6:1 Now because we are fellow workers, we also urge you not to receive the grace of God in vain. 1 6:2 For he says, “I heard you at the acceptable time, and in the day of salvation I helped you.” 2 Look, now is the acceptable time; look, now is the day of salvation! 6:3 We do not give anyone 3 an occasion for taking an offense in anything, 4 so that no fault may be found with our ministry. 6:4 But as God’s servants, 5 we have commended ourselves in every way, 6 with great endurance, in persecutions, 7 in difficulties, in distresses, 6:5 in beatings, in imprisonments, in riots, 8 in troubles, 9 in sleepless nights, in hunger, 6:6 by purity, by knowledge, by patience, by benevolence, by the Holy Spirit, 10 by genuine 11 love,
1 tn Or “receive the grace of God uselessly.”
2 sn A quotation from Isa 49:8.
3 tn The word “anyone” is not in the Greek text, but is implied. Direct objects in Greek were often omitted when clear from the context.
4 tn Other interpretations of the first part of 2 Cor 6:3 are possible. The phrase could also mean, “not putting an obstacle in the way of anyone” (L&N 22.14), or “giving no one in anything a cause to sin” (L&N 88.307).
5 tn Or “ministers.”
6 tn Or “we have commended ourselves by all things.”
7 tn Or “in trouble and suffering.”
8 tn Or “rebellions” (uprisings in open defiance of civil authority).
9 tn Usually κόποις (kopois) has been translated as “labors” or “hard work,” but see Matt 26:10 where it means “trouble”; “distress” (L&N 22.7). In this context with so many other terms denoting suffering and difficulty, such a meaning is preferable.
10 tn Or “by holiness of spirit.”
11 tn Or “sincere.”