4 ¹⁶ So we do not lose heart. Though our outer nature is wasting away, our inner nature is being renewed every day. 4 ¹⁷ For this slight momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, 4 ¹⁸ because we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen; for the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.

5 ¹ For we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. 5 ² Here indeed we groan, and long to put on our heavenly dwelling, 5 ³ so that by putting it on we may not be found naked. 5 ⁴ For while we are still in this tent, we sigh with anxiety; not that we would be unclothed, but that we would be further clothed, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. 5 ⁵ He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who has given us the Spirit as a guarantee.

5 ⁶ So we are always of good courage; we know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord, 5 ⁷ for we walk by faith, not by sight. 5 ⁸ We are of good courage, and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord. 5 ⁹ So whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to please him. 5 ¹⁰ For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive good or evil, according to what he has done in the body.