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¹ Having, then, these promises, beloved, may we cleanse ourselves from every defilement of flesh and spirit, perfecting sanctification in the fear of God;² receive us; no one did we wrong; no one did we ruin; no one did we defraud;³ I do not say [it] to condemn you, for I have said before that you are in our hearts to die together and to live together;⁴ great [is] my freedom of speech to you, great my glory on your behalf; I have been filled with the comfort, I hyper-abound with the joy on all our tribulation,

⁵ for we also, having come to Macedonia, our flesh has had no relaxation, but on every side we are in tribulation: fightings outside, fears within;⁶ but He who is comforting the cast-down—God—He comforted us in the coming of Titus;⁷ and not only in his coming, but also in the comfort with which he was comforted over you, declaring to us your longing desire, your lamentation, your zeal for me, so that I rejoiced the more,⁸ because even if I made you sorry in the letter, I do not regret—if even I regretted—for I perceive that the letter, even if for an hour, made you sorry.⁹ I now rejoice, not that you were made sorry, but that you were made sorry to conversion, for you were made sorry toward God, that you might receive damage from us in nothing;¹⁰ for sorrow toward God works conversion to salvation without regret, and the sorrow of the world works death,¹¹ for behold, this same thing—your being made sorry toward God—how much diligence it works in you! But defense, but displeasure, but fear, but longing desire, but zeal, but revenge; in everything you approved yourselves to be pure in the matter.

¹² If, then, I also wrote to you—not for his cause who did wrong, nor for his cause who suffered wrong, but for our diligence in your behalf being revealed to you before God—¹³ because of this we have been comforted in your comfort, and more abundantly the more we rejoiced in the joy of Titus, that his spirit has been refreshed from you all;¹⁴ because if I have boasted anything to him in your behalf, I was not put to shame; but as we spoke to you all things in truth, so also our boasting before Titus became truth,¹⁵ and his yearnings are more abundantly toward you, remembering the obedience of you all, how you received him with fear and trembling;¹⁶ I rejoice, therefore, that in everything I have courage in you.