1 S ince we have these great promises, dear friends, let us turn away from every sin of the body or of the spirit. Let us honor God with love and fear by giving ourselves to Him in every way. His Love for the Corinthians

Having therefore these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all defilement of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.

2 R eceive us into your hearts. We have done no wrong to anyone. We have not led anyone in the wrong way. We have not used anyone for our good.

Open your hearts to us: we wronged no man, we corrupted no man, we took advantage of no man.

3 I do not say this to tell you that you are wrong. As I have said before, you have a place in our hearts and always will. If we live or die, we will be together.

I say it not to condemn you: for I have said before, that ye are in our hearts to die together and live together.

4 I trust you and am proud of you. You give me much comfort and joy even when I suffer.

Great is my boldness of speech toward you, great is my glorying on your behalf: I am filled with comfort, I overflow with joy in all our affliction.

5 W hen we arrived in the country of Macedonia, we had no rest. We had all kinds of trouble. There was fighting all around us. Our hearts were afraid.

For even when we were come into Macedonia our flesh had no relief, but we were afflicted on every side; without were fightings, within were fears.

6 B ut God gives comfort to those whose hearts are heavy. He gave us comfort when Titus came.

Nevertheless he that comforteth the lowly, even God, comforted us by the coming of Titus;

7 N ot only did his coming comfort us, but the comfort you had given him made me happy also. He told us how much you wanted to see us. He said that you were sad because of my trouble and that you wanted to help me. This made me happy.

and not by his coming only, but also by the comfort wherewith he was comforted in you, while he told us your longing, your mourning, your zeal for me; so that I rejoiced yet more.

8 I am not sorry now if my letter made you sad. I know it made you sad, but it was only for awhile.

For though I made you sorry with my epistle, I do not regret it: though I did regret it (for I see that that epistle made you sorry, though but for a season),

9 I am happy now. It is not because you were hurt by my letter, but because it turned you from sin to God. God used it and you were not hurt by what we did.

I now rejoice, not that ye were made sorry, but that ye were made sorry unto repentance; for ye were made sorry after a godly sort, that ye might suffer loss by us in nothing.

10 T he sorrow that God uses makes people sorry for their sin and leads them to turn from sin so they can be saved from the punishment of sin. We should be happy for that kind of sorrow, but the sorrow of this world brings death.

For godly sorrow worketh repentance unto salvation, a repentance which bringeth no regret: but the sorrow of the world worketh death.

11 S ee how this sorrow God allowed you to have has worked in you. You had a desire to be free of that sin I wrote about. You were angry about it. You were afraid. You wanted to do something about it. In every way you did what you could to make it right.

For behold, this selfsame thing, that ye were made sorry after a godly sort, what earnest care it wrought in you, yea what clearing of yourselves, yea what indignation, yea what fear, yea what longing, yea what zeal, yea what avenging! In everything ye approved yourselves to be pure in the matter.

12 I sent this. It was not written only because of the man who did the wrong or because of the one who suffered.

So although I wrote unto you, I wrote not for his cause that did the wrong, nor for his cause that suffered the wrong, but that your earnest care for us might be made manifest unto you in the sight of God.

13 A ll this has given us comfort. More than this, we are happy for the joy Titus has. His spirit has been made stronger by all of you.

Therefore we have been comforted: And in our comfort we joyed the more exceedingly for the joy of Titus, because his spirit hath been refreshed by you all.

14 I told him how proud I was of you. You did not make me ashamed. What we said to Titus proved to be true.

For if in anything I have gloried to him on your behalf, I was not put to shame; but as we spake all things to you in truth, so our glorying also which I made before Titus was found to be truth.

15 H e loves you all the more. He remembers how all of you were ready to obey and how you respected him.

And his affection is more abundantly toward you, while he remembereth the obedience of you all, how with fear and trembling ye received him.

16 I am happy that I can have complete trust in you.

I rejoice that in everything I am of good courage concerning you.