Dual Panel1THEREFORE, SINCE these [great] promises are ours, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from everything that contaminates {and} defiles body and spirit, and bring [our] consecration to completeness in the [reverential] fear of God.
2Do open your hearts to us again [enlarge them to take us in]. We have wronged no one, we have betrayed {or} corrupted no one, we have cheated {or} taken advantage of no one.
3I do not say this to reproach {or} condemn [you], for I have said before that you are [nested] in our hearts, [and you will remain there] together [with us], whether we die or live.
4I have great boldness {and} free {and} fearless confidence {and} cheerful courage toward you; my pride in you is great. I am filled [brimful] with the comfort [of it]; with all our tribulation {and} in spite of it, [I am filled with comfort] I am overflowing with joy.
5For even when we arrived in Macedonia, our bodies had no ease {or} rest, but we were oppressed in every way {and} afflicted at every turn--fighting {and} contentions without, dread {and} fears within [us].
6But God, Who comforts {and} encourages {and} refreshes {and} cheers the depressed {and} the sinking, comforted {and} encouraged {and} refreshed {and} cheered us by the arrival of Titus.
7[Yes] and not only by his coming but also by [his account of] the comfort with which he was encouraged {and} refreshed {and} cheered as to you, while he told us of your yearning affection, of how sorry you were [for me] and how eagerly you took my part, so that I rejoiced still more.
8For even though I did grieve you with my letter, I do not regret [it now], though I did regret it; for I see that that letter did pain you, though only for a little while;
9Yet I am glad now, not because you were pained, but because you were pained into repentance [and so turned back to God]; for you felt a grief such as God meant you to feel, so that in nothing you might suffer loss through us {or} harm for what we did.
10For godly grief {and} the pain God is permitted to direct, produce a repentance that leads {and} contributes to salvation {and} deliverance from evil, and it never brings regret; but worldly grief (the hopeless sorrow that is characteristic of the pagan world) is deadly [breeding and ending in death].
11For [you can look back now and] observe what this same godly sorrow has done for you {and} has produced in you: what eagerness {and} earnest care to explain {and} clear yourselves [of all complicity in the condoning of incest], what indignation [at the sin], what alarm, what yearning, what zeal [to do justice to all concerned], what readiness to mete out punishment [to the offender]! At every point you have proved yourselves cleared {and} guiltless in the matter. [I Cor. 5.]
12So although I did write to you [as I did], it was not for the sake {and} because of the one who did [the] wrong, nor on account of the one who suffered [the] wrong, but in order that you might realize before God [that your readiness to accept our authority revealed] how zealously you do care for us.
13Therefore we are relieved {and} comforted {and} encouraged [at the result]. And in addition to our own [personal] consolation, we were especially delighted at the joy of Titus, because you have all set his mind at rest, soothing {and} refreshing his spirit.
14For if I had boasted to him at all concerning you, I was not disappointed {or} put to shame, but just as everything we ever said to you was true, so our boasting [about you] to Titus has proved true also.
15And his heart goes out to you more abundantly than ever as he recalls the submission [to his guidance] that all of you had, and the reverence {and} anxiety [to meet all requirements] with which you accepted {and} welcomed him.
16I am very happy because I now am of good courage {and} have perfect confidence in you in all things.