2 Corinthians 12:16

THE MESSAGE

And why is it that I keep coming across these whiffs of gossip about how my self-support was a front behind which I worked an elaborate scam? Where's the evidence? Did I cheat or trick you through anyone I sent? I asked Titus to visit, and sent some brothers along. Did they swindle you out of anything? And haven't we always been just as aboveboard, just as honest?

Parallel Translations

New American Standard Bible (1995)
But be that as it may, I did not burden you myself; nevertheless, crafty fellow that I am, I took you in by deceit.

Legacy Standard Bible
But be that as it may, I did not burden you myself. Nevertheless, crafty fellow that I am, I took you in by deceit.

Simplified Cowboy Version
Y'all know I didn't ask for anything while I was there. Yet, some of you still think I somehow tricked y'all into doing something you didn't want to do.

Bible in Basic English
But let it be so, that I was not a trouble to you myself; but (someone may say) being false, I took you with deceit.

Darby Translation
But be it so. *I* did not burden you, but being crafty I took you by guile.

Christian Standard Bible®
Now granted, I have not burdened you; yet sly as I am, I took you in by deceit!

World English Bible
But be it so, I did not myself burden you. But, being crafty, I caught you with deception.

Wesley's New Testament (1755)
But be it so: I did not burden you: but being crafty, I caught you with guile.

Weymouth's New Testament
If I love you so intensely, am I the less to be loved? Be that as it may: I was not a burden to you. But being by no means scrupulous, I entrapped you, they say!

King James Version (1611)
But be it so: I did not burthen you: neuerthelesse beeing craftie, I caught you with guile.

Literal Translation
But let it be so, I did not burden you; but being crafty, I took you with bait.

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
But let it be so that I greued you not, neuertheles for so moch as I was craftye, I toke you wt gyle.

Mace New Testament (1729)
'tis own'd I did not put you to any charges myself: but was so crafty, as to over-reach you, by others.

Amplified Bible
But be that as it may, I did not burden you [with my support]. But [some say that] I was sly and took you by trickery.

American Standard Version
But be it so, I did not myself burden you; but, being crafty, I caught you with guile.

Revised Standard Version
But granting that I myself did not burden you, I was crafty, you say, and got the better of you by guile.

Tyndale New Testament (1525)
But be it yt I greved you not: never the lesse I was crafty and toke you with gile.

Update Bible Version
But let it be so, I did not myself burden you; but, being crafty, I caught you with guile.

Webster's Bible Translation
But be it so, I did not burden you: nevertheless, being crafty, I caught you with guile.

Young's Literal Translation
And be it [so], I -- I did not burden you, but being crafty, with guile I did take you;

New Century Version
It is clear I was not a burden to you, but you think I was tricky and lied to catch you.

New English Translation
But be that as it may, I have not burdened you. Yet because I was a crafty person, I took you in by deceit!

Berean Standard Bible
Be that as it may, I was not a burden to you; but crafty as I am, I caught you by trickery.

Contemporary English Version
You agree that I wasn't a burden to you. Maybe that's because I was trying to catch you off guard and trick you.

Complete Jewish Bible
Let it be granted, then, that I was not a burden to you; but, crafty fellow that I am, I took you with trickery!

English Standard Version
But granting that I myself did not burden you, I was crafty, you say, and got the better of you by deceit.

Geneva Bible (1587)
But bee it that I charged you not: yet for as much as I was craftie, I tooke you with guile.

George Lamsa Translation
But be it so, I did not burden you: nevertheless as a shrewd man, I caught you with guile:

Hebrew Names Version
But be it so, I did not myself burden you. But, being crafty, I caught you with deception.

International Standard Version
Granting that I have not been a burden to you, was I a clever schemer who trapped you by some trick?2 Corinthians 11:9;">[xr]

Etheridge Translation
And, perhaps, (though) I did not burden you, yet (it may be said), as a crafty man with deceit I have robbed you.

Murdock Translation
But perhaps, though I was not burdensome to you, yet, like a cunning man, I filched from you by craftiness !

New King James Version
But be that as it may, I did not burden you. Nevertheless, being crafty, I caught you by cunning!

