Therefore we don’t faint, but though our outward person is decaying, yet our inward person is renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is for the moment, works for us more and more exceedingly an eternal weight of glory, while we don’t look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal.
For we know that if the earthly house of our tent is dissolved, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal, in the heavens.
2 Corinthians 4:16-5:1, World English Bible Updated edition, which is in the public domain.
Which funeral services use it
- Catholic, US (Lectionary for Masses for the Dead): Within 2 Corinthians 4:14-5:1, a second reading.
- Catholic, England and Wales (Order of Christian Funerals): Within 2 Corinthians 4:14-5:1.
- Church of England (Common Worship funeral readings): Within 2 Corinthians 4.16-5.10.
Where it comes in the service
At a Catholic funeral Mass this is a second reading, read after the psalm and before the Gospel acclamation. In a Church of England funeral the Bible readings come in the readings and sermon part of the service.
At a Catholic Mass the reader uses the parish Lectionary, which is a different translation from the one printed here, and in the US its text may not be reproduced without permission. You may prefer to print only the reference and the reader in the running order, for example "Second reading: 2 Corinthians 4:16-5:1, read by Anne Hughes".
Add 2 Corinthians 4:16-5:1 to your booklet, typeset in full, with the order of service around it. You can see the whole booklet before paying anything.
Put 2 Corinthians 4:16-5:1 in my bookletAbout this translation
The words here are the World English Bible, a modern English translation whose translators dedicated it to the public domain, so it can be printed in a booklet in the US and the UK without permission or a fee. The King James Version is public domain in the US but is covered by Crown letters patent in the UK, which is why it is not used here. If your church prefers another translation, add it in step 5 with "Use your own words".
Funeral lists checked on September 28, 2026 against the USCCB, the Liturgy Office of England and Wales and the Church of England's Common Worship pages.