlarged,

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Unchecked Copy Box 2Co 10:16

Unchecked Copy Box2Co 10:16 - so that we may preach the gospel in lands beyond you, without boasting of work already done in another’s area of influence.

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Unchecked Copy Box 2Co 10:17

Unchecked Copy Box2Co 10:17 - “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.”

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Unchecked Copy Box 2Co 10:18

Unchecked Copy Box2Co 10:18 - For it is not the one who commends himself who is approved, but the one whom the Lord commends.

2 Corinthians 11

Paul and the False Apostles

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Unchecked Copy Box 2Co 11:1

Unchecked Copy Box2Co 11:1 - I wish you would bear with me in a little foolishness. Do bear with me!

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Unchecked Copy Box 2Co 11:2

Unchecked Copy Box2Co 11:2 - For I feel a divine jealousy for you, since I betrothed you to one husband, to present you as a pure virgin to Christ.

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Unchecked Copy Box 2Co 11:3

Unchecked Copy Box2Co 11:3 - But I am afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, your thoughts will be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ.

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Unchecked Copy Box 2Co 11:4

Unchecked Copy Box2Co 11:4 - For if someone comes and proclaims another Jesus than the one we proclaimed, or if you receive a different spirit from the one you received, or if you accept a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it readily enough.

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Unchecked Copy Box 2Co 11:5

Unchecked Copy Box2Co 11:5 - Indeed, I consider that I am not in the least inferior to these super-apostles.

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Unchecked Copy Box 2Co 11:6

Unchecked Copy Box2Co 11:6 - Even if I am unskilled in speaking, I am not so in knowledge; indeed, in every way we have made this plain to you in all things.

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Unchecked Copy Box 2Co 11:7

Unchecked Copy Box2Co 11:7 - Or did I commit a sin in humbling myself so that you might be exalted, because I preached God’s gospel to you free of charge?

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Unchecked Copy Box 2Co 11:8

Unchecked Copy Box2Co 11:8 - I robbed other churches by accepting support from them in order to serve you.

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Unchecked Copy Box 2Co 11:9

Unchecked Copy Box2Co 11:9 - And when I was with you and was in need, I did not burden anyone, for the brothers who came from Macedonia supplied my need. So I refrained and will refrain from burdening you in any way.

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Unchecked Copy Box 2Co 11:10

Unchecked Copy Box2Co 11:10 - As the truth of Christ is in me, this boasting of mine will not be silenced in the regions of Achaia.

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Unchecked Copy Box 2Co 11:11

Unchecked Copy Box2Co 11:11 - And why? Because I do not love you? God knows I do!

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Unchecked Copy Box 2Co 11:12

Unchecked Copy Box2Co 11:12 - And what I am doing I will continue to do, in order to undermine the claim of those who would like to claim that in their boasted mission they work on the same terms as we do.

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Unchecked Copy Box 2Co 11:13

Unchecked Copy Box2Co 11:13 - For such men are false apostles, deceitful workmen, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ.

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Unchecked Copy Box 2Co 11:14

Unchecked Copy Box2Co 11:14 - And no wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light.

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Unchecked Copy Box 2Co 11:15

Unchecked Copy Box2Co 11:15 - So it is no surprise if his servants, also, disguise themselves as servants of righteousness. Their end will correspond to their deeds.

Paul’s Sufferings as an Apostle

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Unchecked Copy Box 2Co 11:16

Unchecked Copy Box2Co 11:16 - I repeat, let no one think me foolish. But even if you do, accept me as a fool, so that I too may boast a little.

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Unchecked Copy Box 2Co 11:17

Unchecked Copy Box2Co 11:17 - What I am saying with this boastful confidence, I say not as the Lord would[fn] but as a fool.

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Unchecked Copy Box 2Co 11:18

Unchecked Copy Box2Co 11:18 - Since many boast according to the flesh, I too will boast.

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Unchecked Copy Box 2Co 11:19

Unchecked Copy Box2Co 11:19 - For you gladly bear with fools, being wise yourselves!

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Unchecked Copy Box 2Co 11:20

Unchecked Copy Box2Co 11:20 - For you bear it if someone makes slaves of you, or devours you, or takes advantage of you, or puts on airs, or strikes you in the face.

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Unchecked Copy Box 2Co 11:21

Unchecked Copy Box2Co 11:21 - To my shame, I must say, we were too weak for that! But whatever anyone else dares to boast of—I am speaking as a fool—I also dare to boast of that.