New Living Translation
Some of you admit I was not a burden to you. But others still think I was sneaky and took advantage of you by trickery.

New Life Bible
It is true that I was not a heavy load to you. But some say I set a trap for you.

English Revised Version
But be it so, I did not myself burden you; but, being crafty, I caught you with guile.

New Revised Standard
Let it be assumed that I did not burden you. Nevertheless (you say) since I was crafty, I took you in by deceit.

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
But let it be! - I, myself, did not burden you, - Notwithstanding, being crafty, with guile, I caught you?

Douay-Rheims Bible
But be it so: I did not burthen you: but being crafty, I caught you by guile.

King James Version
But be it so, I did not burden you: nevertheless, being crafty, I caught you with guile.

Lexham English Bible
But let it be. I have not been a burden to you, but because I was crafty, I took you by cunning.

Bishop's Bible (1568)
But be it, [that] I was not chargeable vnto you: Neuerthelesse, when I was craftie, I caught you with guile.

Easy-to-Read Version
It is clear that I was not a burden to you, but you think that I was tricky and used lies to catch you.

New American Standard Bible
But be that as it may, I did not burden you myself; nevertheless, devious person that I am, I took you in by deceit.

Good News Translation
You will agree, then, that I was not a burden to you. But someone will say that I was tricky, and trapped you with lies.

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
But be it; Y greuyde not you, but whanne Y was sutil, Y took you with gile.

Contextual Overview

¹¹Well, now I've done it! I've made a complete fool of myself by going on like this. But it's not all my fault; you put me up to it. You should have been doing this for me, sticking up for me and commending me instead of making me do it for myself. You know from personal experience that even if I'm a nobody, a nothing, I wasn't second-rate compared to those big-shot apostles you're so taken with. All the signs that mark a true apostle were in evidence while I was with you through both good times and bad: signs of portent, signs of wonder, signs of power. Did you get less of me or of God than any of the other churches? The only thing you got less of was less responsibility for my upkeep. Well, I'm sorry. Forgive me for depriving you. ¹⁴Everything is in readiness now for this, my third visit to you. But don't worry about it; you won't have to put yourselves out. I'll be no more of a bother to you this time than on the other visits. I have no interest in what you have—only in you. Children shouldn't have to look out for their parents; parents look out for the children. I'd be most happy to empty my pockets, even mortgage my life, for your good. So how does it happen that the more I love you, the less I'm loved? ¹⁶And why is it that I keep coming across these whiffs of gossip about how my self-support was a front behind which I worked an elaborate scam? Where's the evidence? Did I cheat or trick you through anyone I sent? I asked Titus to visit, and sent some brothers along. Did they swindle you out of anything? And haven't we always been just as aboveboard, just as honest? ¹⁹ I hope you don't think that all along we've been making our defense before you, the jury. You're not the jury; God is the jury—God revealed in Christ—and we make our case before him. And we've gone to all the trouble of supporting ourselves so that we won't be in the way or get in the way of your growing up. ²⁰I do admit that I have fears that when I come you'll disappoint me and I'll disappoint you, and in frustration with each other everything will fall to pieces—quarrels, jealousy, flaring tempers, taking sides, angry words, vicious rumors, swelled heads, and general bedlam. I don't look forward to a second humiliation by God among you, compounded by hot tears over that crowd that keeps sinning over and over in the same old ways, who refuse to turn away from the pigsty of evil, sexual disorder, and indecency in which they wallow.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

I did not: 2 Corinthians 12:13, 2 Corinthians 11:9, 2 Corinthians 11:10

being: That is, as my enemies represent, 2 Corinthians 1:12, 2 Corinthians 4:2, 2 Corinthians 7:2, 2 Corinthians 10:2, 2 Corinthians 10:3, 1 Thessalonians 2:3, 1 Thessalonians 2:5, 1 Peter 2:3

Reciprocal: 2 Kings 5:22 - give them 2 Kings 10:19 - But Jehu Nehemiah 5:16 - all my Matthew 4:19 - I will 1 Corinthians 9:3 - them 2 Peter 1:16 - we have

Cross-References

Genesis 12:14
When Abram arrived in Egypt, the Egyptians took one look and saw that his wife was stunningly beautiful. Pharaoh's princes raved over her to Pharaoh. She was taken to live with Pharaoh.

