1Therefore, as God’s fellow workers, we also appeal to you not to receive his loving kindness in vain. 2For he says — ‘At the time for acceptance I listened to you, 3Never do we put an obstacle in anyone’s way, so that no fault may be found with our ministry. 4No, we are trying to commend ourselves under all circumstances, as God’s ministers should — in many an hour of endurance, in troubles, in hardships, in difficulties, 5in floggings, in imprisonments, in riots, in toils, in sleepless nights, in fastings; 6by purity, by knowledge, by patience, by kindliness, by holiness of spirit, by unfeigned love; 7by the message of truth, and by the power of God; by the weapons of righteousness in the right hand and in the left; 8amid honor and disrepute, amid slander and praise; regarded as deceivers, yet proved to be true; 9as unknown, yet well-known; as at death’s door, yet, see, we are living; as chastised, yet not killed; 10as saddened, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet enriching many; as having nothing, and yet possessing all things! 11 We have been speaking freely to you, dear friends in Corinth; we have opened our heart; 12there is room there for you, yet there is not room, in your love, for us. 13Can you not in return — I appeal to you as I should to children — open your hearts to us? 14 Do not enter into inconsistent relations with those who reject the faith. For what partnership can there be between righteousness and lawlessness? Or what has light to do with darkness? 15What harmony can there be between Christ and Belial? Or what can those who accept the faith have in common with those who reject it? 16What agreement can you be between a temple of God and idols? And we are a temple of the living God. That is what God meant when he said — ‘I will live among them, and walk among them; 17Therefore “Come out from among the nations, and separate yourselves from them,” says the Lord, 18and I will be a father to you, and you will be my sons and daughters,”