Bible Strands
2 Corinthians 4:8
We are hard pressed on all sides, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair;
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — Paul writes to the Corinthian church, defending his apostolic ministry against rivals who dismiss him for his weakness. He is cataloguing the ongoing cost of carrying the gospel among them.
The words — thlibomenoi (being hard pressed) and stenochōroumenoi (being crushed) form the hinge: the first is pressure applied from outside, the second is the point at which a thing gives way. The present passive participles mark both as continuous action done to the subject, not something they chose.
The thread — James 1:2 names "trials of many kinds" as the expected condition of the believer; Romans 8:35 lists trouble, distress, and persecution as the specific pressures Paul here compresses into two words; 1 Peter 4:12 calls the same reality a "fiery trial" and forbids surprise at it.
Why it lands — The verse does not promise the absence of pressure; it draws a line between pressure and collapse and insists the line holds. A reader is asked to stop treating endurance as proof that the pressure was never real.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Greek words
King James Version
We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair;
Cross-references
- James 1:2 Consider it pure joy, my brothers, when you encounter trials of many kinds,
- Romans 8:35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?
- 1 Peter 4:12 Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial that has come upon you, as though something strange were happening to you.
- 2 Corinthians 12:10 That is why, for the sake of Christ, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
- Psalms 56:2 My enemies pursue me all day long, for many proudly assail me.
- 2 Corinthians 7:5 For when we arrived in Macedonia, our bodies had no rest, but we were pressed from every direction—conflicts on the outside, fears within.
- Romans 5:3 Not only that, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance;
- 1 Peter 1:6 In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in various trials
- Job 2:9 Then Job’s wife said to him, “Do you still retain your integrity? Curse God and die!”
- Psalms 37:33 the LORD will not leave them in their power or let them be condemned under judgment.