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Tuesday, April 29th, 2025
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Read the Bible

Contemporary English Version

2 Corinthians 2:2

If I make you feel bad, who would be left to cheer me up, except the people I had made to feel bad?

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - Church;   Love;  

Dictionaries:

- Fausset Bible Dictionary - Corinth;   Paul;   Holman Bible Dictionary - Titus;   Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible - Corinthians, First Epistle to the;   Joy;   Pisidia;   Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament - Grief ;   Joy;  

Encyclopedias:

- International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Corinthians, Second Epistle to the;   Fare;  

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
For if I cause you pain, then who will cheer me other than the one being hurt by me?
King James Version (1611)
For if I make you sorie, who is hee then that maketh mee glad, but the same which is made sorie by me.
King James Version
For if I make you sorry, who is he then that maketh me glad, but the same which is made sorry by me?
English Standard Version
For if I cause you pain, who is there to make me glad but the one whom I have pained?
New American Standard Bible
For if I cause you sorrow, who then will be the one making me glad but the one who is made sorrowful by me?
New Century Version
If I make you sad, who will make me glad? Only you can make me glad—particularly the person whom I made sad.
Amplified Bible
For if I cause you grief [by a well-deserved rebuke], who then provides me enjoyment but the very one whom I have made sad?
New American Standard Bible (1995)
For if I cause you sorrow, who then makes me glad but the one whom I made sorrowful?
Legacy Standard Bible
For if I cause you sorrow, who then makes me glad but the one whom I made sorrowful?
Berean Standard Bible
For if I grieve you, who is left to cheer me but those whom I have grieved?
Complete Jewish Bible
For if I cause you pain, who is left to make me happy except the people I have pained?
Darby Translation
For if *I* grieve you, who also [is] it that gladdens me, if not he that is grieved through me?
Easy-to-Read Version
If I make you sad, then who will make me happy? Only you can make me happy—you, the ones I made sad.
Geneva Bible (1587)
For if I make you sorie, who is he then that shoulde make me glad, but ye same which is made sorie by me?
George Lamsa Translation
For if I make you sad, who can make me happy, but him whom I made sad?
Good News Translation
For if I were to make you sad, who would be left to cheer me up? Only the very persons I had made sad.
Lexham English Bible
For if I cause you sorrow, then who will make me glad except the one who is caused to be sad by me?
Literal Translation
For if I grieve you, who yet will be making me glad, if not the one being grieved by me?
American Standard Version
For if I make you sorry, who then is he that maketh me glad but he that is made sorry by me?
Bible in Basic English
For if I give you sorrow, who then will make me glad, but he who is made sad by me?
Hebrew Names Version
For if I make you sorry, then who will make me glad but he who is made sorry by me?
International Standard Version
After all, if I were to grieve you, who should make me happy but the person I am making sad?
Etheridge Translation
For if I grieve you, who shall refresh me, but he whom I had grieved?
Murdock Translation
For if I should make you sad, who would make me joyful, unless he whom I had made sad?
Bishop's Bible (1568)
For if I make you sorie, who is he yt shoulde make me glad, but the same which is made sorie by me?
English Revised Version
For if I make you sorry, who then is he that maketh me glad, but he that is made sorry by me?
World English Bible
For if I make you sorry, then who will make me glad but he who is made sorry by me?
Wesley's New Testament (1755)
For if I grieve you, who is he that cheareth me, but he that is grieved by me?
Weymouth's New Testament
For if I of all men give you pain, who then is there to gladden my heart, but the very persons to whom I give pain?
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
For if Y make you sori, who is he that gladith me, but he that is soreuful of me?
Update Bible Version
For if I make you sorry, who then is he that makes me glad but he that is made sorry by me?
Webster's Bible Translation
For if I make you sorry, who is he then that maketh me glad, but the same who is made sorry by me?
New English Translation
For if I make you sad, who would be left to make me glad but the one I caused to be sad?
New King James Version
For if I make you sorrowful, then who is he who makes me glad but the one who is made sorrowful by me?
New Living Translation
For if I cause you grief, who will make me glad? Certainly not someone I have grieved.
New Life Bible
If I make you sad, who is going to make me happy? How can you make me happy if I make you sad?
New Revised Standard
For if I cause you pain, who is there to make me glad but the one whom I have pained?
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
For, if, I, grieve you, who then is he that is to gladden me, - save he who is being grieved through me;
Douay-Rheims Bible
For if I make you sorrowful, who is he then that can make me glad, but the same who is made sorrowful by me?
Revised Standard Version
For if I cause you pain, who is there to make me glad but the one whom I have pained?
Tyndale New Testament (1525)
For yf I make you sorye who is it that shuld make me glad but the same which is made sory by me?
Young's Literal Translation
for if I make you sorry, then who is he who is making me glad, except he who is made sorry by me?
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
For yf I make you sory, who is it that shal make me glad, but the same which is made sory by me?
Mace New Testament (1729)
why should I make you uneasy, for who then could give me comfort, but those to whom I give uneasiness?
Simplified Cowboy Version
My goal is not scold, but to bring joy. If all I did was scold y'all, who would be able to bring me joy then? It's sure not going to be the one who just took a bad butt chewin'!

