2 Corinthians 2:1-4

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 

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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.”

sn Paul was not speaking absolutely about not making another visit, but meant he did not want to come to the Corinthians again until the conflict he mentioned in 2 Cor 2:4-11 was settled.

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.”