2 Corinthians, 7

1. Since these promises have been made to us, my dear friends, we should wash ourselves clean of everything that pollutes either body or spirit, bringing our sanctification to completion in the fear of God.

1. Since we have these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from every defilement of body and spirit, and make holiness perfect in the fear of God.

2. Keep a place for us in your hearts. We have not injured anyone, or ruined anyone, or taken advantage of anyone.

2. Open your hearts to us; we have wronged no one, we have corrupted no one, we have taken advantage of no one.

3. I am not saying this to condemn anybody; as I have already told you, you are in our hearts -- so that together we live and together we die.

3. I do not say this to condemn you, for I said before that you are in our hearts, to die together and to live together.

4. I can speak with the greatest frankness to you; and I can speak with the greatest pride about you: in all our hardship, I am filled with encouragement and overflowing with joy.

4. I have great confidence in you; I have great pride in you; I am filled with comfort. With all our affliction, I am overjoyed.

5. Even after we had come to Macedonia, there was no rest for this body of ours. Far from it; we were beset by hardship on all sides, there were quarrels all around us and misgivings within us.

5. For even when we came into Macedo'nia, our bodies had no rest but we were afflicted at every turn -- fighting without and fear within.

6. But God, who encourages all those who are distressed, encouraged us through the arrival of Titus;

6. But God, who comforts the downcast, comforted us by the coming of Titus,

7. and not simply by his arrival only, but also by means of the encouragement that you had given him, as he told us of your desire to see us, how sorry you were and how concerned for us; so that I was all the more joyful.

7. and not only by his coming but also by the comfort with which he was comforted in you, as he told us of your longing, your mourning, your zeal for me, so that I rejoiced still more.

8. So now, though I did distress you with my letter, I do not regret it. Even if I did regret it -- and I realise that the letter distressed you, even though not for long-

8. For even if I made you sorry with my letter, I do not regret it (though I did regret it), for I see that that letter grieved you, though only for a while.

9. I am glad now, not because you were made to feel distress, but because the distress that you were caused led to repentance; your distress was the kind that God approves and so you have come to no kind of harm through us.

9. As it is, I rejoice, not because you were grieved, but because you were grieved into repenting; for you felt a godly grief, so that you suffered no loss through us.

10. For to be distressed in a way that God approves leads to repentance and then to salvation with no regrets; it is the world's kind of distress that ends in death.

10. For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation and brings no regret, but worldly grief produces death.

11. Just look at this present case: at what the result has been of your being made to feel distress in the way that God approves -- what concern, what defence, what indignation and what alarm; what yearning, and what enthusiasm, and what justice done. In every way you have cleared yourselves of blame in this matter.

11. For see what earnestness this godly grief has produced in you, what eagerness to clear yourselves, what indignation, what alarm, what longing, what zeal, what punishment! At every point you have proved yourselves guiltless in the matter.

12. So although I wrote a letter to you, it was not for the sake of the offender, nor for the one offended, but only so that you yourselves should fully realise in the sight of God what concern you have for us.

12. So although I wrote to you, it was not on account of the one who did the wrong, nor on account of the one who suffered the wrong, but in order that your zeal for us might be revealed to you in the sight of God.

13. That is what I have found encouraging. In addition to all this to encourage us, we were made all the more joyful by Titus' joy, now that his spirit has been refreshed by you all.

13. Therefore we are comforted. And besides our own comfort we rejoiced still more at the joy of Titus, because his mind has been set at rest by you all.

14. And if I boasted about you to him in any way, then I have not been made to look foolish; indeed, our boast to Titus has been proved to be as true as anything we said to you.

14. For if I have expressed to him some pride in you, I was not put to shame; but just as everything we said to you was true, so our boasting before Titus has proved true.

15. His personal affection for you is all the stronger when he remembers how obedient you have all been, and how you welcomed him with fear and trembling.

15. And his heart goes out all the more to you, as he remembers the obedience of you all, and the fear and trembling with which you received him.

16. I am glad that I have every confidence in you.

16. I rejoice, because I have perfect confidence in you.