Contextual Overview

1 I have decided not to make my next visit with you so painful. 2 If I make you feel bad, who would be left to cheer me up, except the people I had made to feel bad? 3 The reason I want to be happy is to make you happy. I wrote as I did because I didn't want to visit you and be made to feel bad, when you should make me feel happy. 4 At the time I wrote, I was suffering terribly. My eyes were full of tears, and my heart was broken. But I didn't want to make you feel bad. I only wanted to let you know how much I cared for you.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

2 Corinthians 1:14, 2 Corinthians 11:29, Romans 12:15, 1 Corinthians 12:26

Reciprocal: Mark 12:14 - we know 1 Corinthians 4:19 - I 2 Corinthians 7:8 - though I made Philemon 1:20 - let me

Cross-References

Genesis 1:31
God looked at what he had done. All of it was very good! Evening came and then morning—that was the sixth day.
Genesis 2:8
The Lord made a garden in a place called Eden, which was in the east, and he put the man there.
Genesis 2:11
The first one is the Pishon River that flows through the land of Havilah,
Exodus 23:12
Work the first six days of the week, but rest and relax on the seventh day. This law is not only for you, but for your oxen, donkeys, and slaves, as well as for any foreigners among you.
Exodus 31:17
This day will always serve as a reminder, both to me and to the Israelites, that I made the heavens and the earth in six days, then on the seventh day I rested and relaxed.
Deuteronomy 5:14
but the seventh day of the week belongs to me, your God. No one is to work on that day—not you, your children, your oxen or donkeys or any other animal, not even those foreigners who live in your towns. And don't make your slaves do any work.
Isaiah 58:13
But first, you must start respecting the Sabbath as a joyful day of worship. You must stop doing and saying whatever you please on this special day.
John 5:17
But Jesus said, "My Father has never stopped working, and that is why I keep on working."
Hebrews 4:4
In fact, somewhere the Scriptures say that by the seventh day, God had finished his work, and so he rested.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

For if I make you sorry,.... That is, should he come among them, and be the means of fresh grief and sorrow:

who is he then that maketh me glad? such was his love and affection for them, and sympathy with them, that should they be grieved, he should grieve also; they were the only persons he could take any delight in at Corinth; wherefore should they be in heaviness, he would be so too, and then what pleasure would he have in being among them? since not a man of them would be in a condition and capacity to make him cheerful:

but the same which is made sorry by me. The Ethiopic version without any authority reads this clause, "except he whom I have made glad"; but the apostle is to be understood either of some particular man, the incestuous person, who had been made sorry, by that awful punishment of being delivered up to Satan, inflicted on him; or else the singular number being put for the plural collectively, is to be understood of all the members of the church at Corinth, who had been greatly grieved by the sharp reproofs he had given them; and therefore unless this trouble was removed, he could not expect to have much comfort and pleasure with them.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

For if I make you sorry - “If when I should come among you, I should be called on to inflict sorrow by punishing your offending brethren by an act of severe discipline as soon as I came, who would there be to give me comfort but those very persons whom I had affected with grief? How little prepared would they be to make me happy, and to comfort me, amidst the deep sorrow which I should have caused by an act of severe discipline. After such an act - an act that would spread sorrow through the whole church, how could I expect that comfort which I should desire to find among you. The whole church would be affected with grief; and though I might be sustained by the sound part of the church, yet my visit would be attended with painful circumstances. I resolved, therefore, to remove all cause of difficulty, if possible, before I came, that my visit might be pleasant to us all.” The idea is, that there was such a sympathy between him and them; that he was so attached to them, that he could not expect to be happy unless they were happy; that though he might be conscious he was only discharging a duty, and that God would sustain him in it, yet that it would mar the pleasure of his visit, and destroy all his anticipated happiness by the general grief.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse 2 Corinthians 2:2. For if I make you sorry — Should he have come and used his apostolical authority, in inflicting punishment upon the transgressors, this would have been a common cause of distress. And though he might expect that the sound part of the Church would be a cause of consolation to him, yet as all would be overwhelmed with trouble at the punishment of the transgressors, he could not rejoice to see those whom he loved in distress.


 
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