2 Corinthians 4:8

THE MESSAGE

Parallel Translations

Simplified Cowboy Version
We are surrounded by things that could kill us, but we ain't even been whipped yet. We may not know what we're doing, but we know better than to give up.

New American Standard Bible (1995)
we are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not despairing;

Legacy Standard Bible
in every way afflicted, but not crushed; perplexed, but not despairing;

Bible in Basic English
Troubles are round us on every side, but we are not shut in; things are hard for us, but we see a way out of them;

Darby Translation
every way afflicted, but not straitened; seeing no apparent issue, but our way not entirely shut up;

Christian Standard Bible®
We are pressured in every way but not crushed; we are perplexed but not in despair;

World English Bible
We are pressed on every side, yet not crushed; perplexed, yet not to despair;

Wesley's New Testament (1755)
We are troubled on every side, yet not crushed;

Weymouth's New Testament
We are hard pressed, yet never in absolute distress; perplexed, yet never utterly baffled;

King James Version (1611)
Wee are troubled on euery side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despaire,

Literal Translation
in every way being troubled, not being hemmed in; being perplexed, but not utterly at a loss;

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
We are troubled on euery syde, yet are we not without shift. We are in pouertie, but not vtterly without somwhat.

Mace New Testament (1729)
I am press'd on every side, yet not crush'd; perplexed, but not in despair;

Amplified Bible
We are pressured in every way [hedged in], but not crushed; perplexed [unsure of finding a way out], but not driven to despair;

American Standard Version
we are pressed on every side, yet not straitened; perplexed, yet not unto despair;

Revised Standard Version
We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair;

Tyndale New Testament (1525)
We are troubled on every side yet are we not with out shyft. We are in povertie: but not vtterly without somwhat.

Update Bible Version
[we are] pressed on every side, yet not straitened; perplexed, yet not to despair;

Webster's Bible Translation
[We are] troubled on every side, yet not distressed; [we are] perplexed, but not in despair;

Young's Literal Translation
on every side being in tribulation, but not straitened; perplexed, but not in despair;

New Century Version
We have troubles all around us, but we are not defeated. We do not know what to do, but we do not give up the hope of living.

New English Translation
We are experiencing trouble on every side, but are not crushed; we are perplexed, but not driven to despair;

Berean Standard Bible
We are pressed on all sides, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair;

Contemporary English Version
We often suffer, but we are never crushed. Even when we don't know what to do, we never give up.

Complete Jewish Bible
We have all kinds of troubles, but we are not crushed; we are perplexed, yet not in despair;

English Standard Version
We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair;

Geneva Bible (1587)
Wee are afflicted on euery side, yet are we not in distresse: we are in doubt, but yet wee despaire not.

George Lamsa Translation
We are distressed in every way, but not overwhelmed; we are harassed on all sides, but not conquered;

Hebrew Names Version
We are pressed on every side, yet not crushed; perplexed, yet not to despair;

International Standard Version
In every way we're troubled but not crushed, frustrated but not in despair,2 Corinthians 7:5;">[xr]

Etheridge Translation
But in every thing we are afflicted, yet not strangled; we are beaten, yet not condemned;

Murdock Translation
And in every thing we are oppressed, but not suffocated; we are corrected, but not condemned;

New King James Version
We are hard-pressed on every side, yet not crushed; we are perplexed, but not in despair;

New Living Translation
We are pressed on every side by troubles, but we are not crushed. We are perplexed, but not driven to despair.

New Life Bible
We are pressed on every side, but we still have room to move. We are often in much trouble, but we never give up.

English Revised Version
[we are] pressed on every side, yet not straitened; perplexed, yet not unto despair;

New Revised Standard
We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair;

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
On every side, pressed hard, but not hemmed in, without a way, but not without a by-way,

Douay-Rheims Bible
In all things we suffer tribulation: but are not distressed. We are straitened: but are not destitute.

