¹So having these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from every defilement of flesh and spirit, bringing sanctification to completion in the fear of God. ²Make room for us; we have not wronged anyone, we have not corrupted anyone, we have not defrauded anyone. ³I do not say this as an accusation. For I have said before that you are in our hearts in dying with us and in living with us. ⁴I have great freedom of speech towards you; I have great exultation over you. I have been filled with comfort – I superabound in joy at all our tribulation. ⁵For indeed, when we went to Macedonia, our flesh had no respite, but we suffered tribulation in every way – strife externally, fears internally. ⁶But he, God, who comforts the downcast, has comforted us with the arrival of Titus. ⁷And not only with his arrival, but also in the comfort with which he had been comforted about you, as he related to us your longing, your lamentation, your zeal for me, with the result that I rejoiced all the more. ⁸For even if I have grieved you with my epistle, I do not have regret now, even if I did have regret. For I see that that epistle grieved you, even if it was just for a while. ⁹I rejoice now, not because you grieved, but in that you grieved resulting in repentance. For you grieved in a godly way, so that you were not hurt through us in any way. ¹⁰For godly grief engenders repentance leading to salvation without regrets. But worldly grief engenders death. ¹¹For as regards this very thing – your godly grieving – see how much eagerness it has engendered for you, and also defence of the case, and indignation, and fear, and longing, and zeal and vindication! In every respect you proved yourselves to be pure in the matter. ¹²Consequently, although I wrote to you, it was not on account of anyone doing wrong, or on account of anyone suffering wrong, but on account of your eagerness towards us to be manifested to you in the sight of God. ¹³For this reason we have been comforted. But we rejoiced at your encouragement all the more exuberantly at the joy of Titus, in that his spirit was refreshed by you all. ¹⁴So if I have boasted to him about you in anything, I have not been put to shame, but just as we spoke everything in truth to you, so our boasting before Titus has been true. ¹⁵And his affections are most exuberantly towards you, as he remembers the obedience of all of you – how you received him with fear and trembling. ¹⁶I rejoice that in everything I have confidence in you.