King James Version KJV
Good News Translation GNT
1 But I determined this with myself, that I would not come again to you in heaviness.
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So I made up my mind not to come to you again to make you sad.
2 For if I make you sorry, who is he then that maketh me glad, but the same which is made sorry by me?
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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 And I wrote this same unto you, lest, when I came, I should have sorrow from them of whom I ought to rejoice; having confidence in you all, that my joy is the joy of you all.
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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 For out of much affliction and anguish of heart I wrote unto you with many tears; not that ye should be grieved, but that ye might know the love which I have more abundantly unto you.
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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 But if any have caused grief, he hath not grieved me, but in part: that I may not overcharge you all.
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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 Sufficient to such a man is this punishment, which was inflicted of many.
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It is enough that this person has been punished in this way by most of you.
7 So that contrariwise ye ought rather to forgive him, and comfort him, lest perhaps such a one should be swallowed up with overmuch sorrow.
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Now, however, you should forgive him and encourage him, in order to keep him from becoming so sad as to give up completely.
8 Wherefore I beseech you that ye would confirm your love toward him.
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And so I beg you to let him know that you really do love him.
9 For to this end also did I write, that I might know the proof of you, whether ye be obedient in all things.
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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 To whom ye forgive any thing, I forgive also: for if I forgave any thing, to whom I forgave it, for your sakes forgave I it in the person of Christ;
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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 Lest Satan should get an advantage of us: for we are not ignorant of his devices.
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in order to keep Satan from getting the upper hand over us; for we know what his plans are.
12 Furthermore, when I came to Troas to preach Christ's gospel, and a door was opened unto me of the Lord,
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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 I had no rest in my spirit, because I found not Titus my brother: but taking my leave of them, I went from thence into Macedonia.
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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 Now thanks be unto God, which always causeth us to triumph in Christ, and maketh manifest the savour of his knowledge by us in every place.
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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 unto God a sweet savour of Christ, in them that are saved, and in them that perish:
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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 To the one we are the savour of death unto death; and to the other the savour of life unto life. And who is sufficient for these things?
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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 For we are not as many, which corrupt the word of God: but as of sincerity, but as of God, in the sight of God speak we in Christ.
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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.
The King James Version is in the public domain.
Scripture taken from the Good News Translation - Second Edition, Copyright 1992 by American Bible Society. Used by Permission.