Read New International Version, 2011 2 Corinthians 2 Bible Online

2 Corinthians 2 - New International Version, 2011 bible

2 Corinthians 2

¹So I made up my mind that I would not make another painful visit to you.

²For if I grieve you, who is left to make me glad but you whom I have grieved?

³I wrote as I did, so that when I came I would not be distressed by those who should have made me rejoice. I had confidence in all of you, that you would all share my joy.

⁴For I wrote you out of great distress and anguish of heart and with many tears, not to grieve you but to let you know the depth of my love for you.

⁵If anyone has caused grief, he has not so much grieved me as he has grieved all of you to some extent — not to put it too severely.

⁶The punishment inflicted on him by the majority is sufficient.

⁷Now instead, you ought to forgive and comfort him, so that he will not be overwhelmed by excessive sorrow.

⁸I urge you, therefore, to reaffirm your love for him.

⁹Another reason I wrote you was to see if you would stand the test and be obedient in everything.

¹⁰Anyone you forgive, I also forgive. And what I have forgiven — if there was anything to forgive — I have forgiven in the sight of Christ for your sake,

¹¹in order that Satan might not outwit us. For we are not unaware of his schemes.

¹²Now when I went to Troas to preach the gospel of Christ and found that the Lord had opened a door for me,

¹³I still had no peace of mind, because I did not find my brother Titus there. So I said goodbye to them and went on to Macedonia.

¹⁴But thanks be to God, who always leads us as captives in Christ’s triumphal procession and uses us to spread the aroma of the knowledge of him everywhere.

¹⁵For we are to God the pleasing aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing.

¹⁶To the one we are an aroma that brings death; to the other, an aroma that brings life. And who is equal to such a task?

¹⁷Unlike so many, we do not peddle the word of God for profit. On the contrary, in Christ we speak before God with sincerity, as those sent from God.