1 And I decided this to myself, not to come again to you in sorrow, 2 for if I make you sorry, then who is he who is making me glad, except he who is made sorry by me? 3 And I wrote to you this same thing, that having come, I may not have sorrow from them of whom it was necessary for me to have joy, having confidence in you all, that my joy is of you all, 4 for out of much tribulation and pressure of heart I wrote to you through many tears, not that you might be made sorry, but that you might know the love that I have more abundantly toward you. 5 And if anyone has caused sorrow, he has not caused sorrow to me, but in part, that I may not burden you all; 6 sufficient to such a one is this punishment, that is by the greater part, 7 so that, on the contrary, it is rather for you to forgive and to comfort, lest by over abundant sorrow such a one may be swallowed up; 8 for this reason, I call on you to confirm love to him, 9 for this also I wrote, that I might know your proof, whether you are obedient in regard to all things. 10 And to whom you forgive anything—I also; for I also, if I have forgiven anything, to whom I have forgiven it, because of you—in the person of Christ—I forgive it, 11 that we may not be over-reached by Satan, for we are not ignorant of his schemes. 12 And having come to Troas for the good news of the Christ, and a door having been opened to me in the LORD, 13 I have not had rest to my spirit, on my not finding my brother Titus, but having taken leave of them, I went forth to Macedonia; 14 and to God is thanks, who at all times is leading us in triumph in the Christ, and the fragrance of His knowledge He is revealing through us in every place; 15 we are a refreshing fragrance to God because of Christ, in those being saved, and in those being lost; 16 to one, indeed, a fragrance of death to death, and to the other, a fragrance of life to life; and who is sufficient for these things? 17 For we are not as the many, adulterating the word of God, but as of sincerity—but as of God; in the presence of God, in Christ we speak.