King James Version
We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair;

Lexham English Bible
We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not despairing;

Bishop's Bible (1568)
We are troubled on euery syde, yet are we not without shyft. We are in pouertie, but not vtterly without somewhat.

Easy-to-Read Version
We have troubles all around us, but we are not defeated. We often don't know what to do, but we don't give up.

New American Standard Bible
we are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not despairing;

Good News Translation
We are often troubled, but not crushed; sometimes in doubt, but never in despair;

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
In alle thingis we suffren tribulacioun, but we ben not angwischid, or annoyed; we ben maad pore, but `we lacken nothing; we suffren persecucioun,

Contextual Overview

¹³We're not keeping this quiet, not on your life. Just like the psalmist who wrote, "I believed it, so I said it," we say what we believe. And what we believe is that the One who raised up the Master Jesus will just as certainly raise us up with you, alive. Every detail works to your advantage and to God's glory: more and more grace, more and more people, more and more praise! ¹⁶So we're not giving up. How could we! Even though on the outside it often looks like things are falling apart on us, on the inside, where God is making new life, not a day goes by without his unfolding grace. These hard times are small potatoes compared to the coming good times, the lavish celebration prepared for us. There's far more here than meets the eye. The things we see now are here today, gone tomorrow. But the things we can't see now will last forever.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

troubled: 2 Corinthians 1:8-10, 2 Corinthians 6:4, 2 Corinthians 7:5, 2 Corinthians 11:23-30

yet: 2 Corinthians 4:16, 2 Corinthians 4:17, 2 Corinthians 12:10, 1 Samuel 28:15, 1 Samuel 30:6, Psalms 56:2, Psalms 56:3, Proverbs 14:26, Proverbs 18:10, Romans 5:3-5, Romans 8:35-37, James 1:2-4, 1 Peter 1:6, 1 Peter 1:7, 1 Peter 4:12-14

not in despair: or, not altogether without help, or means, 1 Samuel 31:4, Job 2:9, Job 2:10, Psalms 37:33, John 14:18, 1 Corinthians 10:13

Reciprocal: Judges 2:15 - greatly Judges 8:4 - faint Judges 15:18 - he was sore Job 19:10 - destroyed Psalms 25:17 - General Psalms 27:13 - fainted Psalms 62:2 - I shall Psalms 71:7 - as a wonder Psalms 73:26 - flesh Proverbs 24:16 - a just Isaiah 40:31 - renew Jeremiah 38:6 - into Jeremiah 49:29 - Fear Matthew 5:10 - are Acts 16:25 - sang Acts 16:40 - they comforted Acts 20:24 - none Acts 26:17 - Delivering Acts 27:22 - I exhort Romans 5:4 - patience Romans 8:17 - if so be 1 Corinthians 4:9 - I 1 Corinthians 4:11 - unto Colossians 1:24 - fill 1 Timothy 4:10 - therefore 2 Timothy 3:11 - Persecutions Hebrews 12:5 - nor faint

Cross-References

Genesis 4:3
Time passed. Cain brought an offering to God from the produce of his farm. Abel also brought an offering, but from the firstborn animals of his herd, choice cuts of meat. God liked Abel and his offering, but Cain and his offering didn't get his approval. Cain lost his temper and went into a sulk.

Genesis 4:6
God spoke to Cain: "Why this tantrum? Why the sulking? If you do well, won't you be accepted? And if you don't do well, sin is lying in wait for you, ready to pounce; it's out to get you, you've got to master it."

Genesis 4:9
God said to Cain, "Where is Abel your brother?" He said, "How should I know? Am I his babysitter?"

Genesis 4:10
God said, "What have you done! The voice of your brother's blood is calling to me from the ground. From now on you'll get nothing but curses from this ground; you'll be driven from this ground that has opened its arms to receive the blood of your murdered brother. You'll farm this ground, but it will no longer give you its best. You'll be a homeless wanderer on Earth."

Genesis 4:15
God told him, "No. Anyone who kills Cain will pay for it seven times over." God put a mark on Cain to protect him so that no one who met him would kill him.

Matthew 23:35
"You can't squirm out of this: Every drop of righteous blood ever spilled on this earth, beginning with the blood of that good man Abel right down to the blood of Zechariah, Barachiah's son, whom you murdered at his prayers, is on your head. All this, I'm telling you, is coming down on you, on your generation.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

We are troubled on every side,.... Or afflicted; εν παντι, either "in every place", wherever we are, into whatsoever country, city, or town we enter, we are sure to meet with trouble, of one sort or another; for wherever we be, we are in the world, in which we must expect tribulation: or "always", every day and hour we live, as in 2 Corinthians 4:10 we are never free from one trial or another: or "by everyone"; by all sorts of persons, good and bad, professors and profane, open persecutors and false brethren; yea, some of the dear children of God, weak believers, give us trouble: or "with every sort" of trouble, inward and outward; trouble from the world, the flesh and the devil:

yet not distressed; so as to have no hope, or see no way of escape; so as to have no manner of comfort, or manifestations of the love of God; or so as to be straitened in our own souls; for notwithstanding all our troubles, we have freedom at the throne of grace, and in our ministry; we can go with liberty to God, and preach the Gospel boldly to you:

we are perplexed; and sometimes know not what to do, which way to take, what course to steer, or how we shall be relieved and supplied; we are sometimes at the utmost loss about things temporal, how we shall be provided for with food and raiment; nor are we without our perplexing thoughts, doubts, and fears, about spiritual affairs:

but not in despair; of the Lord's appearing and working salvation, both in a temporal and spiritual sense.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

We are troubled - We the apostles. Paul here refers to some of the trials to which he and his fellow laborers were subjected in making known the gospel. The “design” for which he does it seems to be to show them:

1. What they endured in preaching the truth;
2. To show the sustaining power of that gospel in the midst of afflictions; and,
3. To conciliate their favor, or to remind them that they had endured these things on their account, 2 Corinthians 4:12-15.

Perhaps one leading design was to recover the affections of those of the Corinthians whose heart had been alienated from him, by showing them how much he had endured on their account. For this purpose he freely opens his heart to them, and tenderly represents the many and grievous pressures and hardships to which love to souls, and theirs among the rest, had exposed him - Doddridge. The whole passage is one of the most pathetic and beautiful to be found in the New Testament. The word rendered “troubled” (θλιβόμενοι thlibomenoi, from θλίβω thlibō) may have reference to wrestling, or to the contests in the Grecian games. It properly means, to press, to press together; then to press as in a crowd where there is a throng Mark 3:9; then to compress together Matthew 7:14; and then to oppress, or compress with evils, to distress, to afflict, 2Th 1:6; 2 Corinthians 1:6. Here it may mean, that he was encompassed with trials, or placed in the midst of them so that they pressed upon him as persons do in a crowd, or, possibly, as a man was close pressed by an adversary in the games. He refers to the fact that he was called to endure a great number of trials and afflictions. Some of those trials he refers to in 2 Corinthians 7:5. “When we were come into Macedonia, our flesh had no rest, but we were troubled on every side; without were fightings, within were fears.”

On every side - In every respect. In every way. We are subjected to all kinds of trim and affliction.

Yet not distressed - This by no means expresses the force of the original; nor is it possible perhaps to express it in a translation. Tyndale renders it, “yet we are not without our shift.” The Greek word used here (στενοχωρούμενοι stenochōroumenoi) has a relation to the word which is rendered “troubled.” It properly means “to crowd into a narrow place; to straiten as to room; to be so straitened as not to be able to turn oneself.” And the idea is, that though he was close pressed by persecutions and trials, yet he was not so hemmed in that he had no way to turn himself; his trials did not wholly prevent motion and action. He was not so closely pressed as a man would be who was so straitened that he could not move his body, or stir hand or foot. He had still resources; he was permitted to move; the energy of his piety, and the vigor of his soul could not be entirely cramped and impeded by the trials which encompassed him. The Syriac renders it: “In all things we are pressed, but are not suffocated.” The idea is, he was not wholly discouraged, and disheartened, and overcome. He had resources in his piety which enabled him to bear up under these trials, and still to engage in the work of preaching the gospel.

