2 Corinthians 7
Worldwide English (New Testament)
7 My dear people, since God has promised us these things, we should make ourselves clean. We should clean out everything that makes our lives or our spirits dirty. We should try to be altogether holy because we respect God with fear.
2 I do not say this to bring something against you. I have already told you that we love you very much. If we live or if we die, we will be together with you.
3 I really trust you. I am very proud of you. I have received much comfort. Even in all of our troubles I am very glad.
4 When we came to the country of Macedonia, we had no rest for our bodies. We had all kinds of trouble everywhere. There was fighting around us and our hearts were full of fear.
5 But God comforts those who are in trouble, and when Titus came, we were comforted.
6 You comforted him, and that comforted us. He told us that you wanted very much to see us. He told us that you were very sorry for what you had done. He told us that you want to stand with me. So now I am even more happy. 8 ,
7 I know that what I wrote in my letter made you sad. But I am not sorry I wrote it. Perhaps I was sorry at first, but now I am glad I sent it. I see the letter made you sad for a while.
8 I do not like to make you sad, but I am glad that it made you sad and made you turn from your wrong ways. You took it all as from God. So then, we did not really hurt you.
9 When we are sad the way God wants us to be, we turn from our wrong ways. Then we are saved and we can never be sorry about that. But the sorrow of the world brings death.
10 See what happened. When you were sad, the way God wanted you to be, then you tried to do the right thing. You wanted to free yourself from wrong. You hated what is wrong. You were afraid. You wanted very much to do what is right. You stood for the right. You punished wrong doing. In every way you showed that you did right in this matter.
11 So, even though I did write to you, it was not for the sake of the man who did wrong. And it was not for the sake of the man who had the wrong done to him. But I wrote so that you would see for yourselves, in the sight of God, how much we care for you.
12 And so we have been comforted. Besides this, we were even more happy to see how happy Titus was. All of you really made his heart glad.
13 I told him how proud I was of you. And really, I had nothing to be ashamed of. Everything we have said to you has been true. So also, what we told Titus about you proved true.
14 He loves you even more when he remembers how you all obeyed him. You feared and trembled.
15 I am glad that I can always trust you.
2 Corinthians 7
EasyEnglish Bible
Paul loves the believers at Corinth
7 So, my friends, God has promised these things to us. So we must keep ourselves clean from everything that makes our bodies or our spirits unclean. We must respect and obey God. Then we will become more and more like him.
2 Be friends with us. We have done nothing wrong to any of you. We have not hurt anyone. We have not cheated anyone. 3 I am not saying this to make you feel ashamed. As I have told you before, you are our special friends. We will continue to love you, whether we live together or we die together.
4 I know you and I trust you. I am proud of you. You have helped me to be strong. So, even when we have many troubles, I am still very happy.
5 When we arrived in Macedonia, our bodies did not rest at all.[a] We had many kinds of trouble. All round us, people quarrelled with us. Inside us, we were afraid. 6 But when people feel upset, God helps them to be strong. And God made us happy when Titus arrived. 7 God comforted us not only because Titus came to us. He comforted us also by what Titus told us about you. He said that you had helped him to be strong. He told us that you want to see me. He told us that you are very sad about what happened. He told us also that you are ready to help me. Because of what Titus told us about you, I was very happy.
8 But even if I made you sad by my letter, I am not sorry about that. At one time, I was sorry that I had written it. I saw that my letter had made you sad. But you were sad only for a short time. 9 So now I am happy, but not because my letter made you sad. No, I am happy because it made you turn away from wrong things. You became sad as God wanted you to be sad. So, when the letter made you sad, we did not really hurt you. 10 People need to become sad in the way that God wants. When they are sad like that, it causes them to turn away from wrong things. Then God saves them from their sins. They will never be sorry about that! But when people become sad in the way that the world wants, it does not help them. They do not turn to God and they die in their spirits.
11 You became sad in the way that God wanted. And see what good results that has brought! It has made you work hard to do good things. You want to show people that you do what is right. You are angry against sin. You want to obey God. You want to make things right again. You want to please God. You want to punish anyone who does wrong things. In all these ways, you have shown that you are right. You have done everything that was necessary in this matter.
12 So why did I write that letter to you? It was not because of the person who did the wrong thing. Nor was it to help the person that he hurt. No. I wrote the letter to show you something about yourselves. I wanted God to show you that you do really love us and you respect us. 13 That is how God has comforted us.
It was not only us that God comforted. When Titus came, we were very happy to see how happy he was too. He was happy because all of you had taken care of him. 14 I had told Titus that I was very proud of you. When he came to you, you showed that I was right about you. We have always spoken only true things to you. And when we said good things about you to Titus, you showed that those things were also true. 15 Now, when Titus thinks about you, he loves you even more. He remembers that you were ready to obey him. You respected his authority and you received him into your homes.
16 So now I am very happy because I trust you to do what is right.
Footnotes
- 7:5 Macedonia was north from the country that we call Greece today.
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