2 Corinthians 5:8

THE MESSAGE

Parallel Translations

Simplified Cowboy Version
Yep, we ride with our shoulders back and head high. There's nothing that can happen to these bodies we don't long for so we can be with the Lord.

New American Standard Bible (1995)
we are of good courage, I say, and prefer rather to be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord.

Legacy Standard Bible
we are of good courage and prefer rather to be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord.

Bible in Basic English
We are without fear, desiring to be free from the body, and to be with the Lord.

Darby Translation
we are confident, I say, and pleased rather to be absent from the body and present with the Lord.

Christian Standard Bible®
and we are confident and satisfied to be out of the body and at home with the Lord.

World English Bible
We are of good courage, I say, and are willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be at home with the Lord.

Wesley's New Testament (1755)
We behave undauntedly, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and present with the Lord.

Weymouth's New Testament
So we have a cheerful confidence, and we anticipate with greater delight being banished from the body and going home to the Lord.

King James Version (1611)
We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord.

Literal Translation
even we are fully assured, and think it good rather to go away from home out of the body, and to come home to the Lord.

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
Neuertheles we are of good comforte, and had leuer to be absent from the body, & to be at home with the LORDE.

Mace New Testament (1729)
) in this assurance, I say, I think it best to be quit of this body, and be present with the Lord.

Amplified Bible
we are [as I was saying] of good courage and confident hope, and prefer rather to be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord.

American Standard Version
we are of good courage, I say, and are willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be at home with the Lord.

Revised Standard Version
We are of good courage, and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord.

Tyndale New Testament (1525)
Neverthelesse we are of good comforte and had lever to be absent from the body and to be present with the lorde.

Update Bible Version
we are of good courage, I say, and are willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be at home with the Lord.

Webster's Bible Translation
We are confident, [I say], and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord.

Young's Literal Translation
we have courage, and are well pleased rather to be away from the home of the body, and to be at home with the Lord.

New Century Version
So I say that we have courage. We really want to be away from this body and be at home with the Lord.

New English Translation
Thus we are full of courage and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord.

Berean Standard Bible
We are confident, then, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord.

Contemporary English Version
We should be cheerful, because we would rather leave these bodies and be at home with the Lord.

Complete Jewish Bible
We are confident, then, and would much prefer to leave our home in the body and come to our home with the Lord.

English Standard Version
Yes, we are of good courage, and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord.

Geneva Bible (1587)
Neuerthelesse, we are bolde, and loue rather to remoue out of the body, and to dwell with the Lord.

George Lamsa Translation
This is why we are confident, and anxious to be absent from the body, and to be present with our LORD.

Hebrew Names Version
We are of good courage, I say, and are willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be at home with the Lord.

International Standard Version
We are confident, then, and would prefer to be away from this body and to live with the Lord.Philippians 1:23;">[xr]

Etheridge Translation
8 On this account we confide, and long to pass away [fn] from the body, and to be with our Lord.

Murdock Translation
therefore we are confident, and desirous to be away from the body, and to be with our Lord.

New King James Version
We are confident, yes, well pleased rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord.

New Living Translation
Yes, we are fully confident, and we would rather be away from these earthly bodies, for then we will be at home with the Lord.

New Life Bible
We are sure we will be glad to be free of these bodies. It will be good to be at home with the Lord.

English Revised Version
we are of good courage, I say, and are willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be at home with the Lord.

New Revised Standard
Yes, we do have confidence, and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord.

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
We have good courage, however, and are well pleased - rather to be away from home, out of the body, and to come home, unto the Lord.

Douay-Rheims Bible
But we are confident and have a good will to be absent rather from the body and to be present with the Lord.

King James Version
We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord.

Lexham English Bible
so we are confident and prefer rather to be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord.

Bishop's Bible (1568)
Neuerthelesse, we are of good comfort, and had rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lorde.

Easy-to-Read Version
So I say that we have confidence. And we really want to be away from this body and be at home with the Lord.

New American Standard Bible
but we are of good courage and prefer rather to be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord.

Good News Translation
We are full of courage and would much prefer to leave our home in the body and be at home with the Lord.

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
But we ben hardi, and han good wille, more to be in pilgrymage fro the bodi, and to be present to God.

Contextual Overview

¹For instance, we know that when these bodies of ours are taken down like tents and folded away, they will be replaced by resurrection bodies in heaven—God-made, not handmade—and we'll never have to relocate our "tents" again. Sometimes we can hardly wait to move—and so we cry out in frustration. Compared to what's coming, living conditions around here seem like a stopover in an unfurnished shack, and we're tired of it! We've been given a glimpse of the real thing, our true home, our resurrection bodies! The Spirit of God whets our appetite by giving us a taste of what's ahead. He puts a little of heaven in our hearts so that we'll never settle for less. ⁶That's why we live with such good cheer. You won't see us drooping our heads or dragging our feet! Cramped conditions here don't get us down. They only remind us of the spacious living conditions ahead. It's what we trust in but don't yet see that keeps us going. Do you suppose a few ruts in the road or rocks in the path are going to stop us? When the time comes, we'll be plenty ready to exchange exile for homecoming. ⁹But neither exile nor homecoming is the main thing. Cheerfully pleasing God is the main thing, and that's what we aim to do, regardless of our conditions. Sooner or later we'll all have to face God, regardless of our conditions. We will appear before Christ and take what's coming to us as a result of our actions, either good or bad. ¹¹That keeps us vigilant, you can be sure. It's no light thing to know that we'll all one day stand in that place of Judgment. That's why we work urgently with everyone we meet to get them ready to face God. God alone knows how well we do this, but I hope you realize how much and deeply we care. We're not saying this to make ourselves look good to you. We just thought it would make you feel good, proud even, that we're on your side and not just nice to your face as so many people are. If I acted crazy, I did it for God; if I acted overly serious, I did it for you. Christ's love has moved me to such extremes. His love has the first and last word in everything we do. Our firm decision is to work from this focused center: One man died for everyone. That puts everyone in the same boat. He included everyone in his death so that everyone could also be included in his life, a resurrection life, a far better life than people ever lived on their own. Because of this decision we don't evaluate people by what they have or how they look. We looked at the Messiah that way once and got it all wrong, as you know. We certainly don't look at him that way anymore. Now we look inside, and what we see is that anyone united with the Messiah gets a fresh start, is created new. The old life is gone; a new life burgeons! Look at it! All this comes from the God who settled the relationship between us and him, and then called us to settle our relationships with each other. God put the world square with himself through the Messiah, giving the world a fresh start by offering forgiveness of sins. God has given us the task of telling everyone what he is doing. We're Christ's representatives. God uses us to persuade men and women to drop their differences and enter into God's work of making things right between them. We're speaking for Christ himself now: Become friends with God; he's already a friend with you. How? you ask. In Christ. God put the wrong on him who never did anything wrong, so we could be put right with God.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