We are perplexed - (ἀπορούμενοι aporoumenoi). This word (from ἄπορος aporos, “without resource,” which is derived from α a, the alpha privative (“not”), and πόρος poros, way, or exit) means to be without resource; to know not what to do; to hesitate; to be in doubt and anxiety, as a traveler is, who is ignorant of the way, or who has not the means of prosecuting his journey. It means here, that they were often brought into circumstances of great embarrassment, where they hardly knew what to do, or what course to take. They were surrounded by foes; they were in want; they were in circumstances which they had not anticipated, and which greatly perplexed them.

But not in despair - In the margin, “not altogether without help or means.” Tyndale renders this: “We are in poverty, but not utterly without somewhat.” In the word used here, (ἐξαπορούμενοι exaporoumenoi) the preposition is intensive or emphatic, and means “utterly, quite.” The word means to be utterly without resource; to despair altogether; and the idea of Paul here is, that they were not left “entirely” without resource. Their needs were provided for; their embarrassments were removed; their grounds of perplexity were taken away; and unexpected strength and resources were imparted to them. When they did not know what to do; when all resources seemed to fail them, in some unexpected manner they would be relieved and saved from absolute despair. How often does this occur in the lives of all Christians! And how certain is it, that in all such cases God will interpose by his grace, and aid his people, and save them from absolute despair.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse 2 Corinthians 4:8. We are troubled on every side — We have already seen, in the notes on the ninth chapter of the preceding epistle, that St. Paul has made several allusions to those public games which were celebrated every fifth year at the Isthmus of Corinth; and those games have been in that place particularly described. In this and the three following verses the apostle makes allusion to the contests at those games; and the terms which he employs in these verses cannot be understood but in reference to those agonistical exercises to which he alludes. Dr. Hammond has explained the whole on this ground; and I shall here borrow his help. There are four pairs of expressions taken from the customs of the agones.

1. Troubled on every side, yet not distressed.

2. Perplexed, but not in despair.

3. Persecuted, but not forsaken.

4. Cast down, but not destroyed.

Three of these pairs belong to the customs of wrestling; the fourth, to that of running in the race.

Troubled on every side, c.] Εν παντι θλιβομενοι. The word θλιβεσθαι, belongs clearly to παλη wrestling. So says Aristotle, Rhet. lib. i. cap. 5, (and the Scholiast on that place,) ὁ γαρ δυναμενος - θλιβειν και κατεχειν, παλαιστικος·. "He that can gripe his adversary, and take him up, is a good wrestler" there being two dexterities in that exercise:

1. to gripe, and

2. to throw down, which Hesychius calls ωθειν and κρατειν; the first of these is here mentioned, and expressed by θλιβεσθαι, to be pressed down; to which is here opposed, as in a higher degree, στενοχωρεισθαι, to be brought to distress, as when one cannot get out of his antagonist's hands, nor make any resistance against him. So in Isaiah: στενοχωρουμενοι ου δυναμεθα μαχεσθαι, we are brought to such extremities that we can fight no longer.

Perplexed, but not in despair — Απορουμενοι, αλλ' ουκ εξαπορουμενοι. The word απορεισθαι, to be in perplexity, is fit for the wrestler, who being puzzled by his antagonist's skill knows not what to do: so in Hesychius, απορουντες, αμηχανουντες, they that are not able to do or attempt any thing, yet are not εξαπορουμενοι, they miscarry not finally, ορθοι ισταμενοι, stand after all upright; ουκ απογινωσκοντες και ἡττωμενοι, despair not, nor are they overcome, but find a happy issue out of all, being at last conquerors.