Bible in 90 Days

15 Now, Achim b’Moshiach, I draw your attention to the Besuras HaGeulah which I proclaimed to you, which also you received, in which also you stand firm, [Isa 40:9]

² Through which also you are brought to Yeshua’at Eloheinu, provided you hold fast to the dvar Torah which I proclaimed to you, unless you received it in vain (cf. 15:12-14, 10).

³ For I transmitted and handed on to you as authoritative Torah, rishon (first), that which was also transmitted and handed on to me as authoritative Torah (Ga 1:18): that Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiach died on behalf of avoneinu (our averos YESHAYAH 1:4, iniquities, gross wickedness, depravities) according to the Kitvei Hakodesh (YESHAYAH 53:8-9; DANIEL 9:26),

⁴ And that Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiach was buried in a kever (grave, burial place, YESHAYAH 53:9), and that Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiach was raised in a Techiyah from the mesim on YOM HASHLISHI (BERESHIS 1:11-13 [T.N. Chag HaBikkurim Lev 23:10-11, see 1C 15:20]; SHEMOT 19:11,15-16; YEHOSHUA 1:11; BAMIDBAR 19:11 13; YONAH 1:17; HOSHEA 6:2; MELACHIM BAIS 20:5,8; EZRA 6:15) according to the Kitvei Hakodesh (TEHILLIM 16:10),

⁵ And that Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiach was seen by Kefa, then by the Sheneym Asar,

⁶ Afterward Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiach was seen by over five hundred Achim b’Moshiach at one time, of whom most remain alive until now, though some sleep the sleep of the mesim.

⁷ Afterward, Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiach was seen by Ya’akov (Ga 1:19, also see p.848), then by all the Shlichim.

⁸ And, last of all, even as if to one born not normally [like the rest], Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiach was seen by me also (cf. 9:1).

⁹ For I am the least of Moshiach’s Shlichim, not qualified to be called a Shliach, because I brought redifah (persecution) upon the Kehillah of Hashem.

¹⁰ But by the Chen v’Chesed Hashem I am what I am. And the Chen v’Chesed Hashem of Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiach to me was not in vain, but more abundantly than all the Moshiach’s Shlichim I labored, yet it was not I, but the Chen v’Chesed Hashem with me.

¹¹ Whether it was I or those others, so we preached as Moshiach’s maggidim, and so you had emunah and became Moshiach’s ma’aminim.

¹² And if Moshiach is being preached that from the Mesim (Dead ones) he has had his Techiyah (Resurrection), how is it that some among you say that there is no Techiyas HaMesim?

¹³ And if there is no Techiyas HaMesim, neither then has Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiach been raised.

¹⁴ And if Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiach has not been raised, then our preaching to you was in vain and also in vain is your emunah (faith).

¹⁵ Moreover, we are found also to be edei sheker (false witnesses) [SHEMOT 20:16; DEVARIM 19:16-21] misrepresenting Hashem Himself, because we gave solemn edut (testimony 1:6) as in the presence of G-d that Hashem raised Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiach—whom, of course, He did not raise if, as you say, the Mesim are not bemetzius (in fact) raised.

¹⁶ For if the Mesim (Dead persons) have not Techiyah, neither has Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiach had a Techiyah;

¹⁷ And if Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiach has not already had his Techiyah from the Mesim, your emunah is futile, you are still in your averos (sins),

¹⁸ And even the ones who sleep the sleep of the Mesim in Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiach have perished.

¹⁹ Listen, if for the Olam Hazeh only we have tikvateinu in Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiach, we are to be pitied more than kol Bnei Adam.

²⁰ But in fact Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiach has had His Techiyah! Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiach is the Bikkurim ("Firstfruits" Gn 1:11-13; Ex 23:16; Lev 23:10-11), the Firstfruits of the ones having fallen asleep [in Moshiach].

²¹ For als (since) through an Adam (Man) came mavet (Gn 2:17), also through an Adam (Man, Moshiach) came the Techiyas HaMesim.

²² For as in Adam all die (Gn 3:19), so also in Moshiach all will be made alive.

²³ But each one in his own order: the Bikkurim, Moshiach; afterward, the ones of Moshiach at the Bias HaMoshiach;

²⁴ Then HaKetz when Moshiach gives over the Malchut Hashem to G-d, even Elohim Avinu (Dan 2:44; 7:13 14,27), after He has abolished all Mishrah and Shilton and Gevurah.

²⁵ For it is necessary for Moshiach to reign until Hashem puts all His OYVIM ("enemies") under His RAGLAYIM ("feet," TEHILLIM 110:1). [YESHAYAH 9:7; 52:7]

²⁶ The last Oyev (Enemy) to be abolished is Mavet.

²⁷ For KOL HASHEM put TACHAT RAGLAV ("All things He subjected under His feet" TEHILLIM 8:7[6]) but when He says that KOL (“all things”) have been subjected, it is peshat (plain, literal) that this does not include the One [Hashem] who put all things in subjection under Moshiach.

²⁸ But, when all things are subjected to Hashem, then also the Ben HaElohim [Moshiach] himself will be subjected to the One (Hashem) having subjected all things under him (Moshiach), that in all things G-d may be all [i.e., preeminent].

²⁹ Otherwise, what will they do, the ones being given tevilah on behalf of the dead? If the Mesim really are not raised, why indeed are they given tevilah on behalf of the Mesim?

³⁰ Why also are we putting ourselves at risk and in danger every hour?

³¹ Daily I die and that is as true a fact, Achim b’Moshiach, as it is that I glory over you in Moshiach Yehoshua Adoneinu.

³² If it were a mere humanistic matter, my fighting, so to speak, with wild beasts in Ephesus (Ac 19; 2C 1:3 10), what do I gain? If there is no Techiyas HaMesim, "Let us eat and drink, KI MACHAR NAMUT "For tomorrow we die" YESHAYAH 22:13; 56:12).

³³ Do not fall under a delusion. "Bad chavrusashaft (association, influence or hashpa’ah) corrupts good midos."

³⁴ Wake up and come to your senses. Start walking in the derech tzaddikim (TEHILLIM 1:6). Stop committing averos. Some among you have no saving da’as of Hashem. I say this to your bushah (shame).

³⁵ But someone will question, "How does this Techiyas HaMesim come about? And in the Techiyas HaMesim, with what kind of body will they come?" [YECHEZKEL 37:3]

³⁶ Yold, what you sow is not made alive unless it dies!

³⁷ And what is it you sow? Not the body that is to be, but something else: a bare zera (seed), efsher (perhaps) of wheat or some other grain.

³⁸ However, Hashem chooses [another] body to give to the [“dead” and buried] seed, and to each kind of zera is given by Hashem its own body (Gn 1:11-13; 47:18-19).

³⁹ Now basar is not all the same: Bnei Adam have one kind of basar; animals, another; birds, another; fish, another;

⁴⁰ and there are gufot baShomayim (heavenly bodies), and gufot baAretz (earthly bodies), but the kavod of the heavenly is of one kind, and the kavod of the earthly of another kind.

⁴¹ There is one kavod (glory) of the shemesh (sun), and another kavod (glory) of the levanah (moon), and another kavod (glory) of the kochavim (stars), for in kavod (glory), kochav differs from kochav. [TEHILLIM 19:4-6; 8:1,3]

⁴² So also is the Techiyas HaMesim. That which is sown is of one kind, perishable; that which is raised up is of another kind, imperishable. [DANIEL 12:3]

⁴³ What is sown without kavod is raised in kavod. What is sown in weakness is raised in ko’ach (power).

⁴⁴ What is sown a natural body, is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual one.

⁴⁵ So, also, it has been written, VAY’HI HAADAM L’NEFESH CHAYYAH ("And the [first] Man became a living soul," BERESHIS 2:7); but the Adam haacharon (last Adam) became a Ruach mechayyeh (Yn 5:26).

⁴⁶ But the spiritual body is not harishon, but the natural; then afterward the spiritual.

⁴⁷ The Adam Harishon is AFAR MIN HA’ADAMAH ("dust from the earth, ground" BERESHIS 2:7), out of ha’aretz. The Adam HaSheini (the second Adam) is out of Shomayim. [BERESHIS 2:7; 3:19; TEHILLIM 90:3]

⁴⁸ As was the Adam of dust, such also are those of the dust; as was the Adam of Shomayim, such also are those who are of Shomayim.

⁴⁹ And just as we have borne the demut of the Adam MIN AFAR HA’ADAMAH ("from the dust of the earth" BERESHIS 2:7), so we will bear also the likeness of the Heavenly Adam (Man). [BERESHIS 5:3]

⁵⁰ Now this I say, Achim b’Moshiach, that basar vadahm cannot inherit the Malchut Hashem, neither can the perishable inherit the imperishable (TEHILLIM 16:9-10; IYOV 19:25-26).

⁵¹ Hinei! I speak a sod (mystery) to you: we will not all sleep the sleep of the Mesim, but we will all be changed.

⁵² In a rega (moment), in the wink of an eye, at the last shofar blast. For the shofar will sound, the Mesim (dead ones) will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed.

⁵³ For it is necessary for this perishable nature to put on the imperishable, and this mortal nature to put on the immortal.

⁵⁴ But when this perishable nature puts on the imperishable, and this mortal, the immortal, then the dvar hanevu’ah will come to pass that stands written, "He will swallow up death forever" (YESHAYAH 25:8) in victory.

