Paul’s Concern for the Corinthians

14 Look, I am ready to come to you this third time.(A) I will not burden you, since I am not seeking what is yours, but you. For children ought not save up for their parents, but parents for their children. 15 I will most gladly spend and be spent for you.[a](B) If I love you more, am I to be loved less? 16 Now granted, I did not burden(C) you; yet sly as I am, I took you in by deceit!(D) 17 Did I take advantage of you by any of those I sent you? 18 I urged Titus(E) to go, and I sent the brother with him. Titus didn’t take advantage of you, did he? Didn’t we walk in the same spirit(F) and in the same footsteps?

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Footnotes

  1. 12:15 Lit for your souls, or for your lives

14 Now I am coming to you for the third time, and I will not be a burden to you. I don’t want what you have—I want you. After all, children don’t provide for their parents. Rather, parents provide for their children. 15 I will gladly spend myself and all I have for you, even though it seems that the more I love you, the less you love me.

16 Some of you admit I was not a burden to you. But others still think I was sneaky and took advantage of you by trickery. 17 But how? Did any of the men I sent to you take advantage of you? 18 When I urged Titus to visit you and sent our other brother with him, did Titus take advantage of you? No! For we have the same spirit and walk in each other’s steps, doing things the same way.

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