Parallel Bible results for "2 corinthians 2"

2 Corinthians 2

Good News Translation GNT

1 So I made up my mind not to come to you again to make you sad.

2 For if I were to make you sad, who would be left to cheer me up? Only the very persons I had made sad.

3 That is why I wrote that letter to you - I did not want to come to you and be made sad by the very people who should make me glad. For I am convinced that when I am happy, then all of you are happy too.

4 I wrote you with a greatly troubled and distressed heart and with many tears; my purpose was not to make you sad, but to make you realize how much I love you all.

5 Now, if anyone has made somebody sad, he has not done it to me but to all of you - in part, at least. (I say this because I do not want to be too hard on him.)

6 It is enough that this person has been punished in this way by most of you.

7 Now, however, you should forgive him and encourage him, in order to keep him from becoming so sad as to give up completely.

8 And so I beg you to let him know that you really do love him.

9 I wrote you that letter because I wanted to find out how well you had stood the test and whether you are always ready to obey my instructions.

10 When you forgive people for what they have done, I forgive them too. For when I forgive - if, indeed, I need to forgive anything - I do it in Christ's presence because of you,

11 in order to keep Satan from getting the upper hand over us; for we know what his plans are.

12 When I arrived in Troas to preach the Good News about Christ, I found that the Lord had opened the way for the work there.

13 But I was deeply worried, because I could not find our brother Titus. So I said good-bye to the people there and went on to Macedonia.

14 But thanks be to God! For in union with Christ we are always led by God as prisoners in Christ's victory procession. God uses us to make the knowledge about Christ spread everywhere like a sweet fragrance.

15 For we are like a sweet-smelling incense offered by Christ to God, which spreads among those who are being saved and those who are being lost.

16 For those who are being lost, it is a deadly stench that kills; but for those who are being saved, it is a fragrance that brings life. Who, then, is capable for such a task?

17 We are not like so many others, who handle God's message as if it were cheap merchandise; but because God has sent us, we speak with sincerity in his presence, as servants of Christ.

Revised Standard Version RSV

1 For I made up my mind not to make you another painful visit.

2 For if I cause you pain, who is there to make me glad but the one whom I have pained?

3 And I wrote as I did, so that when I came I might not suffer pain from those who should have made me rejoice, for I felt sure of all of you, that my joy would be the joy of you all.

4 For I wrote you out of much affliction and anguish of heart and with many tears, not to cause you pain but to let you know the abundant love that I have for you.

5 But if any one has caused pain, he has caused it not to me, but in some measure--not to put it too severely--to you all.

6 For such a one this punishment by the majority is enough;

7 so you should rather turn to forgive and comfort him, or he may be overwhelmed by excessive sorrow.

8 So I beg you to reaffirm your love for him.

9 For this is why I wrote, that I might test you and know whether you are obedient in everything.

10 Any one whom you forgive, I also forgive. What I have forgiven, if I have forgiven anything, has been for your sake in the presence of Christ,

11 to keep Satan from gaining the advantage over us; for we are not ignorant of his designs.

12 When I came to Tro'as to preach the gospel of Christ, a door was opened for me in the Lord;

13 but my mind could not rest because I did not find my brother Titus there. So I took leave of them and went on to Macedo'nia.

14 But thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumph, and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of him everywhere.

15 For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing,

16 to one a fragrance from death to death, to the other a fragrance from life to life. Who is sufficient for these things?

17 For we are not, like so many, peddlers of God's word; but as men of sincerity, as commissioned by God, in the sight of God we speak in Christ.