⁵⁵ EHI DEVARECHA MAVET EHI KATAVECHA SHEOL? ("Where are your plagues, O Death? Where is your destruction, O Sheol?" HOSHEA 13:14)

⁵⁶ Now the sting of death is chet (sin) and the ko’ach (power) of chet (sin) is chukkat haTorah [see Dt 27:26; Ga 3:1-13; Ro 7:7-13].

⁵⁷ But Baruch Hashem, Who is giving us the nitzachon (victory) through Adoneinu Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiach.

⁵⁸ So then, Chaverim and Achim b’Moshiach of mine, be steadfast, immovable, abounding always in the avodas kodesh of Adoneinu, have da’as that your po’al (work) is not in vain in Hashem [2Ch 15:7; Isa 65:23].

16 Now, concerning the maamadot (financial contributions) and the pishkeh (pushke) we are circulating throughout the kehillot for the benefit of the Yerushalayim Kadoshim, as I directed the kehillot of Galatia, so you do also.

² Every Yom Rishon (T.N. which begins Motzoei Shabbos by Biblical reckoning, each day being an evening and a morning) of each week, each of you by himself make something farnumen (set aside), storing up according to his hakhnasah (income), so that collections need not be made when I come.

³ And when I arrive, whomever you approve, these I will send with iggrot to carry your matanah to Yerushalayim.

⁴ And if it is fitting for me also to go, they will go with me.

⁵ And I will come to you whenever I pass through Macedonia, for I will be passing through Macedonia.

⁶ Efsher (perhaps) I will stay with you, or even spend the choref (winter) that you may help me with a send-off wherever I may go.

⁷ For I do not want to see you now in passing, for I have the tikvah to remain some time with you, im yirtzeh Hashem (G-d willing, permitting).

⁸ But, I will remain on in Ephesus until Shavuos [Lv 23:15-21; Dt 16:9-11],

⁹ For a delet (door) has opened, great and effective, for me, but there are many mitnaggedim (opponents).

¹⁰ Now if Timotiyos comes, see that he may be with you without fear; for the avodas kodesh of Hashem he labors in as I do.

¹¹ Therefore, let not anyone despise him. But give him a send-off in shalom that he may come to me; for I am waiting for him with the Achim b’Moshiach.

¹² Now, concerning Apollos the Ach b’Moshiach, I strongly exhorted him, that he would come to you with the Achim b’Moshiach. But he is beshum oifen (absolutely) unwilling to go at this time, but he will come whenever he has an opportunity.

¹³ Watch, stand firm in the [Orthodox Jewish] emunah (faith), be men, be strong [TEHILLIM 31:24].

¹⁴ Let everything you do be done in ahavah (agape).

¹⁵ Now, I urge you, Achim b’Moshiach, you have da’as of the bais of Stephanas, that it is the bikkurim of Achaia, and that they have with devotion and zerizut (diligence) put themselves in avodas kodesh ministry for the Kadoshim.

¹⁶ Become submissive to such as him and to everyone joining in the avodas kodesh and laboring.

¹⁷ Now, I rejoice at the coming of Stephanas and of Fortunatus and of Achaicus, because these men filled up your absence,

¹⁸ For they refreshed my neshamah and yours. Give recognition to such men [14:38].

¹⁹ Drishat Shalom from the Kehillot of Moshiach of Asia. Drishat Shalom warmly in Adoneinu from Aquila and Prisca, together with the Adat Moshiach in their bais.

²⁰ Drishat Shalom from all the Achim b’Moshiach. Greet one another with a neshikat hakodesh (holy kiss).

²¹ THIS GREETING WITH MY OWN HAND, SHA’UL.

²² If anyone does not have ahavah (love) for HaAdon, Alav ki Cherem hu ("a curse of the ban of destruction is on him") [12:3]. Marana (our L-rd), tha (come).

²³ The Chen v’Chesed Hashem of Moshiach Adoneinu be with you.

²⁴ My ahavah be with you all in Moshiach Yehoshua.

1 From Sha’ul, a Shliach of Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiach Yehoshua birtzon Hashem (by the will of G-d), and Timotiyos, the Ach b’Moshiach; To the Kehillah (Congregation) of Hashem existing in Corinth, with all the Kadoshim throughout Achaia.

² Chen v’Chesed Hashem to you and shalom from Elohim Avinu and Adoneinu Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiach Yehoshua.

³ Baruch hu Hashem Elohim Avi of Adoneinu Yehoshua, Avi HaRachamim vaElohei kol nechamah (comfort), [TEHILLIM 103:13; YESHAYAH 66:13]

⁴ The one giving us chizzuk (strengthening) with respect to all our tzoros so as to enable us to give chizzuk to the ones experiencing tzoros, and that through the nechamah (comfort) by which we ourselves are comforted (1:3) by Hashem. [YESHAYAH 49:13; 51:12; 66:13]

⁵ This is so because as the Chevlei Moshiach (birth pangs of Moshiach) abound to us, so through Moshiach abounds also our nechamah (1:3; YESHAYAH 51:12). [TEHILLIM 34:19; 94:19]

⁶ Now if we are experiencing tzoros, it is for your chizzuk (strengthening) and Yeshu’at Eloheinu; or if we are being given nechamah (comfort), it is for your nechamah that is producing in you the chozek (strength) of zitzfleisch (patience) for the endurance of the tzoros which we also suffer. [1Th 3:3]

⁷ And our tikvah (hope) for you is well-founded, for we have da’as that as you have deveykus (cleaving to) the Chevlei Moshiach, so also you will have deveykus to the nechamah.

⁸ For we do not want you to lack da’as, Achim b’Moshiach, as to the tzoros and tribulation that came upon us in Asia [Ac 19:23; 1C 15:32], that utterly beyond our strength we were burdened, causing us to come to a feeling of ye’ush (despair) even of being able to stay alive.

⁹ But we ourselves have had the gezar din (verdict) of mishpat mavet (a death sentence) in ourselves so that we should not have emunah (faith) in ourselves but in Hashem, Mechayyei Mesim (Who Revivest the Dead). [Shemoneh Esreh, YIRMEYAH 17:5,7]

¹⁰ The same G-d out of so great a Mavet delivered us and will continue to deliver us. We have set tikvateinu (our hope) that he will yet deliver us, [2 Ti 4:18]

¹¹ As you also labor together for us by techinnah (supplication), so that the "Modeh Ani" for us will be said by the many (YESHAYAH 53:11-12) for the matanah (gift) granted us through the tefillos of the many.

¹² For our glorying is in this: the edut (testimony) of our matzpun (conscience) [MJ 13:18] is that without remiyah (guile, fraud, deceit) and with lev tahor ("pure heart" TEHILLIM 51:12) with the sincerity of Hashem [2C 2:17] and not in the "chochmah" of the basar [1C 1:17] but in the Chen v’Chesed of Hashem, we conducted ourselves in the Olam Hazeh, and more especially toward you.

¹³ For we write nothing so shver (complex) to you that you cannot read and have binah (understanding), and I have tikvah that you will have da’as shlemah until HaKetz,

¹⁴ As you have already had da’as of us in part, as also we are your kavod [2C 5:12], even as also you are ours in the Yom Hashem of Adoneinu Yehoshua. [Pp 2:16]

¹⁵ And with this bitachon (confidence) I planned previously to come to you, that a second benefit you might have.

¹⁶ It was my cheshbon (plan) to visit you by way of Macedonia and again from Macedonia to come to you, and by you to be sent on to Yehudah (Judea Ac 19:21; 1C 16:5,6).

¹⁷ This was my matarah (aim, goal); surely then I did not act with vacillation? Or when I make plans [2C 5:16], do I have a cheshbon according to the basar, ready with "Ken, Ken!" and then, "Lo! Lo!"

¹⁸ Al emunat Hashem (in the faithfulness of G-d), our dvar to you has not been "Ken" and "Lo."

¹⁹ For the Ben HaElohim, Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiach Yehoshua, the One having been proclaimed among you by us, by Sila and Timotiyos and me [Ac 18:5], was not a "Ken and Lo"; but in Him it has always been "Ken."

²⁰ For in Moshiach every one of Hashem’s havtachot (promises) is a "Ken." For this reason it is b’Shem Moshiach that we say the "Omein" to the kavod of Hashem [1C 14:16; Rv 3:14].

²¹ But it is Hashem who establishes us with you in Moshiach and has given us the mishchah (anointing 1Y 2:27),

²² Having put his chotam [seal of ownership BERESHIS 38:18; YECHEZKEL 9:4; Ep 1:13; 4:30; Rv 7:4] on us and having given the eravon (pledge) of the Ruach Hakodesh in our levavot. (hearts Ro 8:16; 2C 5:5; Ep 1:14). [BERESHIS 38:18; YECHEZKEL 9:4; CHAGGAI 2:23]

²³ Now, I call upon Hashem as eidus (witness) against my nefesh, my neshamah (soul), that it was to spare you that I did not come again to Corinth. [Ro 1:9; 2C 11:31; Pp 1:8; 1Th 2:5,10]

²⁴ Not that we play the gontser macher to domineer over your emunah (faith) [1K 5:3], but we are fellow po’alim for your simcha, for by emunah you stand.

