2 Corinthians 2:1-7

2:1 So ¹  I made up my own mind ²  not to pay you another painful visit. ³  2:2 For if I make you sad, who would be left to make me glad ⁴  but the one I caused to be sad? 2:3 And I wrote this very thing to you, ⁵  so that when I came ⁶  I would not have sadness from those who ought to make me rejoice, since I am confident in you all that my joy would be yours. 2:4 For out of great distress and anguish of heart I wrote to you with many tears, not to make you sad, but to let you know the love that I have especially for you. ⁷  2:5 But if anyone has caused sadness, he has not saddened me alone, but to some extent (not to exaggerate) ⁸  he has saddened all of you as well. 2:6 This punishment on such an individual by the majority is enough for him, 2:7 so that now instead ⁹  you should rather forgive and comfort him. ¹⁰  This will keep him from being overwhelmed by excessive grief to the point of despair. ¹¹ 

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.