²³ But ^(A)I call God as witness to my soul, that it was ^(B)to spare you that I did not come again to ^(C)Corinth.

Reaffirm Your Love

2 But I decided this ^[a]for my own sake, that I ^(A)would not come to you in sorrow again.

³ This is the very thing I ^(A)wrote you, so that ^(B)when I came, I would not have sorrow from those who ought to make me rejoice; having ^(C)confidence in you all that my joy was the joy of you all.

²⁰ For I am afraid that perhaps ^(A)when I come I may find you to be not what I wish, and may be found by you to be not what you wish; that perhaps there will be ^(B)strife, jealousy, ^(C)angry tempers, ^(D)selfishness, ^(E)slanders, ^(F)gossip, ^(G)arrogance, ^(H)disturbances;

² I have previously said when I was present the second time, and though now absent I say in advance to those who have ^(A)sinned in the past and to all the rest as well, that ^(B)if I come again I will not ^(C)spare anyone,

¹⁰ For this reason I am writing these things while absent, so that when present ^(A)I need not use ^(B)severity, in accordance with the ^(C)authority which the Lord gave me for building up and not for tearing down.