2 For I decided this in myself: not again to come to you in agmat nefesh (grief). [1C 4:21; 2C 12:21]

² For if I grieve you, then who is the one cheering me except the one I have caused to have agmat nefesh?

³ And I wrote the iggeret as I did, so that when I came, I should not have agmat nefesh from those who should have brought me simcha; for I have confidence about you all, that my simcha would be the simcha of all of you.

⁴ For out of much tzoros and of lev (heart) distress I wrote the iggeret to you with many tears [Ac 20:31], not that you should have agmat nefesh, but that you may have da’as of the ahavah in Hashem which I have more abundantly for all of you.

⁵ Now if anyone has caused agmat nefesh (grief), it is not me he has grieved, but to some extent, not to be too severe he has grieved you all. [1C 5:1]

⁶ Sufficient to such a man was this onesh (penalty) by the roiv (majority),

⁷ So that, on the contrary, rather you ought to give selichah (forgiveness) and chozek (strength) to him lest efsher (perhaps) such a one may be swallowed up by overwhelming remorse.

⁸ Therefore I urge you to confirm to him your ahavah (love).

⁹ For I wrote the iggeret to this end, that I may have da’as that you are tested and proven, that in all things you have mishma’at (obedience). [2C 7:15; 10:6]

¹⁰ Now to anyone whom you give selichah (forgiveness) of anything, I do as well, for indeed what I have forgiven, if I have forgiven anything, it is for your sake in the presence of Moshiach;

¹¹ Lest we should be outsmarted by Hasatan [Lk 22:31]; for we do not lack da’as of his kesharim (conspiracies).

¹² But having come to Troas for the purpose of proclaiming the Besuras HaGeulah of Moshiach and a delet (door) to me having been opened by Adoneinu, [YECHEZKEL 20:14; Ac 14:27; 1C 16:9; Co 4:3; Rv 3:8]

¹³ I did not have shalom in my neshamah when I was not able to find Titos my Ach b’Moshiach. So I took leave of them and I went on to Macedonia.[Ac 20:1]

¹⁴ But Baruch Hashem, the One in whom we are given the nitzachon (victory), Who always leads us in triumph in Moshiach and, through us, in every place spreads the fragrance of the da’as of Him.

¹⁵ For we are the aroma of Moshiach to Hashem among the ones coming to Yeshu’at Eloheinu, and among the ones perishing:[1C 1:18; DANIEL 12:2]

¹⁶ To the latter ones a fragrance of mavet unto mavet; but to the former ones a fragrance of Chayyim (life) unto Chayyim [Lk 2:34]. Who is sufficient for these things? [2C 3:5-6]

¹⁷ For we are not as many, peddling the dvar Hashem, but as from sincerity, as from Hashem, in the presence of Hashem, in Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiach we speak. [2C 1:12; 1K 4:11]

3 Do we begin again to commend ourselves? [2C 5:12] Or surely we do not need, as some do, iggrot of haskama (letters of approval, commendation) to you or from you? [Ac 18:27; Ro 16:1]

² You are our iggeret, written on our levavot, being known and being read by kol Bnei Adam.[1C 9:2]

³ And you show that you are an iggeret from Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiach, prepared by us, having been written not with ink but with the Ruach Hakodesh of the Elohim Chayyim, not on luchot of stone [SHEMOT 24:12; 31:18; 32:15,16; 34:1; DEVARIM 9:10,11] but on luchot of lev basar. [ MISHLE 3:3; 7:3; YIRMEYAH 31:33; YECHEZKEL 11:19; 36:26]

⁴ Such is the bitachon (confidence) that we have through Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiach toward Hashem.

⁵ Not that we are competent from ourselves to claim anything as of ourselves, but our competence is from Hashem, [2C 2:16]

⁶ Who also made us competent as klei kodesh mesharetim (ministers) of a Brit Chadasha [SHEMOT 24:8; YIRMEYAH 31:31; 32:40; 2C 11:25; MJ 8:8-13]‖not of chumra (not of strict adherence to the letter of the law, legalism), but of the Ruach Hakodesh: for the chumra (letter of the law) kills, but the Ruach Hakodesh gives Chayyim (life). [Yn 6:63; Ro 7:6].

⁷ Now if the sherut of mavet chiseled in letters engraved on luchot of stone came with kavod (glory), so that the Bnei Yisroel were not able to gaze into the face of Moshe Rabbeinu because of P’NI MOSHE KI KARON ("face of Moshe Rabbeinu that he was radiant" SHEMOT 34:35) because of the kavod (glory) of his face, the kavod (glory) which is fading, [SHEMOT 34:29-34; YESHAYAH 42:21]

⁸ Then how much more will the avodas kodesh ministry of the Ruach Hakodesh come in kavod (glory)?

⁹ For if there was kavod in the sherut of harsha’ah (condemnation) [DEVARIM 27:26], how much more abounds in kavod the sherut of tzedek [DANIEL 9:24].[Ro 1:17;3:21]

¹⁰ For indeed what once had kavod has lost its kavod [SHEMOT 34:29-30] on account of the surpassing kavod (glory).

¹¹ For if the thing which now is fading away came with kavod (glory), much more has that which remains come in kavod.

¹² Since, then, we have such a tikvah (hope), we act with much boldness.

¹³ And we are not as Moshe Rabbeinu, who was putting HAMMASVEH Al PANAV ("the veil over his face" SHEMOT 34:33, 35) so that the Bnei Yisroel might not see the end of the fading kavod.

¹⁴ But their minds were hardened; [Ro 11:25] for until the present day the same veil remains unlifted at the Kri’at HaSefer Torah (the reading of Torah in shul), because the veil is taken away in Moshiach.

¹⁵ But even today, whenever Moshe [Rabbeinu] is being read, a veil lies on their levavot.

¹⁶ But whenever one turns to Adoneinu HAMMASVEH is taken away. [SHEMOT 34:34; YESHAYAH 25:7; Ro 11:23-26]

¹⁷ Now Adoneinu is HaRuach and where HaRuach Adoneinu is, there is cherut (freedom). [YESHAYAH 61:1,2; Yn 7:39; 8:32,36; Ro 8:2; Ga 5:1,13]

¹⁸ Now all of us, with unveiled faces, seeing the kavod of Adoneinu [SHEMOT 16:7; 24:17] as if reflected in a mirror, are being transformed into the same demut from kavod to kavod, even as from HaAdon, HaRuach.

4 Therefore, since it is by the chesed of Hashem that we have this sherut, this kehunah, [2C 3:16] we are undaunted. [TEHILLIM 18:45; YESHAYAH 40:31]

² But we renounced the hidden things of bushah (shame), not going about with remiyah (deceit) nor falsifying the dvar Hashem. Rather by the manifestation of HaEmes we present ourselves to every man’s matzpun in the sight of Hashem. [2C 2:17; 1Th 2:5]

³ But if indeed our Besuras HaGeulah is nistar (hidden), it is nistar among the ones perishing, [2C 1:18]

⁴ In whose case the g-d of the Olam Hazeh (Ep 2:2) blinded the minds of the ones without emunah, so the illumination of the Besuras HaGeulah of the kavod of Moshiach, who is the demut of Hashem, [Co 1:15; MJ 1:3] would not shine on them.

⁵ For we preach not ourselves but Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiach Adoneinu Yehoshua and ourselves as your avadim (servants) for Yehoshua’s sake. [2C 1:24]

⁶ Because Hashem is the One who said,"Let Ohr shine out of choshech" [BERESHIS 1:3; YESHAYAH 9:2] who shone in our levavot for an illumination of the da’as of the kavod of Hashem in the face of Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiach Yehoshua. [2C 3:18]

⁷ Now we have this otzar (treasure) in earthen vessels [2C 5:1] that the excellence of the ko’ach may be of Hashem and not of us. [IYOV 4:19; YESHAYAH 64:8; SHOFETIM 7:2]

⁸ Being oppressed on every side [2C 1:8; 7;5] but not being crushed, being perplexed but not in ye’ush (despair, atzvut),

⁹ Being persecuted but not forsaken, being cast down but not destroyed, [TEHILLIM 37:24; MISHLE 24:16]

¹⁰ Always bearing about the dying of Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiach in my basar that also the Chayyim of Moshiach in geviyyateinu might be manifested. [BERESHIS 47:18; TEHILLIM 16:9-10; IYOV 19:25-27; YESHAYAH 53:11]

¹¹ For always we, the ones living, are being given over to mavet because of Moshiach [Ro 8:36; 1C 15:31] that also the Chayyim of Moshiach may be manifested in our mortal basar.

¹² So then Mavet works in us but Chayyim in you.

¹³ And having the same Ruach Hakodesh of emunah that is in accordance with the Kitvei Hakodesh, HE’EMANITI KI ADABER ("I believed, therefore I speak " TEHILLIM 116:10), we both believed and therefore we speak,

¹⁴ Having da’as that the One who made to stand up alive Adoneinu Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiach Yehoshua will make us also with Yehoshua stand up alive and will present us with you. [Ro 8:11; 1C 6:14; 15:15,20]

¹⁵ For all things are because of you [2C 1:3-6] that the Chen v’Chesed Hashem, having increased through the many, may increase the hodayah (thanksgiving) to the kavod of Hashem. [1:6]

¹⁶ Therefore we are undaunted and do not lose chozek (strength). For, indeed, even if our outward man is becoming old and atrophied, yet our inward man is yom yom being renewed. [Ep 3:16; Ps 18:45; 103:5; Isa 40:31]

¹⁷ For our present momentary tzoros is preparing us for an eternal weight of kavod (glory) utterly beyond measure, [TEHILLIM 30:5; Ro 8:17-18]

¹⁸ For while we are not looking at the visible things but the invisible; [Co 1:16; MJ 11:1,3] for the things visible are zemanniyim (temporary) but the things invisible are for l’olamim.

