2 Corinthians 2:1
So I made up my mind not to make another painful visit to you.
BSB
ASV
But I determined this for myself, that I would not come again to you with sorrow.
KJV
But I determined this with myself, that I would not come again to you in heaviness.
The word "again" shows that he had been grieved before as well. However, he did not say openly: "you also grieved me before," but in another way: "I did not come so as not to grieve you again," which, nevertheless, has one and the same …
But I determined this with myself - I made up my mind on this point; I formed this resolution in regard to my course. That I would not come again to you in heaviness - In grief (ἐνη λύπ enē lup). “I would not come, if I could avoid it, in circumstances which must have grieved both me and you. I would not come while there existed among you such irregularities as must have pained my heart, and as must have compelled me to resort to such acts of discipline as would be painful to you.
Rare words are the text's own signal of a deliberate thread: the fewer the occurrences, the more the places it appears belong together.
The walk8
Follow this verse’s cross-references two steps out. Each card is a verse this one points to, and beneath it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several different paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it. Every stop shows its own words, and every stop is a page.
Through
1 Corinthians 4:21Which do you prefer? Shall I come to you with a rod, or in love and with a gentle spirit?
leads to
I already warned you the second time I was with you. So now in my absence I warn those who sinned earlier and everyone else: If I return, I will not spare anyone,
Reached by 2 independent paths from here.
This is why I write these things while absent, so that when I am present I will not need to be severe in my use of the authority that the Lord gave me for…
Reached by 2 independent paths from here.
On the contrary, we were gentle among you, like a nursing mother caring for her children.
Through
2 Corinthians 1:23I call God as my witness that it was in order to spare you that I did not return to Corinth.
leads to
Which do you prefer? Shall I come to you with a rod, or in love and with a gentle spirit?
Reached by 2 independent paths from here.
I assure you before God that what I am writing to you is no lie.
Through
2 Corinthians 13:10This is why I write these things while absent, so that when I am present I will not need to be severe in my use of the authority that the Lord gave me for…
leads to
For even if I boast somewhat excessively about the authority the Lord gave us for building you up rather than tearing you down, I will not be ashamed.
Through
2 Corinthians 2:4For through many tears I wrote you out of great distress and anguish of heart, not to grieve you but to let you know how much I love you.
leads to
So even though I wrote to you, it was not on account of the one who did wrong or the one who was harmed, but rather that your earnestness on our behalf would be…
Better an open rebuke than love that is concealed.