2 Corinthians 7

1 Having, then, these promises, beloved, may we cleanse ourselves from every defilement of flesh and spirit, perfecting sanctification in the fear of God;

Because God, then, will give us such rewards, dear brothers, let us make ourselves clean from all evil of flesh and spirit, and become completely holy in the fear of God.

2 receive us; no one did we wrong; no one did we ruin; no one did we defraud;

Let your hearts be open to us: we have done no man wrong, no man has been damaged by us, we have made no profit out of any man,

3 I do not say [it] to condemn you, for I have said before that you are in our hearts to die together and to live together;

It is not with the purpose of judging you that I say this: for I have said before that you are in our hearts for life and death together.

4 great [is] my freedom of speech to you, great my glory on your behalf; I have been filled with the comfort, I hyper-abound with the joy on all our tribulation,

My words to you are without fear, I am full of pride on account of you: I have great comfort and joy in all our troubles.

5 for we also, having come to Macedonia, our flesh has had no relaxation, but on every side we are in tribulation: fightings outside, fears within;

For even when we had come into Macedonia our flesh had no rest, but we were troubled on every side; there were fightings outside and fears inside.

6 but He who is comforting the cast-down—God—He comforted us in the coming of Titus;

But God who gives comfort to the poor in spirit gave us comfort by the coming of Titus;

7 and not only in his coming, but also in the comfort with which he was comforted over you, declaring to us your longing desire, your lamentation, your zeal for me, so that I rejoiced the more,

And not by his coming only, but by the comfort which he had in you, while he gave us word of your desire, your sorrow, your care for me; so that I was still more glad.

8 because even if I made you sorry in the letter, I do not regret—if even I regretted—for I perceive that the letter, even if for an hour, made you sorry.

For though my letter gave you pain, I have no regret for it now, though I had before; for I see that the letter gave you pain, but only for a time.

9 I now rejoice, not that you were made sorry, but that you were made sorry to conversion, for you were made sorry toward God, that you might receive damage from us in nothing;

Now I am glad, not that you had sorrow, but that your sorrow was the cause of a change of heart; for yours was a holy sorrow so that you might undergo no loss by us in anything.

10 for sorrow toward God works conversion to salvation without regret, and the sorrow of the world works death,

For the sorrow which God gives is the cause of salvation through a change of heart, in which there is no reason for grief: but the sorrow of the world is a cause of death.

11 for behold, this same thing—your being made sorry toward God—how much diligence it works in you! But defense, but displeasure, but fear, but longing desire, but zeal, but revenge; in everything you approved yourselves to be pure in the matter.

For you see what care was produced in you by this very sorrow of yours before God, what clearing of yourselves, what wrath against sin, what fear, what desire, what serious purpose, what punishment. In everything you have made it clear that you are free from sin in this business.

12 If, then, I also wrote to you—not for his cause who did wrong, nor for his cause who suffered wrong, but for our diligence in your behalf being revealed to you before God—

So though I sent you a letter, it was not only because of the man who did the wrong, or because of him to whom the wrong was done, but so that your true care for us might be made clear in the eyes of God.

13 because of this we have been comforted in your comfort, and more abundantly the more we rejoiced in the joy of Titus, that his spirit has been refreshed from you all;

So we have been comforted: and we had the greater joy in our comfort because of the joy of Titus, for his spirit had been made glad by you all.

14 because if I have boasted anything to him in your behalf, I was not put to shame; but as we spoke to you all things in truth, so also our boasting before Titus became truth,

For I was not put to shame in anything in which I may have made clear to him my pride in you; but as we said nothing to you but what was true, so the good things which I said to Titus about you were seen by him to be true.

15 and his yearnings are more abundantly toward you, remembering the obedience of you all, how you received him with fear and trembling;

And his love to you is the more increased by his memory of you all, how you gave way to his authority, and how you took him to your hearts with fear and honour.

16 I rejoice, therefore, that in everything I have courage in you.

It gives me great joy to see you answering to my good opinion of you in every way.