2 Corinthians 1:18

THE MESSAGE

Parallel Translations

Simplified Cowboy Version
Just like you can trust in what God says, you can trust our word as well.

New American Standard Bible (1995)
But as God is faithful, our word to you is not yes and no.

Legacy Standard Bible
But as God is faithful, our word to you is not yes and no.

Bible in Basic English
As God is true, our word to you is not Yes and No.

Darby Translation
Now God [is] faithful, that our word to you is not yea and nay.

Christian Standard Bible®
As God is faithful, our message to you is not "Yes and no."

World English Bible
But as God is faithful, our word toward you was not "Yes and no."

Wesley's New Testament (1755)
As God is faithful, our word to you hath not been yea and nay.

Weymouth's New Testament
As certainly as God is faithful, our language to you is not now "Yes" and now "No."

King James Version (1611)
But as God is true, our word toward you, was not yea and nay.

Literal Translation
But God is faithful, that our word to you did not become yes and no.

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
O faithfull God, that oure worde vnto you hath not bene yee and naye.

Mace New Testament (1729)
God is my witness, I never prevaricated with you.

Amplified Bible
But [as surely as] God is faithful and means what He says, our message to you is not "Yes" and "No" [at the same time].

American Standard Version
But as God is faithful, our word toward you is not yea and nay.

Revised Standard Version
As surely as God is faithful, our word to you has not been Yes and No.

Tyndale New Testament (1525)
God is faythfull: For oure preachynge vnto you was not ye and naye.

Update Bible Version
But as God is faithful, our word toward you is not yes and no.

Webster's Bible Translation
But [as] God [is] true, our word towards you was not yea and nay.

Young's Literal Translation
and God [is] faithful, that our word unto you became not Yes and No,

New Century Version
But since you can believe God, you can believe that what we tell you is never both yes and no.

New English Translation
But as God is faithful, our message to you is not "Yes" and "No."

Berean Standard Bible
But as surely as God is faithful, our message to you is not "Yes" and "No."

Contemporary English Version
God can be trusted, and so can I, when I say that our answer to you has always been "Yes" and never "No."

Complete Jewish Bible
As surely as God is trustworthy, we don't say "Yes" when we mean "No."

English Standard Version
As surely as God is faithful, our word to you has not been Yes and No.

Geneva Bible (1587)
Yea, God is faithfull, that our worde towarde you was not Yea, and Nay.

George Lamsa Translation
But as God is true, our word to you was not yes and no.

Hebrew Names Version
But as God is faithful, our word toward you was not "Yes and no."

International Standard Version
As certainly as God is faithful, our word to you is not "Yes" and "No."

Etheridge Translation
Faithful is Aloha that our word with you was not Yes and No.

Murdock Translation
God is the witness, that our word to you was not Yes and No.

New King James Version
But as God is faithful, our word to you was not Yes and No.

New Living Translation
As surely as God is faithful, our word to you does not waver between "Yes" and "No."

New Life Bible
As God is true, my yes means yes. I am not the kind of person who says one thing and means another.

English Revised Version
But as God is faithful, our word toward you is not yea and nay.

New Revised Standard
As surely as God is faithful, our word to you has not been "Yes and No."

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
Faithful, however, is God, in that, our discourse, which was delivered unto you, is not Yea and Nay;

Douay-Rheims Bible
But God is faithful: for our preaching which was to you, was not, It is, and It is not.

King James Version
But as God is true, our word toward you was not yea and nay.

Lexham English Bible
But God is faithful, so that our word to you is not "yes" and "no."

Bishop's Bible (1568)
God is faythfull: For our preaching to you, was not yea and nay.

Easy-to-Read Version
But if you can believe God, then you can believe that what we tell you is never both yes and no.

New American Standard Bible
But as God is faithful, our word to you is not yes and no.

Good News Translation
As surely as God speaks the truth, my promise to you was not a "Yes" and a "No."

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
But God is trewe, for oure word that was at you is and is not, is not ther ynne, but is is in it.

