1 tc Although usually δέ (de, “now”; found in א A C D1 F G Ψ 0285 Ï lat) should take precedent over γάρ (gar) in textually disputed places in the corpus Paulinum, the credentials for γάρ here are not easily dismissed (Ì46 B 0223 0243 33 1739 1881 al); here it is the preferred reading, albeit slightly.
2 tn Or “I decided this for myself.”
3 tn Grk “not to come to you again in sorrow.”
4 tn Or “to cheer me up.” L&N 25.131 translates this “For if I were to make you sad, who would be left to cheer me up?”
5 tn The words “to you” are not in the Greek text but are implied.
6 sn So that when I came. Regarding this still future visit by Paul, see 2 Cor 12:14; 13:1.
7 tn Or “the love that I have in great measure for you.”
8 tn Or “(not to say too much)”; Grk “(not to burden you [with words]).”
9 tn Grk “so that on the other hand.”
10 tn The word “him” is not in the Greek text but is supplied. Direct objects in Greek were often omitted and must be supplied from the context.
11 tn Grk “comfort him, lest somehow such a person be swallowed up by excessive grief,” an idiom for a person being so overcome with grief as to despair or give up completely (L&N 25.285). In this context of excessive grief or regret for past sins, “overwhelmed” is a good translation since contemporary English idiom speaks of someone “overwhelmed by grief.” Because of the length of the Greek sentence and the difficulty of expressing a negative purpose/result clause in English, a new sentence was started here in the translation.
12 tn Or “I urge you to show that your love for him is real.”
13 tn The word “you” is not in the Greek text, but is implied (as an understood direct object).
14 tn Grk “to know the proof of you,” that is, to know if the Corinthians’ obedience to Paul as an apostle was genuine (L&N 72.7).