2 Corinthians 7

1 My friends, whom I love, because [God] has promised [to accept us(inc) as his children], we [(inc)] must stop doing anything that is sinful. We must not do sinful things with our bodies, and we must not [think] sinful thoughts. [Because] we greatly revere God, we must strive to [live] a completely pure life. By doing that we will become the kind of people that he wants us to be.

Seeing, therefore, we have these promises, my beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all defilement of the flesh and of the spirit; and let us work righteousness, in the fear of God.

2 So, as I just wrote, I want you to love me (OR, us [IDM] [who are true apostles of Christ]). I/we [(exc)] have never done anything wrong to any of you. I/we have not done anything to harm any one of you spiritually or financially. And I/we have not tried to get money from [you] (for myself/for ourselves).

Bear with us, my brethren; we have done evil to no one; we have corrupted no one; we have wronged no one.

3 [It is true that some people among you have said that I have done such things. Nevertheless], I am not trying to make you all feel ashamed because, as I wrote before, I will continue to love you all very much [IDM], whether I live with you or die with you. I am very confident about you.

I speak thus, not to condemn you; for I have said before, that ye are treasured in our hearts, to die and to live together.

4 I am very pleased with you. You have greatly encouraged me, so that I am now very joyful in spite of all the hardships that I have endured.

I have great assurance before you, and have much glorying in you; and I am full of comfort. And joy greatly aboundeth to me, in all my afflictions.

5 Now [I will write more about what I was saying about Titus]. When I [left Troas and] came [here to] Macedonia [province], I still did not get any rest. Everywhere we [(exc)] went, [people were constantly] causing us trouble. [And not only were] people [constantly causing us] trouble, but I was greatly concerned [about you all].

For, after we came to Macedonia, there was no rest for our body, but we were distressed in every thing; without was conflict, and within was fear.

6 But God, who always encourages his people when they are discouraged, encouraged us by [sending] Titus back to us.

But God who comforteth the depressed, comforted us by the arrival of Titus.

7 I was encouraged by [seeing] Titus, [but when I heard how] you had encouraged him, that encouraged me even more. He told me how much you wanted [to see me. He told me] that you were very sorry [that you had made me so unhappy. He also told me] that you are very eager for me [to continue to serve as your apostle. When Titus told me those things], I was very, very happy.

And not merely by his arrival, but also by the refreshing with which he was refreshed by you. For he told us of your love towards us, and of your grief, and of your zeal in our behalf: and when I heard it, my joy was great.

8 Even though what [I wrote] in my letter (distressed you/made you sad), I am not sorry [that I wrote it]. For a while I was sorry that I had written it, [because I knew that it would distress you]. Now [Titus has also told] me that it did distress you [when you read it], but you were distressed only for a short time.

And although I made you sad by the epistle, I do not regret it, though I did regret it; for I see that that epistle, though for a time it made you sad,

9 [So now] I am happy [that I wrote it]. I am not happy that you were distressed {that [I] distressed you}, but [I am happy] because, when you became distressed, you felt sorry for what you had done and [you asked God to forgive you. What I mean is that you felt sorry in the way that God wanted you to feel sorry, so my making] you feel sorry did not harm you at all.

yet it procured me joy, not because ye had sorrow, but because your sorrow brought you to repentance; for ye sorrowed in godly sorrow; so that ye received no detriment from us.

10 [The fact is that] when God causes [us to feel] truly sorry for having sinned and we turn from our sinful behavior, then God saves us [and will not punish us for the sinful things that we have done]. And no one is ever sorry about that. [However], the people who do not trust [in God] [MTY] may be sorry [for the sinful things that they have done]. But [if they do not turn from their sinful behavior and ask God to forgive them], they will remain separated from him forever.

For, sorrowing on account of God, worketh a conversion of the soul which is not reversed, and a turning unto life: but the sorrowing of the world worketh death.

11 But [think about what happened when you read my letter]: God caused you to be truly sorry [for what you had done]. You eagerly [wanted to do what was right], and you wanted to show [God] (OR, [me]) that you had done the right thing. You were angry [about what had happened], and you were worried [that God would punish you if the situation continued]. You also wanted me [to visit you to encourage and help you]. You wanted me to know [that you really do accept me as your apostle, and that you punished the man who had sinned, as I told you to do. By doing] all of those things, you have shown [me] that you have done what is right in this matter.

For behold this same thing, that ye were distressed on account of God, what solicitude it wrought in you, and apologizing and indignation, and fear, and love, and zeal, and revenge? And in all things ye have shown, that ye are now pure in that matter.

12 So, even though I wrote that [severe] letter to you, I did not [write it just] so that [you would punish] the man who had done what was wrong. Also, I [did not write it] for the benefit of the person whom [he] had wronged. Instead, [I wrote it] so that, when you [read the letter], God would enable you to realize how much you really do respect [my authority].

And it will be seen that I wrote to you, not for the sake of him who did the wrong, nor for the sake of him who received the wrong, only, but that your solicitude in respect to us might be known before God.

13 So, [because you listened to me and did what I asked you to do], (I was/we [(exc)] were all) encouraged. Not only (was I/were we) encouraged, but (I was/we [(exc)] were) [also] very happy to see how happy Titus was [when he arrived here. He told me/us that] he did not need to worry any more, because [he saw] that you all [had a good attitude toward me].

Wherefore we were comforted; and with our consolation, we were the more joyful for the joy of Titus, because his spirit was refreshed by you all:

14 I had told Titus that I was pleased about you. And I did not need to be ashamed [for feeling that way about you, because you did what I knew that you would do]. Just like everything that I have taught you [and written to you] has been the truth, the good things that I told Titus about you were also true.

so that I was not ashamed of that in which I had gloried to him, respecting you; but as in every thing we spoke the truth to you, so also our glorying before Titus, is found to be in truth:

15 Now he happily remembers how you all [were willing to] do [what I asked you to do]. He is [also happy about the way you] treated him with great respect. [When he thinks about those things], [it makes] him love you even more [than he did when he was with you].

and also his bowels are the more enlarged towards you, while he remembereth the submission of you all, and how ye received him with fear and trembling.

16 [As for me], I am very happy [because now] I am certain that I can depend on you [to do what you know God wants you to do].

I rejoice, that in every thing I have full confidence in you.