2 Corinthians 2
The full text of 2 Corinthians 2 in the Trinity Bible Version — clear modern English, translated from the original Greek. Free to read.
1 So I made up my mind not to make another painful visit to you.
2 For if I cause you pain, who is left to cheer me but the very one I have pained?
3 I wrote as I did so that when I came I would not be pained by those who ought to make me rejoice. I had confidence in all of you, that my joy would be the joy of you all.
4 For I wrote to you out of great distress and anguish of heart, with many tears, not to cause you pain but to let you know the depth of my love for you.
5 Now if anyone has caused pain, he has caused it not so much to me as, in some measure (not to overstate it) to all of you.
6 The punishment imposed on him by the majority is enough.
7 Now instead, you ought to forgive and comfort him, so that he will not be overwhelmed by excessive sorrow.
8 So I urge you to reaffirm your love for him.
9 This is why I wrote: to see whether you would stand the test and be obedient in everything.
10 Anyone you forgive, I also forgive. And what I have forgiven, if there was anything to forgive, I have forgiven in the presence of Christ for your sake,
11 so that Satan might not outwit us. For we are not unaware of his schemes.
12 Now when I came to Troas to preach the gospel of Christ, and a door was opened for me in the Lord,
13 I still had no peace of mind, because I did not find my brother Titus there. So I said goodbye to them and went on to Macedonia.
14 But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumphal procession in Christ and through us spreads everywhere the fragrance of the knowledge of him.
15 For we are to God the pleasing aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing.
16 To the one we are an aroma that brings death; to the other, an aroma that brings life. And who is equal to such a task?
17 Unlike so many, we do not peddle the word of God for profit. On the contrary, in Christ we speak before God with sincerity, as those sent from God.
Translation notes (5)
- 2 Corinthians 2:1a Greek me palin en lype pros hymas elthein, literally 'not again in sorrow to come to you'. Taking palin, 'again', with the sorrowful coming implies an earlier grievous visit, most likely an otherwise unrecorded trip to Corinth between the writing of the two canonical letters, since the founding visit of Acts 18 was not painful.
- 2 Corinthians 2:4a Paul refers to a sorrowful letter sent to Corinth before this one. Its identity is disputed: some hold it to be 1 Corinthians, others a letter now lost, and still others find it preserved in 2 Corinthians 10-13. The Greek synoche (συνοχή), 'anguish', literally denotes a constriction or pressing together, here of the heart.
- 2 Corinthians 2:14a Thriambeuō (θριαμβεύω), 'to lead in triumphal procession', evokes the Roman triumph, a victory parade in which a conquering general displayed his captives through the streets. Elsewhere the verb regularly means to lead someone as a captive, so Paul may picture himself as Christ's willing prisoner rather than a fellow victor. The incense burned along the parade route explains the fragrance imagery that follows.
- 2 Corinthians 2:16a The Greek is literally osme ek thanatou eis thanaton... ek zoes eis zoen, 'an aroma from death to death... from life to life', an intensifying idiom rendered here for sense. The image extends the sacrificial language of the preceding verse, echoing the 'pleasing aroma' of offerings in Leviticus 1:9. The closing question translates tis hikanos, literally 'who is sufficient?'
- 2 Corinthians 2:17a The Greek participle kapēleuontes (καπηλεύοντες), 'peddling', occurs only here in the New Testament. It derives from kapēlos, the retail huckster of the ancient marketplace, proverbially suspected of diluting wine and cheating on measure. The word thus implies not merely selling the word of God for gain but adulterating it in the process.
About this translation
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