Genesis 20:14
Then Abimelech gave Sarah back to Abraham, and along with her sent sheep and cattle and servants, both male and female. He said, "My land is open to you; live wherever you wish."

Job 42:12
God blessed Job's later life even more than his earlier life. He ended up with fourteen thousand sheep, six thousand camels, one thousand teams of oxen, and one thousand donkeys. He also had seven sons and three daughters. He named the first daughter Dove, the second, Cinnamon, and the third, Darkeyes. There was not a woman in that country as beautiful as Job's daughters. Their father treated them as equals with their brothers, providing the same inheritance.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

But be it so, I did not burden you,.... These words are not spoken by the apostle in his own person of himself, but in the person of his adversaries, and contain a concession and an objection of theirs, but be it so; they granted that he had not burdened the Corinthians, that he had took nothing of them himself for preaching the Gospel; they owned that he had preached it freely; this was so clear a point, and so flagrant a case, that they could not deny it; yet they insinuated to the Corinthians, and objected to the apostle, that though he did not receive anything from them with his own hands, yet he craftily and cunningly made use of others to drain their purses, and receive it for him; and which is suggested in the next clause:

nevertheless, being crafty, I caught you with guile; so say the false apostles of me; for these are not the words of the apostle in his own person; nor to be understood of any spiritual craft, or lawful cunning and prudent artifices used by him, to allure and draw the Corinthians into a good liking and opinion of the Gospel and of his ministry, and so caught them, and was the happy means of their conversion; but they are spoken in the person of the false apostles, charging him with a wicked and criminal craftiness, by making use of other persons in a sly underhanded way, to get this church's money, when he pretended to preach the Gospel freely; to which he answers in the next verse.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

But be it so - This is evidently a charge of his enemies; or at least a charge which it might be supposed they would make. Whether they ever in fact made it, or whether the apostle merely anticipates an objection, it is impossible to determine. It is clearly to be regarded as the language of objectors; for:

(1) It can never be supposed that Paul would state as a serious matter that he had caught them with deceit or fraud.

(2) He answers it as an objection in the following verse. The meaning is, “We admit that you did not burden us. You did not exact a support from us. But all this was mere trick. You accomplished the same thing in another way. You professed when with us not to seek our property but our souls. But in various ways you contrived to get our money, and to secure your object. You made others the agents for doing this, and sent them among us under various pretexts to gain money from us.” It will be remembered that Paul had sent; Titus among them to take up the collection for the poor saints in Judea 2 Corinthians 8:6, and it is not at all improbable that some there had charged Paul with making use of this pretence only to obtain money for his own private use. To guard against this charge. was one of the reasons why Paul was so anxious to have some persons appointed by the church to take charge of the contribution; see 1 Corinthians 16:3; compare the notes on 2 Corinthians 8:19-21.

Being crafty - Being cunning That is, by sending persons to obtain money on different pretences.

I caught you with guile - I took you by deceit or fraud. That is, making use of fraud in pretending that the money was for poor and afflicted saints, when in reality it was for my own use. It is impossible that Paul should have ever admitted this of himself; and they greatly pervert the passage who suppose that it applies to him, and then plead that it is right to make use of guile in accomplishing their purposes. Paul never carried his measures by dishonesty, nor did he ever justify fraud; compare the notes on Acts 23:6.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse 16. But be it so, I did not burden you — That is: You grant that I did not burden you, that I took nothing from you, but preached to you the Gospel freely; but you say that, BEING CRAFTY, I caught you with guile; i.e. getting from you, by means of others, what I pretended to be unwilling to receive immediately from yourselves.

Many persons suppose that the words, being crafty, I caught you with guile, are the words of the apostle and not of his slanderers; and therefore have concluded that it is lawful to use guile, deceit, c., in order to serve a good and a religious purpose. This doctrine is abominable and the words are most evidently those of the apostle's detractors, against which he defends his conduct in the two following verses.