and willing: 2 Corinthians 5:6, 2 Corinthians 12:2, 2 Corinthians 12:3, Luke 2:29, Acts 21:13, Philippians 1:20-24, 2 Timothy 4:7, 2 Timothy 4:8, 2 Peter 1:14, 2 Peter 1:15, 2 Peter 3:11, 2 Peter 3:12

present: 2 Corinthians 5:9, Psalms 16:11, Psalms 17:15, Psalms 73:23-26, Matthew 25:21, Matthew 25:23, John 14:3, John 17:24, 1 Thessalonians 4:17, 1 Thessalonians 4:18, 1 John 3:2, Revelation 7:14-17, Revelation 22:3

Reciprocal: Psalms 51:13 - Then Proverbs 14:32 - the righteous Ecclesiastes 3:21 - knoweth Ecclesiastes 7:1 - the day Isaiah 57:2 - He shall Luke 23:43 - with John 12:26 - where Acts 20:24 - neither 1 Corinthians 9:26 - not 1 Corinthians 13:10 - General Philippians 1:21 - to die Philippians 1:23 - a desire Philippians 3:20 - our Hebrews 12:23 - the spirits 1 Peter 5:1 - a partaker 2 Peter 1:13 - as long Revelation 6:9 - the souls Revelation 14:13 - Blessed

Gill's Notes on the Bible

We are confident, I say, and willing rather,.... We are cheerful in our present state, being assured of future happiness; though we choose rather

to be absent from the body; that is, to die, to depart out of this world. The interval between death, and the resurrection, is a state of absence from the body, during which time the soul is disembodied, and exists in a separate state; not in a state of inactivity and sleep, for that would not be desirable, but of happiness and glory, enjoying the presence of God, and praising of him, believing and waiting for the resurrection of the body, when both will be united together again; and after that there will be no more absence, neither from the body, nor from the Lord:

and to be present with the Lord. This was promised to Christ in the everlasting covenant, that all his spiritual seed and offspring should be with him. This he expected; it was the joy of this which was set before him, that carried him through his sufferings and death with so much cheerfulness; this is the sum of his prayers and intercession, and what all his preparations in heaven are on the account of. It is this which supports and comforts the saints under all their sorrows here, and which makes them meet death with pleasure, which otherwise is formidable and disagreeable to nature; and even desirous of parting with life, to be with Christ, which is far better.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

We are confident - 2 Corinthians 5:6. We are cheerful, and courageous, and ready to bear our trial. Tyndale renders it: “we are of good comfort.”

And willing rather to be absent from the body - We would prefer to die. The same idea occurs in Philippians 1:23. “Having a desire to depart and to be with Christ; which is far better.” The sense is, that Paul would have preferred to die, and to go to heaven; rather than to remain in a world of sin and trial.

To be present with the Lord - The Lord Jesus; see the note on Acts 1:24; compare Philippians 1:23. The idea of Paul is, that the Lord Jesus would constitute the main glory of heaven, and that to be with him was equivalent to being in a place of perfect bliss. He had no idea of any heaven where the Lord Jesus was not; and to be with him was to be in heaven. That world where the Redeemer is, is heaven. This also proves that the spirits of the saints, when they depart, are with the Redeemer; that is, are at once taken to heaven. It demonstrates:

1. That they are not annihilated.

(2)That they do not sleep, and remain in an unconscious state, as Dr. Priestley supposes.

(3)That they are not in some intermediate state, either in a state of purgatory, as the Papists suppose, or a state where all the souls of the just and the unjust are assembled in a common abode, as many Protestants have supposed; but,

1. That they dwell with Christ; they are with the Lord (πρὸς τὸν Κυρίον pros ton Kurion). They abide in his presence; they partake of his joy and his glory; they are permitted to sit with him in his throne; Revelation 3:21.

The same idea the Saviour expressed to the dying thief, when he said, “today shalt thou be with me in paradise;” Luke 23:43.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse 2 Corinthians 5:8. We are confident — We are of good courage, notwithstanding our many difficulties; because we have this earnest of the Spirit, and the unfailing testimony of God. And notwithstanding this, we are willing rather to be absent from the body-we certainly prefer a state of glory to a state of suffering, and the enjoyment of the beatific vision to even the anticipation of it by faith and hope; but, as Christians, we cannot desire to die before our time.