---
title: "2 Corinthians 4 – Catholic Bible (CPDV) & Latin Vulgate"
url: https://blessbible.app/bible/2-corinthians/4/
description: "The sincerity of his preaching. His comfort in his afflictions. 2 Corinthians 4 in the Catholic Public Domain Version, with the Latin Vulgate."
---

# 2 Corinthians 4

2 Corinthians 4 is chapter 4 of 13 in the Second Letter to the Corinthians. Here are all 18 verses in the Catholic Public Domain Version, with the Latin of the Clementine Vulgate beside them.

> The sincerity of his preaching. His comfort in his afflictions.
>
> — Bp. Richard Challoner, chapter summary

## 2 Corinthians 4 (Catholic Public Domain Version)

1. Therefore, since we have this ministry, and in as much as we have obtained mercy for ourselves, we are not inadequate.
2. For we renounce dishonorable and hidden acts, not walking by craftiness, nor by adulterating the Word of God. Instead, by the manifestation of truth, we commend ourselves to the conscience of each man before God.
3. But if our Gospel is in some way hidden, it is hidden to those who are perishing.
4. As for them, the god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that the light of the Gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, would not shine in them.
5. For we are not preaching about ourselves, but about Jesus Christ our Lord. We are merely your servants through Jesus.
6. For God, who told the light to shine out of darkness, has shined a light into our hearts, to illuminate the knowledge of the splendor of God, in the person of Christ Jesus.
7. But we hold this treasure in earthen vessels, so that what is sublime may be of the power of God, and not of us.
8. In all things, we endure tribulation, yet we are not in anguish. We are constrained, yet we are not destitute.
9. We suffer persecution, yet we have not been abandoned. We are thrown down, yet we do not perish.
10. We ever carry around the mortification of Jesus in our bodies, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies.
11. For we who live are ever handed over unto death for the sake of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our mortal flesh.
12. Therefore, death is at work in us, and life is at work in you.
13. But we have the same Spirit of faith. And just as it is written, “I believed, and for that reason I spoke,” so we also believe, and for that reason, we also speak.
14. For we know that the One who raised up Jesus will raise us up also with Jesus and will place us with you.
15. Thus, all is for you, so that grace, abounding through many in thanksgiving, may abound to the glory of God.
16. For this reason, we are not insufficient. But it is as though our outer man is corrupted, while our inner man is renewed from day to day.
17. For though our tribulation is, at the present time, brief and light, it accomplishes in us the weight of a sublime eternal glory, beyond measure.
18. And we are contemplating, not the things that are seen, but the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are temporal, whereas the things that are not seen are eternal.

## 2 Corinthians 4 in Latin (Clementine Vulgate, 1592)

1. Ideo habentes administrationem, juxta quod misericordiam consecuti sumus, non deficimus,
2. sed abdicamus occulta dedecoris, non ambulantes in astutia, neque adulterantes verbum Dei, sed in manifestatione veritatis commendantes nosmetipsos ad omnem conscientiam hominum coram Deo.
3. Quod si etiam opertum est Evangelium nostrum, in iis, qui pereunt, est opertum:
4. in quibus Deus hujus sæculi excæcavit mentes infidelium, ut non fulgeat illis illuminatio Evangelii gloriæ Christi, qui est imago Dei.
5. Non enim nosmetipsos prædicamus, sed Jesum Christum Dominum nostrum: nos autem servos vestros per Jesum:
6. quoniam Deus, qui dixit de tenebris lucem splendescere, ipse illuxit in cordibus nostris ad illuminationem scientiæ claritatis Dei, in facie Christi Jesu.
7. Habemus autem thesaurum istum in vasis fictilibus: ut sublimitas sit virtutis Dei, et non ex nobis.
8. In omnibus tribulationem patimur, sed non angustiamur: aporiamur, sed non destituimur:
9. persecutionem patimur, sed non derelinquimur: dejicimur, sed non perimus:
10. semper mortificationem Jesu in corpore nostro circumferentes, ut et vita Jesu manifestetur in corporibus nostris.
11. Semper enim nos, qui vivimus, in mortem tradimur propter Jesum: ut et vita Jesu manifestetur in carne nostra mortali.
12. Ergo mors in nobis operatur, vita autem in vobis.
13. Habentes autem eumdem spiritum fidei, sicut scriptum est: Credidi, propter quod locutus sum: et nos credimus, propter quod et loquimur:
14. scientes quoniam qui suscitavit Jesum, et nos cum Jesu suscitabit, et constituet vobiscum.
15. Omnia enim propter vos: ut gratia abundans, per multos in gratiarum actione, abundet in gloriam Dei.
16. Propter quod non deficimus: sed licet is, qui foris est, noster homo corrumpatur, tamen is, qui intus est, renovatur de die in diem.
17. Id enim, quod in præsenti est momentaneum et leve tribulationis nostræ, supra modum in sublimitate æternum gloriæ pondus operatur in nobis,
18. non contemplantibus nobis quæ videntur, sed quæ non videntur. Quæ enim videntur, temporalia sunt: quæ autem non videntur, æterna sunt.

## Catechism of the Catholic Church

Paragraph numbers and the Catechism's own section headings (never quoted); text at vatican.va.
- CCC ¶ 74: The Transmission of Divine Revelation ([vatican.va index](https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/_INDEX.HTM))
- cf. CCC ¶ 1701: Man: the Image of God ([vatican.va index](https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/_INDEX.HTM))
- CCC ¶ 298: The Creator ([vatican.va index](https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/_INDEX.HTM))
- CCC ¶ 2583: In the Old Testament ([vatican.va index](https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/_INDEX.HTM))
- CCC ¶ 1420: The Sacraments of Healing ([vatican.va index](https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/_INDEX.HTM))
- CCC ¶ 989: "I Believe in the Resurrection of the Body" ([vatican.va index](https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/_INDEX.HTM))

## The saints

- “The priest is not a priest for himself; he is a priest for you.” — St. John Vianney, Catechism on the Priesthood, c. 1850 (On this theme: verse 5)

## Read at Mass (US)

- Sun, Jun 6, 2027 (computed): Tenth Sunday in Ordinary Time — Second Reading, 2 Corinthians 4:13—5:1
- Thu, Jun 10, 2027 (computed): Thursday of the Tenth Week in Ordinary Time — First Reading, 2 Corinthians 3:15—4:1, 3-6
- Tue, Jul 25, 2028 (computed): St. James, Apostle — First Reading, 2 Corinthians 4:7-15

Dates after May 31, 2027 are computed by Bless from the US Lectionary cycle — confirm with your parish.

Source: Catholic Public Domain Version (Ronald L. Conte Jr., 2009), public domain; Latin: Clementine Vulgate (1592).