2tn Here φειδόμενος (feidomeno") has been translated as a telic participle.

3sn Paul had promised to come again to visit (see 2 Cor 1:15, 24) but explains here why he had changed his plans.

map For location see JP1-C2; JP2-C2; JP3-C2; JP4-C2.

4tn Or “because you stand firm in the faith.”

5tc Although usually δέ (de, “now”; found in א A C D¹ F G Ψ 0285 Ï lat) should take precedent over γάρ (gar) in textually disputed places in the corpus Paulinum, the credentials for γάρ here are not easily dismissed (Ì⁴⁶ B 0223 0243 33 1739 1881 al); here it is the preferred reading, albeit slightly.

6tn Or “I decided this for myself.”

7tn Grk “not to come to you again in sorrow.”

sn Paul was not speaking absolutely about not making another visit, but meant he did not want to come to the Corinthians again until the conflict he mentioned in 2 Cor 2:4-11 was settled.

8tn Or “to cheer me up.” L&N 25.131 translates this “For if I were to make you sad, who would be left to cheer me up?”

9tn The words “to you” are not in the Greek text but are implied.

10sn So that when I came. Regarding this still future visit by Paul, see 2 Cor 12:14; 13:1.

11tn Or “the love that I have in great measure for you.”

12tn Or “(not to say too much)”; Grk “(not to burden you [with words]).”

13tn Grk “so that on the other hand.”

14tn The word “him” is not in the Greek text but is supplied. Direct objects in Greek were often omitted and must be supplied from the context.

15tn Grk “comfort him, lest somehow such a person be swallowed up by excessive grief,” an idiom for a person being so overcome with grief as to despair or give up completely (L&N 25.285). In this context of excessive grief or regret for past sins, “overwhelmed” is a good translation since contemporary English idiom speaks of someone “overwhelmed by grief.” Because of the length of the Greek sentence and the difficulty of expressing a negative purpose/result clause in English, a new sentence was started here in the translation.

16tn Or “I urge you to show that your love for him is real.”

17tn The word “you” is not in the Greek text, but is implied (as an understood direct object).

18tn Grk “to know the proof of you,” that is, to know if the Corinthians’ obedience to Paul as an apostle was genuine (L&N 72.7).

19tn Or “be taken advantage of.”

20sn Troas was a city and region in the northwest corner of Asia Minor.

21tn This has been translated as a concessive participle (“even though”). The passive construction (“a door of opportunity had been opened for me by the Lord”) has been converted to an active one in the translation for clarity.

22tn Grk “a door”; the phrase ἀνοίγω θύραν (anoigw quran, “to open a door”) is an idiom meaning “to make possible some opportunity” (L&N 71.9).

23tn Or “I had no peace of mind.”

24tn Or “I took my leave of them.”

25tn Since this refers to the outset of a journey, the aorist ἐξῆλθον (exhlqon) is taken ingressively.

26tn Or “who always causes us to triumph.”

27tn Or “in the Messiah.”

28tn Or “who reveals.”

29tn The same Greek word (ὀσμή, osmh) translated “odor” here (in relation to the stench of death) has been translated “fragrance” in 2:14 and in the next phrase of the present verse. The word itself can describe a smell or odor either agreeable or disagreeable depending on the context (L&N 79.45).

30sn These things refer to the things Paul is doing in his apostolic ministry.

31tn The participle καπηλεύοντες (kaphleuonte") refers to those engaged in retail business, but with the negative connotations of deceptiveness and greed – “to peddle for profit,” “to huckster” (L&N 57.202). In the translation a noun form (“hucksters”) has been used in combination with the English verb “peddle…for profit” to convey the negative connotations of this term.

32tn Or “in the presence of.”

33tn Or “persons of pure motives.”