Contextual Overview

¹⁵Confident of your welcome, I had originally planned two great visits with you—coming by on my way to Macedonia province, and then again on my return trip. Then we could have had a bon-voyage party as you sent me off to Judea. That was the plan. ¹⁷Are you now going to accuse me of being flip with my promises because it didn't work out? Do you think I talk out of both sides of my mouth—a glib yes one moment, a glib no the next? Well, you're wrong. I try to be as true to my word as God is to his. Our word to you wasn't a careless yes canceled by an indifferent no. How could it be? When Silas and Timothy and I proclaimed the Son of God among you, did you pick up on any yes-and-no, on-again, off-again waffling? Wasn't it a clean, strong Yes? ²⁰Whatever God has promised gets stamped with the Yes of Jesus. In him, this is what we preach and pray, the great Amen, God's Yes and our Yes together, gloriously evident. God affirms us, making us a sure thing in Christ, putting his Yes within us. By his Spirit he has stamped us with his eternal pledge—a sure beginning of what he is destined to complete. ²³ Now, are you ready for the real reason I didn't visit you in Corinth? As God is my witness, the only reason I didn't come was to spare you pain. I was being considerate of you, not indifferent, not manipulative. ²⁴ We're not in charge of how you live out the faith, looking over your shoulders, suspiciously critical. We're partners, working alongside you, joyfully expectant. I know that you stand by your own faith, not by ours.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

as: 2 Corinthians 1:23, 2 Corinthians 11:31, John 7:28, John 8:26, 1 John 5:20, Revelation 3:7, Revelation 3:14

word: or, preaching

Reciprocal: Deuteronomy 7:9 - the faithful Matthew 11:7 - A reed John 3:33 - hath set Romans 3:4 - let God 2 Corinthians 1:17 - yea 2 Corinthians 6:7 - the word 2 Corinthians 7:14 - we 2 Corinthians 12:6 - I will

Cross-References

Psalms 19:6
That's how God's Word vaults across the skies from sunrise to sunset, Melting ice, scorching deserts, warming hearts to faith.

Jeremiah 31:35
God 's Message, from the God who lights up the day with sun and brightens the night with moon and stars, Who whips the ocean into a billowy froth, whose name is God -of-the-Angel-Armies:

Gill's Notes on the Bible

But as God is true,.... It seems that the false apostles had insinuated, that as the apostle had not kept his word in coming to them as he had promised, that he was not to be depended upon in his ministry; that he might as well contradict himself, and deceive others in the one, as well as in the other: wherefore he appeals to God in a very solemn manner, calls him to witness to the truth of his doctrine; for these words may be considered as the form of an oath; or he argues from, the truth and faithfulness of God, to the certainty and invariableness of the word preached, who is so true and faithful as that he will never suffer his word to be yea and nay: for when the apostle says, that

our word towards you was not yea and nay, he does not mean his word of promise to come to Corinth; but the word of his preaching, the doctrine of the Gospel, which was not uncertain, changeable, sometimes one thing, and sometimes another, and contradictory to itself. And by this the apostle would intimate, that since he was faithful and upright, uniform, consistent, and all of a piece in preaching the Gospel to them; so they ought to believe, that he was sincere in his resolutions and promises to come and see them, though as yet he had been hindered, and had not been able to perform them.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

But as God is true - Tyndale renders this in accordance more literally with the Greek, “God is faithful; for our preaching unto you was not yea and nay.” The phrase seems to have the form of an oath, or to be a solemn appeal to God as a Witness, and to be equivalent to the expression “the Lord liveth,” or “as the Lord liveth.” The idea is,” God is faithful and true. He never deceives; never promises that which he does not perform. So true is it that I am not fickle and changing in my purposes.” This idea of the faithfulness of God is the argument which Paul urges why he felt himself bound to be faithful also. That faithful God he regarded as a witness, and to that God he could appeal on the occasion.

Our word - Margin, “preaching” (ὁ λόγος ho logos. This may refer either to his preaching, to his promises of visiting them, or his declarations to them in general on any subject. The particular subject under discussion was the promise which he had made to visit them. But he here seems to make his affirmation general, and to say universally of his promises, and his teaching, and of all his communications to them, whether orally or in writing, that they were not characterized by inconstancy and changeableness. It was not his character to be fickle, unsettled, and vacillating.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse 18. But as God is true — Setting the God of truth before my eyes, I could not act in this way: and as sure as he is true, so surely were my purposes sincere; and it was only my uncertainty about your state that induced me to postpone my visit. See 2 Corinthians 1:23.