I, Paul, myself: the use of the personal pronoun, proper name and the intensive pronoun combine to emphasize as strongly as possible the apostle’s personal involvement in the appeal that follows. This strong emphasis should be reflected in the receptor language, using forms that are natural in such circumstances. Compare Rom 7.25; 9.3; 15.14; also 2 Cor 12.13.

Entreat: the same Greek verb is used earlier in this letter of Paul’s appeals to the Corinthians (2.8; 5.20; 6.1), although it is translated by different English words (“beg,” “beseech,” “entreat”).

The meekness and gentleness of Christ: the Greek word translated meekness suggests a gentleness of attitude and behavior, a lack of harshness. The word translated gentleness suggests the quality of gracious forbearing. The words meekness and gentleness often occurred together in ancient Greek writings and are synonyms. The idea of begging someone by these attributes of Christ may be difficult to convey in some languages. It may be more natural to say something like “I beg you in the name of Christ, who is meek and gentle.”

Paul’s language in this verse is sarcastic. The words who am humble when face to face with you, but bold to you when I am away almost certainly reflect a charge made against Paul, either by the Corinthians themselves or by opponents who have come to Corinth. Good News Translation adds the words “am said to be” to indicate that Paul is echoing a charge made against himself, but which he does not accept (similarly Bible en français courant). Some languages do not express sarcasm in this manner, and a literal translation may wrongly suggest that Paul is simply giving his own description of himself in the second half of this verse. Revised English Bible also adds words to show that this is not Paul’s own self-evaluation: “I who am so timid [you say] when face to face with you.”

Humble … bold: the word rendered humble here is similar in significance to meekness and gentleness, but here almost has the meaning “weak,” “afraid,” or “timid” (Revised English Bible). It contrasts with bold, which may have to be translated “strong” or “brave” in some cases.

As in chapter 9, the pronouns you are all plural in chapter 10.

Some languages may find it more natural to reverse the order of the two main elements in this verse by beginning with the false accusation:
• Some people among you keep saying that I am weak when I am with you and become strong only when we are far apart. But I myself, Paul, I beg you in the name of Christ, who was kind and gentle, not to push me into being strong when I see you face to face.

Quoted with permission from Omanson, Roger L. and Ellingworth, Paul. A Handbook on Paul’s Second Letter to the Corinthians. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1993. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .

So: the transition word here indicates the logical inference of what has just been said about Satan. It may also be rendered “Then” (New Jerusalem Bible and New International Version) or “Therefore” (Barclay and Anchor Bible).

It is not strange: or, more literally, “nothing so great.” The meaning here is not very different from the first words in the previous verse, “no wonder.” Anchor Bible has “it is … no great surprise.” Similarly New Jerusalem Bible has “it is nothing extraordinary.”

The words his servants, that is, the servants of Satan, refer to the false apostles. Servants here is diakonoi, this time used in a context of evil.

Servants of righteousness: righteousness here probably does not have the theological connotation that it frequently has in Paul’s writings. The meaning is more general here, that they disguise themselves “as agents of good” (Revised English Bible) or “servants of uprightness” (New Jerusalem Bible).

Their end will correspond to their deeds: literally “the end of whom will be according to their works.” The idea of ultimate punishment is clearly implied here. The Good News Translation rendering “In the end” may be easily misunderstood to mean “In the last days.” But what is involved here is the end of these servants of Satan. The idea is more like “they will end up getting the punishment which they deserve.”

Quoted with permission from Omanson, Roger L. and Ellingworth, Paul. A Handbook on Paul’s Second Letter to the Corinthians. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1993. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .

Spend and be spent: Paul continues to use terms related to money (see “lay up” in verse 14). Two closely related verbs are used here, but the second is more intense in meaning and is passive in form; literally “be spent out,” that is, spent until nothing is left. Revised English Bible attempts to reflect the intensive nature of the second verb by adding “to the limit.” In many languages it will be impossible to retain the biblical image of Paul himself being “spent,” using the same term as used for spending money. The idea of “being spent” for someone may have to be translated “to give oneself” or “to commit oneself.” Contemporary English Version translates “I will gladly give all that I have and all that I am.”

