2 Corinthians 2

1 But I have judged this with myself, not to come back to you in grief.

For my own sake, as well, I decided not to pay you another painful visit.

2 For if I grieve you, who also [is] it that gladdens me, if not he that is grieved through me?

If it is I who cause you pain, why, who is there to cheer me, except the very person whom I am paining?

3 And I have written this very [letter] [to you], that coming I may not have grief from those from whom I ought to have joy; trusting in you all that my joy is [that] of you all.

So I wrote as I did, for fear that, if I had come, I should have been pained by those who ought to have made me glad; for I felt sure that it was true of you all that my joy was in every case yours also.

4 For out of much tribulation and distress of heart I wrote to you, with many tears; not that ye may be grieved, but that ye may know the love which I have very abundantly towards you.

I wrote to you in sore trouble and distress of heart and with many tears, not to give you pain, but to let you see how intense a love I have for you.

5 But if any one has grieved, he has grieved, not me, but in part (that I may not overcharge [you]) all of you.

Now whoever has caused the pain has not so much pained me, as he has, to some extent — not to be too severe — pained every one of you.

6 Sufficient to such a one [is] this rebuke which [has been inflicted] by the many;

The man to whom I refer has been sufficiently punished by the penalty inflicted by the majority of you;

7 so that on the contrary ye should rather shew grace and encourage, lest perhaps such a one should be swallowed up with excessive grief.

so that now you must take the opposite course, and forgive and encourage him, or else he may be overwhelmed by the intensity of his pain.

8 Wherefore I exhort you to assure him of [your] love.

So I entreat you to assure him of your love.

9 For to this end also I have written, that I might know, by putting you to the test, if as to everything ye are obedient.

I had this further object, also, in what I wrote — to ascertain whether you might be relied upon to be obedient in everything.

10 But to whom ye forgive anything, I also; for I also, what I have forgiven, if I have forgiven anything, [it is] for your sakes in [the] person of Christ;

When you forgive a man anything, I forgive him, too. Indeed, for my part, whatever I have forgiven (if I have had to forgive anything), I have forgiven for your sakes, in the presence of Christ,

11 that we might not have Satan get an advantage against us, for we are not ignorant of his thoughts.

so as to prevent Satan from taking advantage of us; for we are not ignorant of his devices.

12 Now when I came to Troas for the [publication of the] glad tidings of the Christ, a door also being opened to me in [the] Lord,

When I went to the district round Troas to tell the Good News of the Christ, even though there was an opening for serving the Master,

13 I had no rest in my spirit at not finding Titus my brother; but bidding them adieu, I came away to Macedonia.

I could get no peace of mind because I failed to find Titus, my Brother; so I took leave of the people there, and went on to Macedonia.

14 But thanks [be] to God, who always leads us in triumph in the Christ, and makes manifest the odour of his knowledge through us in every place.

All thanks to God, who, through our union with the Christ, leads us in one continual triumph, and uses us to spread the sweet odour of the knowledge of him in every place.

15 For we are a sweet odour of Christ to God, in the saved and in those that perish:

For we are the fragrance of Christ ascending to God — both among those who are in the path of Salvation and among those who are in the path to Ruin.

16 to the one an odour from death unto death, but to the others an odour from life unto life; and who [is] sufficient for these things?

To the latter we are an odour which arises from death and tells of Death; to the former an odour which arises from life and tells of Life. But who is equal to such a task?

17 For we do not, as the many, make a trade of the word of God; but as of sincerity, but as of God, before God, we speak in Christ.

Unlike many people, we are not in the habit of making profit out of God’s Message; but in all sincerity, and bearing God’s commission, we speak before him in union with Christ.