For though I (A)caused you sorrow by my letter, I do not regret it; though I did regret it—for I see that that letter caused you sorrow, though only for a while— I now rejoice, not that you were made sorrowful, but that you were made sorrowful to the point of repentance; for you were made sorrowful according to the will of God, so that you might not suffer loss in anything [a]through us. 10 For the sorrow that is according to the will of God produces a (B)repentance [b]without regret, leading to salvation, but the sorrow of the world produces death. 11 For behold what earnestness this very thing, this [c]godly sorrow, has produced in you: what vindication of yourselves, what indignation, what fear, what (C)longing, what zeal, what (D)punishment of wrong! In everything you (E)demonstrated yourselves to be innocent in the matter. 12 So although (F)I wrote to you, it was not for the sake of (G)the offender nor for the sake of the one offended, but that your earnestness in our behalf might be made known to you in the sight of God. 13 Because of this, we have been (H)comforted.

And besides our comfort, we rejoiced even much more for the joy of (I)Titus, because his (J)spirit has been refreshed by you all.

Read full chapter

Footnotes

  1. 2 Corinthians 7:9 Lit from
  2. 2 Corinthians 7:10 Or leading to a salvation without regret
  3. 2 Corinthians 7:11 Lit sorrow according to God

For if indeed I grieved you by my letter, I do not regret it. Even if I did regret it (I see[a] that that letter grieved you, even though for a short time[b]), now I rejoice, not that you were grieved, but that you were grieved to repentance. For you were grieved according to the will of God, so that you suffered loss in no way through us. 10 For grief according to the will of God brings about a repentance leading to salvation, not to be regretted, but worldly grief brings about death. 11 For behold how much diligence this very thing, being grieved according to the will of God, has brought about in you: what defense of yourselves, what indignation, what fear, what longing, what zeal, what punishment! In everything you have demonstrated yourselves to be innocent in this matter. 12 Consequently, even if I wrote to you, it was not because of the one who did wrong or because of the one who had been wronged, but in order that your diligence on our behalf[c] might be revealed to you before God. 13 Because of this we have been encouraged, and in addition to our encouragement, we rejoiced much more over the joy of Titus, because his spirit had been refreshed by all of you.

Read full chapter

Footnotes

  1. 2 Corinthians 7:8 Some manuscripts have “for I see”
  2. 2 Corinthians 7:8 Literally “an hour”
  3. 2 Corinthians 7:12 Literally “on behalf of us”

Even if I caused you sorrow by my letter,(A) I do not regret it. Though I did regret it—I see that my letter hurt you, but only for a little while— yet now I am happy, not because you were made sorry, but because your sorrow led you to repentance. For you became sorrowful as God intended and so were not harmed in any way by us. 10 Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation(B) and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death. 11 See what this godly sorrow has produced in you: what earnestness, what eagerness to clear yourselves, what indignation, what alarm, what longing, what concern,(C) what readiness to see justice done. At every point you have proved yourselves to be innocent in this matter. 12 So even though I wrote to you,(D) it was neither on account of the one who did the wrong(E) nor on account of the injured party, but rather that before God you could see for yourselves how devoted to us you are. 13 By all this we are encouraged.

In addition to our own encouragement, we were especially delighted to see how happy Titus(F) was, because his spirit has been refreshed by all of you.

Read full chapter