The word souls here refers to the whole person. So it will be more natural in most languages to translate “for you” or “for your lives.”

The more … the less: many languages require clarification of the comparisons here. More or less than what or whom? While there is a comparison between the way Paul loves the Corinthians and the way they love him, the first term may be translated in an absolute sense. Many versions translate the more as “too much.” The word used here is, in fact, the same as in 10.8, where Revised Standard Version renders it “too much.” It is also translated “abundant” (2.4), “excessive” (2.7), and “all the more” (7.15). One version says “If I love you beyond limit like that, will you love me so little?”

Am I to be loved the less: the Greek has no explicit agent for the verb be loved. Good News Translation correctly makes explicit that the Corinthians are the agent.

Quoted with permission from Omanson, Roger L. and Ellingworth, Paul. A Handbook on Paul’s Second Letter to the Corinthians. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1993. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .

As the note in TEV indicates, some manuscripts have the plural (literally “such terrible deaths”), while others have the singular. It is difficult to decide which reading is more likely to have been original, though the meaning is basically the same in either case.

Other differences occur in the Greek manuscripts of this verse. Some omit the words and he will deliver us. Other manuscripts read “he delivers us” (King James Version, Reina-Valera revisada) instead of he will deliver us. This provides a neat past, present, and future use of the same verb, but most scholars prefer the reading followed by Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation. Some languages must distinguish between the near future and the distant future; here Paul seems to be referring to the near future. The verb translated deliver may also be rendered “preserve” or “rescue.” This same term is found in 2 Tim 4.17 in the sense of being rescued from the jaws of a lion. The word used here is not the one usually translated “save” in English. Some languages may say something like “snatched us from the jaws of death,” or “pulled us out of the way of death,” or “turned us from the road of death.”

We have set our hope: this English expression represents a single verb in Greek that has the same root as the noun in verse 7. In a number of languages it will be rendered something like “we have placed our hearts [on him],” or the whole phrase may read “we trust him [God] to rescue us from the dangers to come.”

That he will deliver us again: these words express the content of the hope or the object of the verb to hope (Revised Standard Version, Good News Translation). Some Greek manuscripts, however, omit the word that. Translations that follow the manuscripts without the word that begin a new sentence with this clause: “and he will deliver us again, he on whom our hope is fixed. Yes, he will continue to deliver us” (Revised English Bible). The Greek text, as represented by Revised English Bible, does not state explicitly what the content of the hope is. Nor does the Greek state explicitly the grammatical object of the verb deliver in this case. It is, however, easily supplied from the first verb in this verse. This may be done by repeating “deliver us from death” or by adding a different expression synonymous with death or destruction. Other languages may say “prevent us from dying” or “keep us alive.”

Quoted with permission from Omanson, Roger L. and Ellingworth, Paul. A Handbook on Paul’s Second Letter to the Corinthians. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1993. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .

This verse is the answer to the question in the second half of the previous verse. The implicit answer is made explicit in Revised English Bible, “No, you are the letter we need.” Paul does not need a written letter from human authorities to establish his apostolic authority. The existence of the Christian community at Corinth, the result of Paul’s missionary activity there, is proof enough that Paul is a genuine apostle.

The language in this verse is figurative language. Some translators may need to say “You are like a letter which recommends us” and “you are like a letter written on our hearts.” The passive idea contained in written may have to be made active by saying something like “which you have written” or using the impersonal “which someone wrote.” But probably Paul is thinking of the Holy Spirit as the author of the figurative letter of recommendation, as in verse 3.

You yourselves are: in Greek the verb form already contains the pronoun, “you are.” However, an explicit pronoun is added by the writer, providing emphasis to the statement, as seen in Revised Standard Version‘s You yourselves are. Some translations say simply “you are” (Revised English Bible, New American Bible), but many translations correctly add the pronoun yourselves (Bible en français courant, New International Version). So in languages having emphatic forms of the pronoun, it should probably be used here.

