1 HAVING therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from every pollution of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.
2 Receive us; we wronged no one, we corrupted no one, we defrauded no one.
3 I say it not for condemnation; for I have before said, that ye are in our hearts, to die together and to live together.
4 Great is my confidence toward you, great is my glorying on account of you; I am filled with the consolation, I am made to abound with the joy, in all our affliction.
5 For indeed, when we were come into Macedonia, our flesh had no rest, but we were afflicted in every way; without were fightings, within were fears.
6 But God, who consoles those who are cast down, consoled us by the coming of Titus;
7 and not by his coming only, but also by the consolation with which he was consoled in you, when he told us your earnest desire, your mourning, your zeal for me; so that I rejoiced the more.
8 Because, though I made you sorry with the letter, I do not regret it, though I did regret it; for I perceive that that letter made you sorry, though but for a season.
9 Now I rejoice, not that ye were made sorry, but that ye were made sorry unto repentance; for ye were made sorry after a godly manner, that ye might in nothing receive harm from us.
10 For godly sorrow works repentance unto salvation, not to be regretted; but the sorrow of the world works out death.
11 For behold this very thing, that ye were made sorry after a godly manner, what earnestness it wrought in you; yea, what clearing of yourselves; yea, what indignation; yea, what fear; yea, what longing desire; yea, what zeal; yea, what avenging! In every thing ye commended yourselves as pure in the matter.
12 So then, though I wrote to you, it was not on account of him who did the wrong, nor of him who suffered wrong, but that your care for us might be made manifest to you in the sight of God.
13 For this cause we were consoled; but in our consolation, we rejoiced abundantly more at the joy of Titus, because his spirit has been refreshed by you all.
14 For if in any thing I have boasted to him of you, I was not made ashamed; but as we spoke all things to you in truth, so also our boasting before Titus was found to be truth.
15 And his tender affection is more abundantly toward you, while he remembers the obedience of you all, how with fear and trembling ye received him.
16 I rejoice, that in every thing I have confidence in you.
