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¹ 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 Bear with us, my brethren; we have done evil to no one; we have corrupted no one; we have wronged no one.³ 3 I speak [fn] , not to condemn you; for I have said before, that ye are treasured in our hearts, to die and to live together. ⁴ 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 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 comforteth the depressed, comforted us by the arrival of Titus.⁷ 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 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 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 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 11 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 [fn] pure in that matter.