5 For we have da’as that if the beit mishkaneinu [IYOV 4:19; 2C 4:7] is made churban, we have a bais from Hashem, a Bais not made with hands, in Shomayim L’olamim. [YESHAYAH 38:12]

² For indeed in this mishkaneinu we groan, longing for the train of our robe to be our sukkah from Shomayim. [Ro 8:23]

³ If indeed thus clothed we will not be found naked.

⁴ For while we are still in this mishkan, we groan under our burden, in as much as we do not want to be unclothed but to be clothed, that the mortal may be swallowed up by Chayyim.[1C 15:53-54]

⁵ Now the One having prepared us for this very thing is Hashem, the One having given us the eravon (pledge) of the Ruach Hakodesh. [Ro 8:16,23; 2C 1:22; Ep 1:13]

⁶ Therefore we always have bitachon since we have da’as that being at home in the basar, we are away from home in Adoneinu. [MJ 11:13-16]

⁷ For we walk by emunah (faith), not by sight; [1C 13:12]

⁸ Therefore we have bitachon and are pleased rather to leave home from the basar and to be at home with Adoneinu. [Pp 1:23]

⁹ Therefore, also we are aspiring, whether at home, or away from home, to be well pleasing to Hashem, [Co 1:10; 1Th 4:1]

¹⁰ Since it is necessary for all of us to be revealed/laid bare for an appearance before the Kisse Din (Judgment Throne, i.e., Moshiach’s Bet Din) of Moshiach, in order that each one of us [individually] may receive recompense for the things done in the basar, according to his ma’asim, whether tov or rah. [1C 9:27; 3:10-15; Koh 12:14; Yn 5:22; Ac 17:31; Ro 2:16; 14:10]

¹¹ Therefore, since we have da’as of the yirat [Moshiach] Adoneinu, we persuade men, and we have been made manifest to Hashem and I have tikvah also that we have been made manifest to your matzpunim. [Job 23:15; 2C 4:2]

¹² We are not commending ourselves to you again [2C 3:1], but are giving an opportunity to you of glorying on behalf of us [2C 1:14] that you may respond to those who glory in outer appearance and not in lev.

¹³ For if we seem meshuggah, it is for Hashem; if we are in our right mind, it is for you.

¹⁴ For the ahavah (love) of Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiach controls us, because we have judged this, that one [Moshiach] died on behalf of all and therefore all died.

¹⁵ And Moshiach died, on behalf of all [I Ti 2:6] that the ones living may no longer live to themselves but may live to the one [Moshiach] who both died and has been made to stand up alive in his Techiyas HaMoshiach for their sakes. [Ro 14:7-8]

¹⁶ From now on, therefore, we have da’as of no one from a purely human point of view; if indeed we have had da’as of Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiach according to the basar, we now no longer so have da’as of him,

¹⁷ So that if anyone is in Moshiach, he is a bria chadasha (a new being) [Ro 8:1,10; Ga 6:15]: the old things passed away; hinei, all has become chadashot. [YESHAYAH 43:18; 65:17; Rv 21:5]

¹⁸ And all things are of Hashem, Who is the One having granted to us ritztzuy (reconciliation) to Himself through Moshiach [Ro 5:10] and has given to us the sherut haRitztzuy (the ministry of reconciliation),

¹⁹ Davka (specifically), that Hashem was in Moshiach reconciling the Olam to himself, [Ro 3:24-25; Co 1:19-20) Not reckoning their avonot against them and putting in us the Dvar HaRitztzuy (Message of Reconciliation).

²⁰ On behalf of Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiach, therefore, we are emissaries of shalom [YESHAYAH 27:5; 52:7; Ep 6:20], as if Hashem were entreating through us, we ask on behalf of Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiach: be reconciled to Hashem!

²¹ The one who in his person had no da’as of chattat (sin) [Ac 3:14; Yn 8:46; MJ 4:15; 7:26; 1K 2:22; 1Y 3:5], this one Hashem made a chattat sin offering [Ga 3:13; YESHAYAH 53:10; VAYIKRA 4:24 TARGUM HASHIVIM] on our behalf that we might become the Tzidkat Hashem [DANIEL 9:24] in Moshiach. [1C 1:30; Pp 3:9] [T.N. In this next chapter Rav Sha’ul warns against associations or worldly influences or fascinations that will contaminate the believer, who should not think he can have both the world’s evil pleasures and the House of G-d’s holy chelek.]

6 As we work together with him, we also urge you not to receive the Chen v’Chesed Hashem in vain. [2C 5:20]

² For he says "In a time acceptable I heard you and in a day of salvation I helped you" [YESHAYAH 49:8]. Hinei, now is the acceptable time; now is the Yom Yeshu’ah, [Ps 69:13; Isa 55:6; Lk.4:19-21]

³ Not giving in anything a cause for michshol, lest the Messianic Avodas Kodesh (holy worship, service) be blamed;

⁴ But in everything presenting ourselves [2C 4:2] as mesharetim of Hashem in much savlanut (patience), in tzoros, in hardships, in distresses,

⁵ In beatings, in imprisonments, in riots, in labors, in watchings, in tzomot;

⁶ In purity, in da’as, in longsuffering, in chesed, in the Ruach Hakodesh, in ahavah amittit,

⁷ In the dvar HaEmes, in the gevurat Hashem, through the weapons of Tzedek of the right hand and of the left.

⁸ Through honor and dishonor, through ill repute and good repute; as "deceivers" and yet true,

⁹ As being unknown and yet being well known, as dying and hinei, we live! As given the mishpat mavet and yet not penalized with death;

¹⁰ As having agmat nefesh but always having simcha, as poor but enriching many, as having nothing and yet possessing everything.

¹¹ We have spoken freely with you Corinthians, our levavot has been enlarged.

¹² There is no penury in our affections, only in yours.

¹³ Now (I speak as to yeladim) make a fair exchange and open wide your levavot [1C 4:14].

¹⁴ Do not become unequally yoked with koferim (unbelievers) [Ep 5:7,11] for what shuttafut (partnership) has Tzedek with Lawlessness? Or where is the Brit (Covenant) between Ohr (light) and Choshech (darkness)? [BERESHIS 24:3; DEVARIM 22:10]

¹⁵ And what harmony does Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiach have with B’liya’al? Or what chelek (allotment, inheritance) has a ma’amin with an Apikoros?

¹⁶ And what agreement has the Heikhal of Hashem with elilim? For we are a Heikhal of the Elohim Chayyim [1C 3:16; 6:19] as G-d said, "V’HITHALLACHTI B’TOCHCHEM ("And I will walk in the midst of you" [VAYIKRA 26:12] I WILL BE MISHKANI ALEHEM ("dwelling place of me with them" [YECHEZKEL 37:27]) V’HAYU LI L’AM VAANI EHEYEH LAHEM LELOHIM [YIRMEYAH 32:38] ("And they will be to me as people and I will be to them as G-d." [YIRMEYAH 32:38]

¹⁷ Therefore, SURU (Depart!), come out from the midst of them and be separated, says Adoneinu, and a TAMEH AL TIGAU "unclean thing do not touch;" [YESHAYAH 52:11] ERTZEH ETCHEM "and I will receive you”, [YECHEZKEL 20:34,41; Rv 18:4]

¹⁸ And I will be to you an AV and you will be to me BANIM and BANOT ("my daughters" [SHMUEL BAIS 7:8,14; YESHAYAH 43:6; YIRMEYAH 31:9] says Adonoi Tzva’ot. [SHEMOT 4:22; DIVREY HAYAMIM ALEF 17:13; AMOS 3:13; 4:13 TARGUM HASHIVIM Rv 4:8; 11:17; 15:3; 21:22]

7 Therefore, having these havtachot (promises), Chaverim, let us submit to his tahorah, cleansing ourselves from every defilement of basar and ruach, perfecting kedushah (holiness) in yirat Shomayim.

² In your levavot make a cheder for us; we wronged no one, we ruined no one, we exploited no one. [2C 12:17]

³ I do not say this to bring you under harsha’ah, for I have said before that you are in our levavot [2C 6:11-12; Pp 1:7] whether to die with you or to live with you. [SHMUEL BEIS 15:21]

⁴ I have much ometz lev (boldness) and confidence toward you. I glory much on your behalf. I have been filled with chozek (strength). I am filled to overflowing with simcha at all of our tzoros.

⁵ For indeed when we had come into Macedonia [Ac 20:1-2; 2C 2:13] we had no physical mano’ach (rest) but we had tzoros everywhere: battles on the outside, fears inside. [DEVARIM 32:25]

⁶ But Hashem who encourages the lowly, encouraged us [YESHAYAH 49:13; 2C 1:3-4] by the coming of Titos;

⁷ And not only by the coming of him, but also by the encouragement by which he was encouraged over you, reporting to us your longing, your mourning, your kanous (zeal) for me, so that it caused me to have even more simcha.

