2 Corinthians 1:18

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.

Parallel Translations

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

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

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

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

New American Standard Bible
But as God is faithful, our word to you is 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.

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].

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.

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."

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

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.

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

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

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

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

Bible in Basic English
As God is true, our word to you is 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.

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

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

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."

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.

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.

New English Translation
But as God is faithful, our message to you is 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.

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.

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.

Young's Literal Translation
and God [is] faithful, that our word unto you became not 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.

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

Contextual Overview

¹⁵ I was very sure of all this. That is why I made plans to visit you first. Then you could be blessed twice. ¹⁶ I planned to visit you on my way to Macedonia and again on my way back. I wanted to get help from you for my trip to Judea. ¹⁷ Do you think that I made these plans without really thinking? Or maybe you think I make plans as the world does, saying yes and no at the same time. ¹⁸ But if you can believe God, then you can believe that what we tell you is never both yes and no. ¹⁹ The Son of God, Jesus Christ, the one that Silas, Timothy, and I told you about was not yes and no. In Christ it has always been yes. ²⁰ The yes to all of God's promises is in Christ. And that is why we say "Amen" through Christ to the glory of God. ²¹ And God is the one who makes you and us strong in Christ. God is also the one who chose us for his work. ²² He put his mark on us to show that we are his. Yes, he put his Spirit in our hearts as the first payment that guarantees all that he will give us. ²³ I tell you this, and I ask God to be my witness that this is true: The reason I did not come back to Corinth was that I did not want to punish or hurt you. ²⁴ I don't mean that we are trying to control your faith. You are strong in faith. But we are workers with you for your own happiness.

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
It starts at one end of the sky and runs all the way to the other end. Nothing can hide from its heat.

Jeremiah 31:35
He makes the sun shine in the day, and he makes the moon and the stars shine at night. He stirs up the sea so that its waves crash on the shore. The Lord All-Powerful is his name. This is what the Lord says:

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.