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

¹² So although I wrote to you, it was not on account of the one who did the wrong nor on account of the one who suffered the wrong but in order that your zeal for us might be made known to you before God.^(A)

¹⁸ For many live as enemies of the cross of Christ; I have often told you of them, and now I tell you even with tears.^(A)

¹⁵ I will most gladly spend and be spent for you. If I love you more, am I to be loved less?^(A)

² I feel a divine jealousy for you, for I promised you in marriage to one husband, to present you as a chaste virgin to Christ.^(A)

⁸ For although I grieved you with my letter, I do not regret it. Although I did regret it (for^[a] I see that that letter caused you grief, though only briefly), ⁹ now I rejoice, not because you were grieved but because your grief led to repentance, for you felt a godly grief, so that you were not harmed in any way by us.

² I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. ³ For I could wish that I myself were accursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my own brothers and sisters, my own flesh and blood.^(A)

Jesus Weeps over Jerusalem

⁴¹ As he came near and saw the city, he wept over it,^{(A) 42} saying, “If you, even you, had only recognized on this day the things that make for peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes. ⁴³ Indeed, the days will come upon you when your enemies will set up ramparts around you and surround you and hem you in on every side.^{(B) 44} They will crush you to the ground, you and your children within you, and they will not leave within you one stone upon another, because you did not recognize the time of your visitation from God.”^[a](C)

Exile Threatened