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Unchecked Copy Box 2Co 11:22

Unchecked Copy Box2Co 11:22 - Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they offspring of Abraham? So am I.

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Unchecked Copy Box 2Co 11:23

Unchecked Copy Box2Co 11:23 - Are they servants of Christ? I am a better one—I am talking like a madman—with far greater labors, far more imprisonments, with countless beatings, and often near death.

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Unchecked Copy Box 2Co 11:24

Unchecked Copy Box2Co 11:24 - Five times I received at the hands of the Jews the forty lashes less one.

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Unchecked Copy Box 2Co 11:25

Unchecked Copy Box2Co 11:25 - Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I was adrift at sea;

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Unchecked Copy Box 2Co 11:26

Unchecked Copy Box2Co 11:26 - on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from robbers, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers;

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Unchecked Copy Box 2Co 11:27

Unchecked Copy Box2Co 11:27 - in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, in hunger and thirst, often without food,[fn] in cold and exposure.

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Unchecked Copy Box 2Co 11:28

Unchecked Copy Box2Co 11:28 - And, apart from other things, there is the daily pressure on me of my anxiety for all the churches.

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Unchecked Copy Box 2Co 11:29

Unchecked Copy Box2Co 11:29 - Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is made to fall, and I am not indignant?

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Unchecked Copy Box 2Co 11:30

Unchecked Copy Box2Co 11:30 - If I must boast, I will boast of the things that show my weakness.

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Unchecked Copy Box 2Co 11:31

Unchecked Copy Box2Co 11:31 - The God and Father of the Lord Jesus, he who is blessed forever, knows that I am not lying.

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Unchecked Copy Box 2Co 11:32

Unchecked Copy Box2Co 11:32 - At Damascus, the governor under King Aretas was guarding the city of Damascus in order to seize me,

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Unchecked Copy Box 2Co 11:33

Unchecked Copy Box2Co 11:33 - but I was let down in a basket through a window in the wall and escaped his hands.
ESV Footnotes
Greek not according to the Lord
Or often in fasting

2 Corinthians 12

Paul’s Visions and His Thorn

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Unchecked Copy Box 2Co 12:1

Unchecked Copy Box2Co 12:1 - I must go on boasting. Though there is nothing to be gained by it, I will go on to visions and revelations of the Lord.

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Unchecked Copy Box 2Co 12:2

Unchecked Copy Box2Co 12:2 - I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up to the third heaven—whether in the body or out of the body I do not know, God knows.

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Unchecked Copy Box 2Co 12:3

Unchecked Copy Box2Co 12:3 - And I know that this man was caught up into paradise—whether in the body or out of the body I do not know, God knows—

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Unchecked Copy Box 2Co 12:4

Unchecked Copy Box2Co 12:4 - and he heard things that cannot be told, which man may not utter.

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Unchecked Copy Box 2Co 12:5

Unchecked Copy Box2Co 12:5 - On behalf of this man I will boast, but on my own behalf I will not boast, except of my weaknesses—

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Unchecked Copy Box 2Co 12:6

Unchecked Copy Box2Co 12:6 - though if I should wish to boast, I would not be a fool, for I would be speaking the truth; but I refrain from it, so that no one may think more of me than he sees in me or hears from me.

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Unchecked Copy Box 2Co 12:7

Unchecked Copy Box2Co 12:7 - So to keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations,[fn] a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited.

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Unchecked Copy Box 2Co 12:8

Unchecked Copy Box2Co 12:8 - Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me.

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Unchecked Copy Box 2Co 12:9

Unchecked Copy Box2Co 12:9 - But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.

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Unchecked Copy Box 2Co 12:10

Unchecked Copy Box2Co 12:10 - For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

Concern for the Corinthian Church

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Unchecked Copy Box 2Co 12:11

Unchecked Copy Box2Co 12:11 - I have been a fool! You forced me to it, for I ought to have been commended by you. For I was not at all inferior to these super-apostles, even though I am nothing.

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Unchecked Copy Box 2Co 12:12

Unchecked Copy Box2Co 12:12 - The signs of a true apostle were performed among you with utmost patience, with signs and wonders and mighty works.

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Unchecked Copy Box 2Co 12:13

Unchecked Copy Box2Co 12:13 - For in what were you less favored than the rest of the churches, except that I myself did not burden you? Forgive me this wrong!

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Unchecked Copy Box 2Co 12:14

Unchecked Copy Box2Co 12:14 - Here for the third time I am ready to come to you. And I will not be a burden, for I seek not what is yours but you. For children are not obligated to save up for their parents, but parents for their children.

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Unchecked Copy Box 2Co 12:15

Unchecked Copy Box2Co 12:15 - I will most gladly spend and be spent for your souls. If I love you more, am I to be loved less?

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Unchecked Copy Box 2Co 12:16

Unchecked Copy Box2Co 12:16 - But granting that I myself did not burden you, I was crafty, you say, and got the better of you by deceit.

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Unchecked Copy Box 2Co 12:17

Unchecked Copy Box2Co 12:17 - Did I take advantage of you through any of those whom I sent to you?

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Unchecked Copy Box 2Co 12:18

Unchecked Copy Box2Co 12:18 - I urged Titus to go, and sent the brother with him. Did Titus take advantage of you? Did we not act in the same spirit? Did we not take the same steps?

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Unchecked Copy Box 2Co 12:19

Unchecked Copy Box2Co 12:19 - Have you been thinking all along that we have been defending ourselves to you? It is in the sight of God that we have been speaking in Christ, and all for your upbuilding, beloved.

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Unchecked Copy Box 2Co 12:20

Unchecked Copy Box2Co 12:20 - For I fear that perhaps when I come I may find you not as I wish, and that you may find me not as you wish—that perhaps there may be quarreling, jealousy, anger, hostility, slander, gossip, conceit, and disorder.

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Unchecked Copy Box 2Co 12:21

Unchecked Copy Box2Co 12:21 - I fear that when I come again my God may humble me before you, and I may have to mourn over many of those who sinned earlier and have not repented of the impurity, sexual immorality, and sensuality that they have practiced.
ESV Footnotes
Or hears from me, even because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations. So to keep me from becoming conceited

2 Corinthians 13

Final Warnings

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Unchecked Copy Box 2Co 13:1

Unchecked Copy Box2Co 13:1 - This is the third time I am coming to you. Every charge must be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses.

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Unchecked Copy Box 2Co 13:2

Unchecked Copy Box2Co 13:2 - I warned those who sinned before and all the others, and I warn them now while absent, as I did when present on my second visit, that if I come again I will not spare them—

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Unchecked Copy Box 2Co 13:3

Unchecked Copy Box2Co 13:3 - since you seek proof that Christ is speaking in me. He is not weak in dealing with you, but is powerful among you.

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Unchecked Copy Box 2Co 13:4

Unchecked Copy Box2Co 13:4 - For he was crucified in weakness, but lives by the power of God. For we also are weak in him, but in dealing with you we will live with him by the power of God.

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Unchecked Copy Box 2Co 13:5

Unchecked Copy Box2Co 13:5 - Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you fail to meet the test!

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Unchecked Copy Box 2Co 13:6

Unchecked Copy Box2Co 13:6 - I hope you will find out that we have not failed the test.

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Unchecked Copy Box 2Co 13:7

Unchecked Copy Box2Co 13:7 - But we pray to God that you may not do wrong—not that we may appear to have met the test, but that you may do what is right, though we may seem to have failed.

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Unchecked Copy Box 2Co 13:8

Unchecked Copy Box2Co 13:8 - For we cannot do anything against the truth, but only for the truth.

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Unchecked Copy Box 2Co 13:9

Unchecked Copy Box2Co 13:9 - For we are glad when we are weak and you are strong. Your restoration is what we pray for.

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Unchecked Copy Box 2Co 13:10

Unchecked Copy Box2Co 13:10 - For this reason I write these things while I am away from you, that when I come I may not have to be severe in my use of the authority that the Lord has given me for building up and not for tearing down.

Final Greetings

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Unchecked Copy Box 2Co 13:11

Unchecked Copy Box2Co 13:11 - Finally, brothers,[fn] rejoice. Aim for restoration, comfort one another,[fn] agree with one another, live in peace; and the God of love and peace will be with you.

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Unchecked Copy Box 2Co 13:12

Unchecked Copy Box2Co 13:12 - Greet one another with a holy kiss.

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Unchecked Copy Box 2Co 13:13

Unchecked Copy Box2Co 13:13 - All the saints greet you.

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Unchecked Copy Box 2Co 13:14

Unchecked Copy Box2Co 13:14 - The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.
See the ESV Preface
ESV Footnotes
Or brothers and sisters
Or listen to my appeal
ESV

The Holy Bible, English Standard Version copyright © 2001, 2007, 2011, 2016, 2025 by Crossway Books and Bibles, a Publishing Ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

See detailed copyright information.

For more information on this translation, see the ESV Preface.

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