1 But I have judged this with myself, not to come back to you in grief. 2 For if I grieve you, who also [is] it that gladdens me, if not he that is grieved through me? 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. 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. 5 But if any one has grieved, he has grieved, not me, but in part (that I may not overcharge [you]) all of you. 6 Sufficient to such a one [is] this rebuke which [has been inflicted] by the many; 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. 8 Wherefore I exhort 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. 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; 11 that we might not have Satan get an advantage against us, for we are not ignorant of his thoughts. 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, 13 I had no rest in my spirit at not finding Titus my brother; but bidding them adieu, I came away 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. 15 For we are a sweet odour of Christ to God, in the saved and in those that perish: 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? 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.
2 Corinthians · Darby Translation
2 Corinthians 2 Darby Translation
Audio: World English Bible (WEB), read by Winfred W. Henson · About the recordings
People & places in this chapter
From this site's family tree and Bible maps, only where those guides cite this chapter.
People
Titus
A Greek coworker of Paul, not compelled to be circumcised, who carried Paul's letters to Corinth, and whom Paul left in Crete to set things in order.
Cited in the guide: 2 Corinthians 2:13; 2 Corinthians 8:23; Galatians 2:3
Cross references (17)
Related passages for each verse, from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge as collected and ranked by readers at OpenBible.info.
- 1 2 Corinthians 13:10; 2 Corinthians 1:23; 2 Corinthians 12:20–21; 2 Corinthians 2:4; 1 Corinthians 4:21
- 2 2 Corinthians 7:8; 1 Corinthians 12:26; Romans 12:15; 2 Corinthians 1:14; 2 Corinthians 11:29
- 3 Galatians 5:10; 2 Corinthians 8:22; Philemon 21; 2 Thessalonians 3:4; 2 Corinthians 7:12
- 4 2 Corinthians 7:12; Proverbs 27:5–6; Leviticus 19:17–18; Luke 19:41–44; 2 Corinthians 11:2
- 5 1 Corinthians 5:12–13; Galatians 4:12; Galatians 5:10; 1 Corinthians 5:1–5; Proverbs 17:25
- 6 1 Corinthians 5:4–5; 1 Timothy 5:20; 2 Corinthians 13:10; 2 Corinthians 7:11
- 7 Ephesians 4:32; Galatians 6:1–2; Colossians 3:13; Isaiah 28:7; Proverbs 17:22
- 8 Jude 22–23; Galatians 6:10; Galatians 5:13; Galatians 6:1–2
- 9 2 Corinthians 10:6; Philemon 21; Philippians 2:22; 2 Corinthians 7:12–15; 2 Corinthians 8:24
- 10 John 20:23; 2 Corinthians 5:20; Matthew 18:18; 1 Corinthians 5:4
- 11 1 Peter 5:8; Ephesians 6:11–12; 2 Corinthians 11:3; 2 Corinthians 4:4; Luke 22:31
- 12 Acts 16:8; Acts 14:27; Colossians 4:3; 1 Corinthians 16:9; Revelation 3:7–8
- 13 2 Corinthians 7:5–6; 2 Corinthians 12:18; Galatians 2:1; 2 Timothy 4:10; 2 Corinthians 8:6
- 14 Ephesians 5:2; Romans 8:37; 2 Corinthians 2:15–16; 2 Corinthians 9:15; Romans 6:17
- 15 Ephesians 5:2; 1 Corinthians 1:18; Ezekiel 20:41; Philippians 4:18; Genesis 8:21
- 16 2 Corinthians 3:5–6; John 9:39; 1 Peter 2:7–8; Luke 2:34; 1 Corinthians 15:10
- 17 2 Corinthians 4:2; 2 Corinthians 1:12; 2 Peter 2:1–3; 2 Timothy 4:3–4; 1 Timothy 4:1–3
Cross references: OpenBible.info (CC BY), drawn mainly from the public-domain Treasury of Scripture Knowledge. · Sources & licences
What the Fathers said
Passages from the Church Fathers that expound or quote this chapter, verbatim from the public-domain Schaff edition (19th-century English translations).
How these were chosen
“Commentary” is the opening of a homily or exposition on this chapter (John Chrysostom’s homilies, Augustine’s tractates, sermons and expositions of the Psalms). “Quotes” are sentences where the edition’s own footnotes identify a quotation of a verse here, kept only when the wording matches the verse. Only works whose authorship is not in doubt are used. Psalms follow the Hebrew/English numbering (Augustine numbers them as the Septuagint does: his Psalm 50 is Psalm 51 here).
These words seem on the one hand to be unworthy of Paul, if because of a brother's absence he threw away so great an opportunity of saving; and on the other, to hang apart from the context. What then?
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 12 (1889)
… strain also the Apostle Paul, inasmuch as he had a good conscience, said to the Corinthians: "For we are not as many, who corrupt the Word of God: but as of sincerity, but as of God, in the sight of God speak we in Christ;" "We have injured no man, corrupted no man, circumvented no man."
To the one we are the savor of life unto life, to the other the savor of death unto death: and who is sufficient for these things?" The lesson of the holy Gospel before us affords us the opportunity of so speaking of that savor, that we on our part may give worthy utterance, and you diligent heed, to what …
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 7 (1888)
Now if ye grieve at hearing these things, I thank you much, for "who is he that maketh me glad, but he which is made sorry by me?" Do not then ever cease to grieve and be vexed for them, for the sorrow that comes of such things will be to you a beginning of a change for the better.
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 10 (1888)
Then on the nostrils; that receiving the sacred ointment ye may say, We are to God a sweet savour of Christ, in them that are saved.
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 2, vol. 7 (1894)