Some good Greek manuscripts read written on your hearts (so Revised Standard Version, NRSV footnote), but the editors of the UBS Greek New Testament regard the better reading to be “written on our hearts” (so Good News Translation, New Revised Standard Version, Revised English Bible, New American Bible). “Our hearts” seems to fit the context better (see also 7.3). Languages differ as to whether to use the singular or plural of “heart” in such a context. In some cases the use of the plural will be understood to mean that each person had more than one heart. If this is the case, then the singular should obviously be used.

As has been noted above on 1.8, it is not clear here whether the first person plural pronoun our is an epistolary plural and refers to Paul alone (so Moffatt, An American Translation, and Parola Del Signore: La Bibbia in Lingua Corrente), or whether it really does include his associates also. Parola Del Signore: La Bibbia in Lingua Corrente translates all of the first person plural pronouns in 3.1-6 with first person singular pronouns.

Read by all men is a literal translation. Since the context seems to include both men and women, it may be better in most languages to use a word such as “everyone” (Good News Translation and New Jerusalem Bible) or “everybody” (New International Version). The passive verbs read and known may be easily transformed into active forms, since the agent is specifically mentioned in the text: “so that everyone may read and know….”

For some translators the model provided by Knox for this verse may prove helpful: “Why, you yourselves are the letters [of recommendation] we carry about with us, written in our hearts for all to recognize and to read.”

Quoted with permission from Omanson, Roger L. and Ellingworth, Paul. A Handbook on Paul’s Second Letter to the Corinthians. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1993. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .

So: the transition word used here is a rather strong one linking the following declaration to what has just been said. It is rendered “thus” (Anchor Bible), “no wonder…!” (Revised English Bible), “that is why…” (New Jerusalem Bible), and “hence” (Moffatt). It is probably not wise to leave it untranslated as in Contemporary English Version and New American Bible.

We do not lose heart: this is linked to 4.1, where the same verb is used, but it is also linked in thought to the previous verse: the apostles are encouraged by the extension of God’s grace. It is not clear whether all of the first person plural pronouns in this section include the readers, or whether the readers are included only in verse 10. If the pronouns are exclusive, neither is it clear whether Paul includes his companions or only himself (so Moffatt).

The second part of this verse is similar in thought to 3.18.

Outer nature: this refers to the physical part of human existence. Paul does not use this expression elsewhere, but in Rom 6.6 he does talk about “the old person” with much the same sense (likewise Col 3.9 and Eph 4.22). Some possible translation models here are “our body [or, bodies]” (New American Bible, Contemporary English Version), “the physical part of us” (Barclay), and “the outward part of our nature” (Knox).

Wasting away: the verb used here may be rendered “is gradually decaying” (Good News Translation), “wearing out,” or “gradually dying” (Contemporary English Version).

Inner nature: the reference is to the nonphysical, spiritual part of one’s being and stands in contrast with the outer nature. The same expression is translated by Revised Standard Version as “my inmost self” in Rom 7.22 and may be seen as practically synonymous with the “new creature” in 5.17 and Gal 6.15. It has been translated here as “we ourselves” (Contemporary English Version), “our inner being” (New American Bible), “our spirit inside us” (New Century Version), and “our inner life” (Knox).

Being renewed: this verb stands in contrast with wasting away and has been rendered “is refreshed” (Knox), “receives fresh strength” (Phillips), “are being made stronger” (Contemporary English Version).

Note that New International Version uses the adverbs “outwardly” and “inwardly” to translate the two difficult terms in this verse, and that New American Bible reverses the order of the two contrasting parts, speaking first of renewal “even though our body is being destroyed.”

Quoted with permission from Omanson, Roger L. and Ellingworth, Paul. A Handbook on Paul’s Second Letter to the Corinthians. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1993. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .

Unknown, and yet well known: the sense may be that they are unknown in the sense that most people do not know them, or, more specifically, the sense is probably that their apostolic authority is “unrecognized” by some Christians (so Barrett). The Greek does not state who knows Paul and his associates. According to Good News Translation it is other Christians (“by all”). Revised English Bible says “whom all men know,” and Contemporary English Version says “but well known to you.” Possibly Paul means that, even though certain Christians do not recognize his authority, yet God does, that is, “we are known by God.” Or perhaps Paul is thinking of both people and God. The passive ideas will have to be made active in many languages. Some suggested models are: “people do not accept us, but God accepts us” or, following the other interpretation, “people say they don’t know us, but they are always watching us.” Barclay reads “no one knows us and everyone knows us.” However, it is probably more likely that different agents are intended for the words “known” and “unknown.” The probable meaning is “some Christians do not recognize our apostolic authority, yet our authority as apostles is well known to Christians everywhere.”