⁸ Because if indeed I caused you agmat nefesh (grief) by the iggeret, I do not regret it, though I did regret it, but I see that that iggeret grieved you only briefly. [2C 2:4]

⁹ Now I have simcha, not that you had agmat nefesh, but that your grief brought you to teshuva, for your agmat nefesh was in Hashem, so that by us you suffered in nothing.

¹⁰ For the agmat nefesh that is according to Hashem produces teshuva to Yeshu’at Eloheinu, not to be regretted, but the agmat nefesh of the Olam Hazeh produces mavet. [Mt 27:3-5; MJ 12:17]

¹¹ For, hinei, see what zerizut (diligence) this agmat nefesh of Hashem has produced in you, what defense, what indignation, what yirat Shomayim, what longing, what kanous (zeal), what onesh (punishment)! At every point you proved yourselves to be without ashma (guilt) in the matter.

¹² Then though I wrote an iggeret to you, it was not for the sake of the one having done hara’ah (the evil), nor for the sake of the one who was beleidikt (offended), but for the sake of your kanous (zeal) for us becoming manifest to you before Hashem.

¹³ In this we have chozek (strength). But in addition to our encouragement, we had still more simcha at the simcha of Titos, because his neshamah has been set at rest by all of you;

¹⁴ Because if I have been somewhat boastful about you Corinthians to Titos, I was in this not put to shame, but just as everything we said to you is HaEmes, so also our boasting to Titos has proven true as well.

¹⁵ And his lev (heart) goes out to you, all the more as he has zikaron of the mishma’at (obedience) of all of you [2C 2:9] as you received him B’YIRAH (with fear) and BIRA’DAH (trembling). [TEFILLAH 2:11]

¹⁶ I have simcha that in everything I have confidence in you.

8 Now we make known to you, Achim b’Moshiach, the Chen v’Chesed Hashem that was granted to Moshiach’s Kehillot of Macedonia,

² That during a great ordeal of tzoros, their abundant simcha and the extreme depth of their oni (poverty) abounded to the osher (riches) of their generosity [SHEMOT 36:5; Pp 1:29-30; 1Th 1:6; 2:14; 3:3 4];

³ That according to their ability, I give solemn edut, and ad kdei kach (so much) even beyond their ability, they gave voluntarily and of their own accord,

⁴ Begging us, requesting from us the privilege of participating in giving tzedakah to the Messianic Jewish ministry of the Kadoshim [Ro 15:26; Ac 11:29; 2C 9:1]

⁵ And this not merely according to tikvateinu. They gave themselves first to Adoneinu and to us [Moshiach’s Shlichim] birtzon Hashem (in the will of G-d),

⁶ So that it was necessary for us to urge Titos that as he began and made a haschala (start) before, so he should complete among you also this mitzvah of avodas kodesh of the Chen v’Chesed Hashem.

⁷ Now just as you abound in everything‖in emunah, in torah, in da’as [1C 1:5] and in all zerizut (diligence) and in our ahavah (love) for you‖see also that you excel in this Chen v’Chesed Hashem. [1C 16:1 2]

⁸ I do not lay this out as a mitzvah, but the sincerity of your ahavah I am testing against the zerizut of others,

⁹ For you have da’as of the Chen v’Chesed of Adoneinu Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiach Yehoshua, who, though being rich, for your sakes, he became poor, [Mt 8:20; Pp 2:6-7] that you by Moshiach’s oni (poverty) may become rich.

¹⁰ And in this I give my etza (advice): it is tov me’od that last shanah you were the first not only to give tzedakah but also to be willing to do so.

¹¹ Now also complete what you started! Then your readiness in desiring it may be matched by your finishing it from what you have. [SHEMOT 25:2]

¹² For if the readiness is already present, it is acceptable according to whatever one may have‖not according to what one does not have. [MISHLE 3:27-28; Mk 12:43]

¹³ For it is not that there should be relief to others and distress and tzoros to you, but that there should be a balance of equality

¹⁴ During the present time of your abundance for those who lack, and also for your lack there may be their abundance, [2C 9:12] so also there may be equality,

¹⁵ As it has been written V’LO HE’DIF HAMARBEH V’HAMMAMIT LO HECHSIR. ("The one that gathered the much did not have too much and the one that gathered little did not have too little” SHEMOT 16:18)

¹⁶ But Baruch Hashem, the One having given the same zerizut (diligence) for you in the lev (heart) of Titos,

¹⁷ Because of the chozek (encouragement) he received, and having more zerizut on his own accord, he went forth to you.

¹⁸ And we sent with him the Ach b’Moshiach who is bavust (famous) among all the Kehillot for his proclaiming the Besuras HaGeulah,

¹⁹ And not only this but also this Ach b’Moshiach has been handpicked by the Kehillot to travel with us and with this avodas kodesh of chesed being administered by us to the kavod of Adoneinu Himself and as a gvies eidus (testimony) to your goodwill.

²⁰ Avoiding also that anyone should murmur about our handling of this liberal matanah (gift);

²¹ For our tachlis is to do what is tov me’od B’EINEI ELOHIM V’ADAM (“in the eyes of G-d and man”). [MISHLE 3:4 TARGUM HASHIVIM]

²² And we sent with them our Ach b’Moshiach whom we have often tested and found having zerizut in much, and now having even more zerizut by his great bitachon in you.

²³ As for Titos, he is my shutaf and your fellow po’el in your avodas kodesh; as for our Achim b’Moshiach, they are shlichim of the Kehillot, the kavod of Moshiach.

²⁴ Therefore, openly before the Moshiach’s Kehillot, demonstrate your ahavah and vindicate our glorying about you [2C 7:14].

9 Concerning your Messianic avodas kodesh sherut for the Kadoshim [2C 8:4,20] it is superfluous for me to send you this iggeret.

² For I have da’as of your readiness to involve yourself in Messianic Jewish ministry and this is the subject of my glorying to the Macedonians, saying that Achaia has been prepared since last shanah and your kanous has been mezarez (a spur into action) to most of them.

³ And I am sending the Achim b’Moshiach lest our glorying on behalf of you should be made empty in this respect, that you be ready, as I was saying you would be,

⁴ Lest perhaps if some Macedonians should come with me and they find you unprepared, we should have bushah, to say nothing of you, in this situation.

⁵ Therefore, I considered it necessary to encourage the Achim b’Moshiach, that they should go on ahead to you and, having arranged in advance the bountiful terumah (contribution) of the havtacha you made previously so that this matanah would be ready so as to be a bracha and not an exaction.

⁶ Note this: the one sowing sparingly will also reap sparingly, and the one sowing for a bracha of bounty will also reap a bracha of bounty. [MISHLE 11:24,25; 22:9]

⁷ Each of you should give as he has decided previously in his lev (heart), not giving bedieved (begrudgingly) nor out of necessity; for Hashem loves a cheerful giver. [SHEMOT 25:2; DEVARIM 15:10; MISHLE 22:8 TARGUM HASHIVIM]

⁸ And Hashem is able to cause to abound to you all Chen v’Chesed Hashem that in everything, always, having all sufficiency, you may abound to every mitzvah.

⁹ As it has been written, PIZAR NATAN LAEVYONIM TZIDKATO OMEDET LA’AD "He scattered, he gave to the poor, His Righteousness endures forever." [Ps 112:9 Mal 3:10]

¹⁰ Now the one supplying ZERA (seed) to the sower and LECHEM for okhel (food) [YESHAYAH 55:10] will supply and will multiply your zera and will increase the p’ri of the Tzedek of you; [Hos 10:12 TARGUM HASHIVIM]

¹¹ You will be enriched in every ma’aseh chesed to all generosity, which produces through us hodayah (thanksgiving) to Hashem; [2C 1:11; 4:15]

¹² Because the avodas kodesh of this tzedakah is not only filling up the things lacking of the Kadoshim, [2C 8:14] but is also abounding through hodayah rabbah (much thanksgiving) to Hashem;

¹³ Through the proof of this Messianic Jewish sherut you bring kavod to Hashem on the basis of your submission to your Ani Ma’amin Hoda’a confession of the Besuras HaGeulah of Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiach and on the basis of the generosity of your terumah (contribution) to them and to all kol Bnei Adam;

¹⁴ And, reciprocally, the Messianic Jews in Yerushalayim will daven in intercession for you, having great ahavah in Moshiach for you, because of the surpassing Chen v’Chesed Hashem upon you.

¹⁵ Baruch Hashem for his indescribable matanah!

10 Now I myself, Sha’ul, appeal to you gently in Moshiach and in his anavah (humility) I who am peh el peh (panim el panim, face to face) "lowly" among you [1C 2:3] but have "chutzpah" with you when absent. [1C 2:4; 7:8]

² Now I beg of you that when I am present I may not have to show enough chutzpah to oppose certain persons, [1C 4:21] the ones considering us to act according to the standards of the basar of the Olam Hazeh.

³ For though walking in basar, we war not according to the basar,

⁴ For the weapons of our warfare are not of the basar, [Ep 6:13 17] but full of ko’ach through Hashem to the overthrowing of strongholds, reasonings [Jer 1:10; 23:29]

⁵ And every high minded thing rising up against the da’as of Hashem, and leading captive every machshavah (thought) into the mishma’at of Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiach, [Isa 2:11,12]

⁶ And prepared to discipline all disobedience whenever your mishma’at (obedience) is completed. [2C 2:9]

⁷ You look at things according to outward appearance. If anyone has persuaded himself that he belongs to Moshiach, have zikaron (recollection) of this: as he is of Moshiach, so also are we.

⁸ Now even if I should glory a little too much [2C 12:6] in our samchut (authority) [as Shlichim of Moshiach] [2C 13:10] which Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiach Adoneinu gave for building you up and not for tearing you down, I will make good my claim. [Jer1:10]

⁹ I did not intend to seem as if my iggrot were meant to frighten you.

¹⁰ For they say, "His iggrot indeed are weighty and strong but his physical presence is weak and his shprach (diction), as far as rhetoric is concerned, is despicable."

¹¹ Let such a one consider this: that the dvar we speak through iggrot when absent will become action we will very well do when present! [2C 13:2,10]

¹² For we dare not to make a geder (classification) for ourselves or to compare ourselves with some of the ones commending themselves [2C 3:1; 5:12], but when they measure themselves by the standard of one another or compare themselves with one another, they do not show seichel.

¹³ But we will not boast out of our depth, but will be shomer to keep within the sadeh (field) Hashem has apportioned to us [Ro 12:3] which reached out even as far as you. [Ga 2:7 8]

¹⁴ For we were not getting out of our depth when we reached even as far as you. We were the chalutzim (pioneers) who came with the Besuras HaGeulah of Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiach.

¹⁵ We do not boast out of our depth, that is, in the labor of others; but tikvateinu is that, as your emunah grows, our sphere of Shlichus (Divine mission) among you will also be enlarged,

¹⁶ So that we may abundantly proclaim the Besuras HaGeulah to the regions beyond you, without boasting in someone else’s Messianic chalutz accomplishments.

¹⁷ But HAMMIT HALLELYIT HALLEL; ("The one boasting let him boast" in the L-rd.) [Jer 9:23,24; Ps 34:2; 44:8; 1C 1:13];

¹⁸ For it is not the one commending himself that has the haskama (approval), but it is the one to whom [Moshiach] Adoneinu gives the haskama. [1C 4:4 5]

11 I would that you might bear with me in a little tipshus (foolery). Do bear with me!

² For I have kinah for you, a kinat Hashem, for, as a shadkhan (marriage broker), I betrothed you to one ish (husband) to present you as a chaste betulah to Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiach; [HOSHEA 2:19; SHIR HASHIRIM; Ep 5:26-27]

³ But I fear lest somehow as the Nachash deceived Chavah by his cunning [BERESHIS 3:1-6,13] your machshavot should be led astray from a simple and pure deveykus to Moshiach.

⁴ For if a darshan shows up and preaches another Moshiach, another "Yehoshua" (“Yeshua”) other than the one in our drashot, or if you receive a different "Ruach Hakodesh" from the One you received or a different Besuras HaGeulah from the one regarding which you were mekabel, you put up with that well enough. [Ga 1: 8- 9]

⁵ For I consider to have come behind the most groise (eminent) Shlichim in absolutely nothing. [1C 15:10; 2C 12:11; Ga 2:6,9]

⁶ But if indeed I am unskilled in lashon [1C 1:17; 2:1,13] yet I am not in da’as (knowledge) [Ep 3:4] but in all ways and all things I have made this abundantly clear to you.

⁷ Or anshuldiks! (pardon!) did I commit averos by humbling myself that you might be exalted, because I proclaimed Hashem’s Besuras HaGeulah to you free of charge? [1C 9:12, 18]

⁸ I robbed other of Moshiach’s Kehillot, did I, in taking wages from them for the avodas kodesh work I did for you? [Pp 4:15]

⁹ And when I was present with you and I had lack, I did not burden anyone, [2C 12:13] for my lack was made up by the Achim b’Moshiach who came from Macedonia. So I was shomer not to make myself a burden to you and in that I will remain shomer.

¹⁰ As HaEmes of Moshiach is in me, that particular boasting of mine will not be silenced [1C 9:15] in the regions of Achaia!

¹¹ Why? Because I do not have ahavah for you? Hashem knows that I do!

¹² But what I do I will also continue to do in order to deny an opening to those who are looking for an opening by their ravrevan (braggart) boasting to be recognized as equals with us.

¹³ For such ones are shlichei sheker, deceitful po’alim, [Pp 3:2], transforming themselves in a masquerade as shlichim of Moshiach.

¹⁴ And no wonder! For even Hasatan transforms himself into a malach ohr (an angel of light);

¹⁵ It is no big ‘megillah,’ therefore, if also Hasatan’s ministers transform themselves as ministers of Tzedek. Their end will be according to their ma’asim.

¹⁶ Listen here, let no one think me a tipesh (idiot). But if you do think me a yold (fool), then receive me as a yold that I, too, may boast ki hu zeh (a small amount). [2C 12:6]

¹⁷ What I speak in this bitachon of boasting, I speak not according to Moshiach Adoneinu, but as a yold.

¹⁸ Als (since) many boast according to the basar, I also will boast.

¹⁹ For magnanimously you put up with fools, being such talmidei chachomim yourselves!

²⁰ For you put up with it quite well, if anyone trades you into slavery, if anyone turns you into their supper, if anyone lifts your wallet, if anyone exalts himself into your gontser macher, if anyone gives you a klop in the ponem.

²¹ To my bushah, I say that we were too weak for that! But, nevertheless, in whatever way anyone may have chutzpah in foolishness, I also will speak with chutzpah.

²² Are they Ivrim? So am I. Are they Yisre’elim? So am I. Are they Zera Avraham? So am I. [Pp 3:5]

²³ Are they mesharetei HaMoshiach?‖I am talking like someone who is meshuggah.‖[1C 15:10] I can outdo them: in labors more abundantly, in imprisonments more frequently, in beatings more by far, and often near death.

²⁴ By Yehudim chamash p’amim I had the arba’im lashes minus one! [DEVARIM 25:3]

²⁵ Shloshah p’amim I was beaten with rods, [Ac 16:10] pa’am achat I was stoned [Ac 14:19], shloshah p’amim I was shipwrecked, spending a lailah and a yom in the open sea;

²⁶ In journeys often, in sakanot mavet (mortal danger) from rivers, in sakanot mavet from robbers, in sakanot mavet from my own people [Ac 9:23], in sakanot mavet from Goyim [Ac 14:5], in sakanot mavet in the shtetl, in sakanot mavet in the country, in sakanot mavet in the sea, in sakanot mavet among achei sheker (false brothers);

²⁷ In labor and toil, in watchings, often in famine and thirst, in tzomot often, in cold and nakedness; [2C 6:5];

²⁸ Beside the things from without, there is the pressure on me yom yom, the care of all of Moshiach’s Kehillot.

²⁹ Who is weak and I am not weak? [1C 9:22] Who is caused to fall into chet (sin), and I do not burn?

³⁰ If it is necessary for me to boast, then I will boast of my weaknesses. [2C 12:5]

³¹ Hashem, Elohim HaAv of HaMoshiach Yehoshua knows (Hamevorach l’olmei olamim!) that I am not speaking sheker. [2C 1:23]

³² In Damascus the Ethnarch under King Aretas was guarding the city of Damascus to arrest me,

³³ And I was let down through the wall through a window in a basket, and escaped his hands. [Ac 9:24-25]

12 It is necessary for me to boast, nothing gained by it, yet I now come to marot (visions) and chazonot (revelations) of Adoneinu.

² I have da’as of a man in Moshiach arba esreh shanah (fourteen years) before, whether in or out of the basar I do not have da’as, Hashem knows—such a man was snatched up and raptured to the raki’a haShlishi of Shomayim.

³ And I have da’as that such a man, whether in or out of the basar I do not have da’as, Hashem knows,

⁴ That he was caught away into Gan-Eden and heard inexpressible dvarim which to utter such words Bnei Adam have no heter (permit).

⁵ On behalf of such a one I will boast, but on behalf of myself I will not boast, except in my weaknesses. [2C 11:30]

⁶ But if I desire to boast, I will not be a yold (fool) [2C 10:8; 11:16] for I will speak HaEmes; but I spare you, lest anyone gives me credit beyond what he sees in me or hears in me.

⁷ Therefore, lest I should be too exalted especially by the excess of my chazonot, there was given to me a kotz (thorn, splinter) in my basar, a malach of Hasatan, for the purpose of using his fists on me [IYOV 2:6], lest I should be too exalted. [Num 33:55]

⁸ I davened shalosh p’amim, calling upon Adoneinu that it might depart from me.

⁹ And HaAdon said to me, "My Chesed is ad kahn (sufficient for the purpose, enough) for you, for My ko’ach (power) is perfected in weakness." With lev samei’ach therefore will I boast in my weaknesses that the gevurah of Moshiach might be a shelter over me. [1Kgs 19:12]

¹⁰ Therefore, I take pleasure in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in tzoros on behalf of Moshiach; for whenever I am weak, then the gibbor (strong man) am I! [Pp 4:11,13]

¹¹ I have been a yold! You forced me. For I ought to be commended by you, for in nothing I was behind the most groise (eminent) Shlichim [2C 11:5], even if I am nothing.

¹² Indeed the otot (signs) of the Shliach of Moshiach were brought about among you in all savlanut (patience), both by otot and moftim and gevurot. [Ro 15:19]

¹³ For in what have you been short-changed compared to the rest of Moshiach’s Kehillot, except that I myself was not a burden on you? [2C 11:9] Do pardon me this slight!

¹⁴ Hinei, this is the pa’am shlishit I am ready to come to you [2C 13:1], and I will not be a burden; for I seek not yours but you, for yeladim ought not to lay up for their horim (parents), but horim for their yeladim. [MISHLE 19:14]

¹⁵ But with simcha I will expend and be utterly expended for the nefashot (souls) of you [Pp 2:17]. If more abundantly I have ahavah for you, are you to have less ahavah for me?

¹⁶ But let the matter of my being a burden on you be as it may, some say, "Crafty jack that I am, I took you by ormah (cunning)" [BERESHIS 3:1]

¹⁷ Now I didn’t take advantage of any of you through anyone I sent to you, did I?

¹⁸ I urged Titos to go, and I sent with him the Ach b’Moshiach; [2C 8:6, 16-18] Titos didn’t take advantage of you, did he? Did we not walk our derech by the same Ruach Hakodesh? We did not march out of step, did Titos and I?

¹⁹ All along have you been thinking that we are making a hitstaddekut (defense, apology) before you? No, before Hashem in Moshiach we speak! Everything we do, Chaverim, is for the sake of your chozek (strength) and edification!

²⁰ For I fear lest efsher (perhaps) when I come I may not find you as I wish [2C 2:1-4] and that you may not find me as you wish; I fear lest efsher there be merivah (strife), kinah (jealousy), ka’as (anger), machalokot (divisions), lashon hora (evil speech), ga’avah (conceit), commotions;

²¹ Lest when I come again Hashem Elohai may make me anav (humble) before you, and I should have agmat nefesh over many of the ones who committed averos before [2C 13:2], and have not made teshuva from the tumah (uncleanness) and zenut (fornication) and debauchery which they practiced.

13 This is the pa’am hashlishit I am coming to you; [2C 12:14] by the PI SHNAYIM SHLOSHAH EDIM (‘by the mouth of two or three witnesses, DEVARIM 19:15) every dvar shall be established.

² I warned those who committed averos before and all the rest, and, now absent, I warn them again, as I did when I made pakad (visit) the pa’am hashenit, that if I come again, I will not spare, I will not be lenient,

³ Als (since) you seek to test if Moshiach is speaking in me. Moshiach is not weak toward you, but is GIBBOR in you [YESHAYAH 9:5].

⁴ For indeed he was talui al HaEtz (“being hanged on the Tree,” DEVARIM 21:23) out of weakness, [Pp 2:7-8] but Moshiach lives by the gevurat Hashem. Likewise, we are weak in him, yet we will live with him by the gevurat Hashem (the power of G-d) toward you.

⁵ Perform a bedikah (examination) on yourselves to see if you are in the [Orthodox Jewish] emunah (faith). Test and prove yourselves [1C 11:28]. Or do you yourselves not have da’as that Moshiach is in you? Unless you are reprobate and unapproved. [EKHAH 3:40]

⁶ But I have tikvah that you will have da’as that we are not unapproved.

⁷ Now we daven (pray) to Hashem that you do not do any rah (evil), not that we Shlichim may appear to have stood the test, but that you may do hatov (the good), though we may seem to have failed.

⁸ For we are not able to do anything against HaEmes, but only for HaEmes. [1C 13:6]

⁹ For we have lev same’ach when we are megareia (weakened) and you are strong, for this also we daven (pray), that is, for your shelemut (perfection), your tikkun (restoration repair).

¹⁰ Therefore, while I am absent I write this iggeret so that when I am present I may not treat you with severity, according to the samchut (authority) which Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiach Adoneinu gave me for your chozek (strength) and not for your churban. [2C 2:3; 10:8,11]

¹¹ For the rest, Achim b’Moshiach, rejoice with simcha. [Pp 4:4] Come to order and chazzak (be strong)! Have achdus (unity) in your machshavot (thoughts). Live in shalom. And the G-d of ahavah and shalom will be with you. [Ro 15:33]

¹² Greet one another with a neshikat hakodesh.

¹³ All the Kadoshim say, "Shalom!"

¹⁴ The Chen v’Chesed Adoneinu Moshiach and the ahavat Hashem and the hitkhabrut HaRuach Hakodesh be with you all. [Zohar: telat rishin khad hu, three heads are one, Zohar vol iii p.288 versa Amsterdam edition]

1 From Sha’ul, a Shliach, not from Bnei Adam, nor through Bnei Adam, but through Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiach Yehoshua and Hashem, Elohim Avinu, the One of whom [we say] Mechayyei Mesim Atah (Thou Revivest the Dead), even the Moshiach,

² And from all the Achim B’Moshiach with me; to the Kehillot of Galatia.

³ Chen v’Chesed Hashem to you and Shalom Hashem from Elohim Avinu and Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiach Yehoshua Adoneinu,

⁴ The one having made a matnat Elohim of himself, on behalf of chattoteynu (our sins), so that he might rescue us out of the Olam Hazeh [Yom Tzarah], this age, this present evil age, according to the ratzon Hashem (will of G-d), even Avinu,

⁵ Lo hakavod l’olmei olamim. Omein.

⁶ I am shocked that so quickly you are being turned from the One who granted you the kri’ah (calling), summoning you by the Chen v’Chesed Hashem of Moshiach. I am shocked that so quickly you are being turned from this to a different "Besuras HaGeulah."

⁷ Not that there is another, mind you! Except that there are some individuals disturbing and troubling (5:12) you, desiring to twist and pervert the Besuras HaGeulah (Yeshayah 40:9; 60:6) of Moshiach.

⁸ But even if we [Shlichim, emissaries of Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiach] or a malach from Shomayim should pose as maggidim [for Moshiach] and make a hachrazah (proclamation) to you of a "Besuras HaGeulah" other than that Besuras HaGeulah which we preached to you, let such a one be ARUR HAISH ("Cursed is the man," YEHOSHUA 6:26) and set under cherem (ban of destruction) and onesh Gehinnom (damnation).

⁹ As we have previously said, and now again I say, if any one preaches a "Besuras HaGeulah" to you other than that which you received, let him be ARUR HAISH and be consigned to onesh Gehinnom.

¹⁰ Am I now seeking the ishshur (approval) of Bnei Adam? Or the haskama (approval) of Hashem? Or am I seeking to be a man-pleaser? If (and this is not the case) I were still pleasing Bnei Adam, I would not have been the eved of Moshiach.

¹¹ For I mefarsem (make known) to you, Achim B’Moshiach, the Besuras HaGeulah having been preached by me, that it is not according to Bnei Adam;

¹² For neither did I receive it from Bnei Adam nor was I taught it, but no, it was through a chazon (revelation) of Moshiach Yehoshua.

¹³ For you heard of my derech, my halakhah, my hitnahagut (conduct) in earlier times in Yahadut (Judaism), how I was to an extraordinary degree bringing redifah (persecution) upon the Kehillah of Hashem and was making havoc of it,

¹⁴ And I was shtaig (working my way up, advancing, progressing) in Yahadut (Judaism) beyond many of my landsmen, being more abundantly machmir and a kannai (zealot) bekius for the minhagim, the Masorot haAvot, the kabbalah (oral tradition), the Torah Sheb’al Peh, the Halakhah of my Avot.

¹⁵ But when Hashem was pleased, when it was the ratzon Hashem, Hashem being the One who separated me as kodesh KERA’ANI MIME’EI IMMI ("He called me from the womb of my mother" YESHAYAH 49:1) and granted me the kri’ah (calling), summoning me through the Chen v’Chesed of Hashem,

¹⁶ To reveal His Ben HaElohim in me, that I might preach Him among the Goyim, immediately, then, I did not consult with basar vadahm (flesh and blood),

¹⁷ Nor did I go up to Yerushalayim to those who were Moshiach’s Shlichim before me, but I went away hitbodedut into Arabia and again I returned to Damascus.

¹⁸ Then, after shalosh shanim (three years),I went up to Yerushalayim to get acquainted with Kefa, and I stayed with him chamishah asar yamim (fifteen days).

¹⁹ But other of the Moshiach’s Shlichim I did not see except Ya’akov achi Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiach Adoneinu [T.N. See p.848 and read Yn chp 7 and you will see that Ya’akov and Sha’ul were both unbelievers before the appearance of the Moshiach to them after His histalkus—see 1C 15:7].

²⁰ Now, what things I write to you, hinei, before Hashem I do not speak sheker.

²¹ Next I went into the regions of Syria and of Cilicia,

²² But I was unknown panim el panim by the Kehillot of Moshiach in Yehudah;

²³ Only they were hearing that "the one once bringing redifah (persecution) upon us is now preaching the [Messianic Orthodox Jewish] Emunah which once he was pillaging."

²⁴ And they were glorifying Hashem in [by means of] me.

2 Then, after arbah esrey shanim (fourteen years), again (Acts 11:30) I went up to Yerushalayim with Bar-Nabba, having taken with me also Titos.

² Yet I went up according to a chazon (revelation), and I laid before them the Besuras HaGeulah which I proclaim among the Goyim, but I did this privately to the men of repute (2:9), lest I should run, or should prove to have run, L’TOHU (in vain) [YESHAYAH 49:4; 65:23].

³ But Titos, the one with me, a Yevani (Greek), was not compelled to undergo bris milah.

⁴ But because of the achei sheker (false brothers) b’Moshiach, the ones secretly brought in, the ones who crept in to spy out our DEROR ("freedom" VAYIKRA 25:10) which we have in Moshiach Yehoshua al menat (in order that) they might enslave us.

⁵ To these enslavers not for one hour did we yield in subjection, that HaEmes of the Besuras HaGeulah might continue and remain with you (Galatian Goyim).

⁶ But from the men of repute whatever they once were matters nothing to me, ki ein masso panim im Hashem (for there is no respect of persons with G-d, no partiality) for to me these men of repute added nothing.

⁷ But, on the contrary, having seen that I have been entrusted with the Besuras HaGeulah for those without the bris milah, just as Kefa was for those with the bris milah,

⁸ For the One having worked in Kefa for a Shlichus to those with the bris milah also worked in me for a Shlichus to the Goyim.

⁹ And realizing the Chen v’Chesed Hashem having been given to me, Ya’akov and Kefa and Yochanan, the men of repute, the ones seeming to be Ammudei HaKehillah (Pillars of the Kehillah), extended to me and to Bar-Nabba the yad yeminam (right hands) as a sign of Achavah B’Moshiach (Brotherhood in Moshiach), that we should be for those of the Goyim, but they for those of the bris milah,

¹⁰ Only that we should remember the Aniyim (the Poor), the very thing which I was also eager to do.

¹¹ But when Kefa came to Antioch, I stood against him to his face, because there was found in him a dvar ashmah (a thing of guilt, condemnation).

¹² For, before certain ones [Jerusalem visitors] came from Ya’akov, Kefa was as a matter of course sitting at tish at betzi’at halechem (breaking of bread) at the Seudos Moshiach with the Goyim; but, when they came, Kefa drew back and was separating himself, fearing the ones [the Jerusalem party] of the bris milah (Ac 15:5).

¹³ And the rest of the Yehudim who were ma’aminim b’Moshiach joined with Kefa in this dissembling, so that even Bar-Nabba was carried away with their tzevi’ut (hypocrisy).

¹⁴ But when I saw that their halichah, their hitnahagut (conduct) was not the Derech HaYashar (Straight Way) with respect to HaEmes of HaBesuras HaGeulah, I said to Kefa before all, "If you, being a Yehudi, have a hitnahagut that is according to the Derech Goyim and not the Derech Yehudim, how do you compel the Goyim to live as the Yehudim?

¹⁵ We ourselves are Yehudim by birth and not Goyishe chote’im (sinners).

¹⁶ Yet we have da’as that a man cannot be YITZDAK IM HASHEM ("be justified with G-d" IYOV 25:4) by chukim of the Torah (laws of Torah), but through emunah in Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiach Yehoshua." And we have come to have bitachon in Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiach Yehoshua, that we can be YITZDAK IM HASHEM ("be justified with G-d" IYOV 25:4) by emunah in Moshiach and not by chukim of the Torah, because by chukim of the Torah KOL CHAI LO YITZDAK ("all living shall not be justified" TEHILLIM 143:2).

¹⁷ Now, if, by seeking to be YITZDAK IM HASHEM in Moshiach, we ourselves were found also to be chote’im (sinners) [2:15; Ro 3:9,23], then in that case is Moshiach a kohen for iniquity, a minister serving sin? Chas v’Shalom (G-d forbid!)!

¹⁸ For if what I destroyed, these things I again rebuild (1:23; 5:2), I display myself to be a poshei’a (transgressor).

¹⁹ For I, through the Torah (3:13), died in relation to the chok (Ro 7:4-6), so that I might live to Hashem. With Moshiach I have been talui al haetz (hanging on the tree, DEVARIM 21:23).

²⁰ But it is no longer Anochi (I) who lives, but Moshiach who lives in me, and the Chayyim I now live in the basar, I live by emunah, emunah in the Ben HaElohim [Moshiach], the one having ahavah (agape) for me and having given himself over, on my behalf.

²¹ I do not set aside the Chen v’Chesed Hashem; for if the MAH ("how") an ENOSH ("man") is to be YITZDAK IM HASHEM (IYOV 25:4) is found through chumra (legalism), then Moshiach died for nothing and L’TOHU (in vain) [Isa 49:4; 65:23].

3 O senseless Galatians, who bewitched you? It was before your eyes that Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiach Yehoshua was publicly shown forth as having been TALUI AL HAETZ (hanging on the tree, DEVARIM 21:23).

² This one thing only I want to learn from you: did you receive the Ruach HaKodesh by means of chukim of the Torah (laws of Torah) or by means of the hearing of emunah?

³ You lack seichel; having begun in the Ruach HaKodesh, will you now be perfected in the basar?

⁴ Did you suffer so many things lashav (in vain)?‖if it really was lashav.

⁵ So then, Hashem who is supplying to you the Ruach HaKodesh and producing nifla’ot (miracles) among you, by what means does He do it, by chukim of the Torah or by the hearing of emunah?

⁶ Just as Avraham Avinu HE’EMIN BA’HASHEM VAYACHSHEVEHA LO TZDAKAH ("believed Hashem and it [his faith] was accounted to him for righteousness" BERESHIS 15:6),

⁷ Know then, that the Bnei HaEmunah, these ones are the Bnei Avraham Avinu!

⁸ And the Kitvei HaKodesh, having foreseen that Hashem would yatzdik (justify) the Goyim by emunah, preached the Besuras HaGeulah beforehand to Avraham Avinu, saying "VENIVRECHU VO KOL GOYEI HA’ARETZ ("All the families, peoples of the earth will be blessed in you" BERESHIS 18:18; 12:3).

⁹ For this reason, the ones of emunah receive the bracha (blessing) with Avraham Avinu hama’amin (the believer).

¹⁰ For as many as are (seeking "YITZDAK IM HASHEM") by chukim of the Torah are under a kelalah (curse); for it has been written, ARUR ASHER LO YAKIM ES DIVREI HATORAH HAZOT LA’ASOT OTAM ("Cursed is everyone who does not uphold, abide by all the words of this Torah to do them, to carry them out" DEVARIM 27:26; cf Ya 2:10).

¹¹ Now it is clear that not one person is YITZDAK IM HASHEM ("justified with G-d") by the Torah, because V’TZADDIK BE’EMUNATO YICHEYEH ("the righteous by his faith will live" CHABAKUK 2:4).

¹² But the Torah is not of emunah, but the man YA’ASEH OTAM VACHAI ("who does these things will live" by them VAYIKRA 18:5).

¹³ Moshiach redeemed us from the kelalah (curse) of the Torah, having become a kelalah (curse) on behalf of us, because it has been written, KILELAT HASHEM is on NIVLATO TALUI AL HAETZ ("Curse of G-d is on the NEVELAH (body, corpse) being hanged on the tree" DEVARIM 21:23),

¹⁴ In order that to the Goyim the Bracha of Avraham Avinu might come by Moshiach Yehoshua, that the havtachah (promise) of the Ruach haKodesh we might receive through emunah.

¹⁵ Achim B’Moshiach, I speak according to human dimyon (analogy). Even a brit (covenant) having been confirmed by Bnei Adam no one sets aside or adds to it.

¹⁶ Now to Avraham Avinu were spoken the havtachot (promises) and to his ZERA ("seed" BERESHIS 22:18). He does not say V’LIZERAEHCHAH ("and to your seeds"), as concerning many, but as concerning one, "and to the ZERA of you", and that ZERA is Moshiach.

¹⁷ And this I say: a brit (covenant), which was previously confirmed by Hashem, cannot be annulled so as to abolish the havtachah (promise) by the Mattan Torah‖which was given arba me’ot usheloshim shanah [four hundred and thirty years later SHEMOT 12:40]).

¹⁸ For if the nachalah (inheritance) is based on Torah, it is no longer based on havtachah (promise); but Hashem has given the nachalah to Avraham Avinu by havtachah (promise).

¹⁹ Why then the Mattan Torah (Giving of the Torah)? The Torah was added because of peysha’im, until the ZERA (Moshiach) should come to whom the havtachah had been made (BERESHIS 22:18). Now the Torah was administered through malachim (DEVARIM 33:2; TEHILLIM 68:18) by the hand of a metavech (VAYIKRA 26:46; BAMIDBAR 36:13).

²⁰ Now the metavech is not for only one, but Elohim hu echad (DEVARIM 6:4).

²¹ Is the Torah, mimeila (consequently, as a result), against the havtachot (promises) of Hashem? Chas v’Shalom (G-d forbid!)! For if Torah had been given that had the ko’ach (power) to affect hitkhadshut (regeneration), then to be YITZDAK IM HASHEM ("justified with G-d") would indeed have been based on chukim of the Torah.

²² But the Kitvei HaKodesh consigned all things under HaChet (Sin) [Ro 3:9], that the havtachah (promise) might be given by emunah in Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiach Yehoshua to the ma’aminim.

²³ But before Emunah came, we were being held in custody, being confined and guarded for the about-to-be- revealed Emunah.

²⁴ This is the result: the Torah functioned as our omenet (governess) to lead us to Moshiach, that by emunah we might be YITZDAK IM HASHEM.

²⁵ But Emunah having come, we are no longer under an omenet (governess).