 1 As workers together with Christ, we exhort+ you also so that you do not receive the grace of God in vain. 2 For He says: I have heard you in a time accepted, and in the day of salvation I have helped+ you. Behold now is the accepted time. Behold now is the day of salvation. Isaiah 49:8 3 We give no offense in anything so that the ministry will not be blamed. 4 But in everything+ we prove ourselves as ministers of God: In much patience, in sufferings+, in necessities, in distresses, 5 in whippings+, in imprisonments, in tumults, in labors, in sleepless+ nights, in fasting, 6 and by pureness, by knowledge, by longsuffering, by kindness, by the Holy Spirit, by sincere+ love, 7 by the Word of Truth, by the power of God, by the armor of righteousness at the right hand and at the left, 8 by honor and dishonor, by evil report and good report, as called deceivers and yet true, 9 as unknown and yet well known, as dying and yet behold we live, as chastened~ but not killed, 10 as in sorrow yet always rejoicing, as poor yet making many rich, as having nothing and yet possessing everything+. 11 O Corinthians. Our mouth is open to bless you. Our heart is enlarged. 12 You are not constrained+ by us, but you are constrained in your own innermost being+. 13 But I urge+ you children to respond+ the same as us: with enlarged hearts. 14 Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship has righteousness with unrighteousness? And what communion has light with darkness? 15 What concord~ has Christ with Belial~? Or what part have those who believe with an infidel~? 16 What agreement has the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God. As God said: I will dwell among them and walk among them. I will be their God and they shall be my people. Exodus 29:45 Leviticus 26:12 17 Therefore come out from among them and be separate, says the Lord. Do not touch the unclean and I will receive you Isaiah 52:11 Numbers 16:21 18 and I will be a Father to you and you shall be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty. 2 Samuel 7:14
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