As dying, and behold we live: Paul was constantly in danger of losing his life, and that seems to be the sense of the words as dying. On the word behold see 5.17 and 6.2. A possible model for this part of the verse: “they say that we are dying, but look! we are still alive.” Or “people think we are dying, yet we live on!”

As punished, and yet not killed: punished by whom? The parallel of Psa 118.17-18 to 6.9bc suggests that God is the implicit subject of the verb punished. In agreement with the Old Testament teaching that God’s punishment is intended to lead to correction (see, for example, Psa 94.12; 119.67), Paul may have interpreted his sufferings as God’s disciplinary action. On the other hand, the events of Paul’s life as we know them from Acts and from his own letters give support to the view that Paul has in mind here punishment by other human beings. In languages without appropriate passive forms, one may wish to say “they [indefinite] persecute us, but they do not kill us” or “we suffer greatly, but we do not die.”

Quoted with permission from Omanson, Roger L. and Ellingworth, Paul. A Handbook on Paul’s Second Letter to the Corinthians. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1993. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .

And not only that: this element seems to be omitted by New American Bible and Contemporary English Version. However, the wording found here is often used to compare something important with something even more important and should probably be represented in the receptor language. The use of the word “too” in Knox is an attempt to get at this (“he too is a man whom the churches have appointed”). Revised English Bible has “moreover,” and New Jerusalem Bible renders it “what is more.”

He has been appointed: the passive formulation here will have to be made active in many languages. But since the agent is specified in the original, this should present no major problems. The meaning is “the churches selected him….” However, in some cases the expression used for “churches” may not fit logically with verbs such as “choose” or “appoint.” If this is the case one may have to say “the people of the churches chose….”

By the churches: probably refers to the churches in Macedonia (8.1-6), or possibly by the churches of Asia Minor, or even by the churches in Judea. Since the churches were just mentioned in the previous verse, Revised English Bible uses a pronoun here: “they have duly appointed him…”

To travel with us: Paul is not speaking about traveling around in general. Rather the brother mentioned in verse 18 is to travel with Paul on this specific trip regarding the collection, probably all the way to Jerusalem. Parola Del Signore: La Bibbia in Lingua Corrente says “Moreover, the churches have appointed him to accompany me in the trip that I’m making in order to carry to the end this generous pledge.”

This gracious work: “this charis”; literally “this grace” as in verse 6 above. No doubt Paul has in mind the specific task of sharing with those in need. Contemporary English Version translates “while we carry this gift,” while Moffatt has “on the business of administering this fund.”

The relationship of the final clause, that is, for the glory … our good will, to what precedes is not clear. With most translations Good News Translation connects this clause with “we carry out this service.” It is also possible, however, to connect this clause with the words he has been appointed by the churches to travel with us (so Anchor Bible).

On the glory of the Lord, see comments on 1.20; see also 4.15. The Lord here is probably God. The UBS Greek New Testament prints the pronoun “himself” in square brackets, and the editors express considerable doubt about the correct reading by giving a “C” evaluation to the decision to include the pronoun in the text. If translators follow the UBS Greek New Testament (so New Revised Standard Version, Revised English Bible, New International Version, Traduction œcuménique de la Bible, Anchor Bible), the translation will say “for the glory of the Lord himself.”

To show our good will: the sense is probably that found in Good News Translation “to show that we want to help,” and New American Bible “for the expression of our eagerness.” However, if these words connect to the words appointed by the churches, then the sense may be that Paul has shown his good will by agreeing to have this Christian travel with them for the purpose of proving that Paul is not being irresponsible or dishonest in his handling of the money (see verse 20).

Quoted with permission from Omanson, Roger L. and Ellingworth, Paul. A Handbook on Paul’s Second Letter to the Corinthians. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1993. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .