2 Corinthians 6
Do not receive the grace of God in vain — now is the acceptable time, now the day of salvation. We give no occasion for striking and commend ourselves as servants of God — in endurance, afflictions, necessities, distresses; in blows, prisons, upheavals; in purity, knowledge, patience; through the weapons of righteousness of the right and of the left; as deceivers and yet true, as dying and yet alive, as poor yet enriching many, having nothing and holding all things. Corinthians, our heart is widened — be widened, you also. Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers — what has righteousness with lawlessness, light with the dark, Christ with Beliar, the sanctuary of God with idols? We are the sanctuary of the living God: I will dwell in them and walk among them. Come out from among them and be separated. I will be a father to you — says the Lord Almighty.
Why this rendering
2Cor.6.2 Observation
Syntactic observation
λέγει γάρ· Καιρῷ δεκτῷ ἐπήκουσά σου καὶ ἐν ἡμέρᾳ σωτηρίας ἐβοήθησά σοι· ἰδοὺ νῦν καιρὸς εὐπρόσδεκτος, ἰδοὺ νῦν ἡμέρα σωτηρίας — for he says, ‘In an acceptable time I hearkened to you, and in a day of salvation I helped you.’ Look, now is the acceptable time; look, now is the day of salvation. λέγει has no subject — God or the scripture, the text does not say. The quotation from Isaiah 49 has δεκτός (Luke 4:19 ‘the acceptable year’), but Paul’s answer changes the word to εὐπρόσδεκτος (Rom 15:16), the stronger form with εὐ- prefixed; English has ‘acceptable’ for both. ἐπακούω (once in the New Testament) is ἀκούω, ‘hear’, with ἐπι- — a different word from the εἰσακούω, ‘listen to’, of 1 Cor 14:21, hence ‘hearken’. In v.1 εἰς κενόν is the κενός of 1 Cor 15:10, ‘did not become empty’.
Rendering options · 2
Basis Both renderings are fixed (Luke 4:19; Rom 15:16); English has no natural second word, and the loss is recorded.
Basis Marking the intensification with an adverb.
Rejected ‘Favourable’ cuts both words from ‘acceptable’ as fixed at Luke 4:19 and Rom 15:16, and ‘most’ adds a superlative the Greek lacks.
Lost in translation
δεκτός (the quotation) → εὐπρόσδεκτος (Paul) — both are ‘acceptable’; the change of word is not seen.
The empty subject of λέγει — ‘he says’ must choose a subject.
ἐπακούω ↔ εἰσακούω (1 Cor 14:21) — ‘hearken / listen to’ keep the two words apart.
Why this rendering
2Cor.6.4 Observation
Syntactic observation
ἀλλ’ ἐν παντὶ συνιστάνοντες ἑαυτοὺς ὡς θεοῦ διάκονοι· ἐν ὑπομονῇ πολλῇ, ἐν θλίψεσιν, ἐν ἀνάγκαις, ἐν στενοχωρίαις … — but in everything commending ourselves as servants of God: in much endurance, in afflictions, in necessities, in distresses … διάκονοι is nominative — not ‘commending ourselves as servants’ (accusative) but ‘commending ourselves, as servants of God do’. Verses 4-7 have ἐν eighteen times (six groups of three), vv.7-8 διά three times, vv.8-10 ὡς seven times — the counting is the structure. ἀνάγκη and στενοχωρία stand side by side in one verse (so too 12:10). In v.8 δυσφημία · εὐφημία (each once in the New Testament) are δυσ-/εὐ- laid on the φήμη, ‘report’, of Matt 9:26. In v.5 ἀγρυπνία is the noun of ἀγρυπνέω, ‘keep vigil’ (Mark 13:33). In v.9 ἰδοὺ ζῶμεν breaks the file of participles with an indicative.
Rendering options · 3
Basis The base text builds six groups of three on one preposition; keeping ‘in’ for circumstances (vv.4-5) and qualities (vv.6-7) alike keeps that single preposition visible.
Basis Varying the preposition for the qualities.
Rejected It hides that one preposition governs all eighteen.
Basis Rendering ἀνάγκη and στενοχωρία with one word.
Rejected Two different words in one verse would collapse; ἀνάγκη takes ‘necessities’ as fixed at 1 Cor 7:37.
Lost in translation
δυσφημία / εὐφημία ↔ φήμη (Matt 9:26) — ‘evil report / good report’ stand on ‘report’.
ἀγρυπνία ↔ ἀγρυπνέω (Mark 13:33) — ‘vigils / keep vigil’ keep noun and verb together.
The nominative of ὡς θεοῦ διάκονοι — ‘as servants of God’ reads like an accusative.
ἐν πνεύματι ἁγίῳ (v.6) — the anarthrous phrase is closed by capitals to ‘the Holy Spirit’.
Why this rendering
2Cor.6.11 Observation
Syntactic observation
Τὸ στόμα ἡμῶν ἀνέῳγεν πρὸς ὑμᾶς, Κορίνθιοι, ἡ καρδία ἡμῶν πεπλάτυνται· οὐ στενοχωρεῖσθε ἐν ἡμῖν, στενοχωρεῖσθε δὲ ἐν τοῖς σπλάγχνοις ὑμῶν· τὴν δὲ αὐτὴν ἀντιμισθίαν, ὡς τέκνοις λέγω, πλατύνθητε καὶ ὑμεῖς — Our mouth stands open toward you, Corinthians; our heart has been widened. You are not cramped in us, but you are cramped in your own bowels. And as the same recompense — I speak as to children — be widened, you also. πλατύνω (Matt 23:5 ‘widen their phylacteries’) ↔ στενοχωρέομαι is the root-pair of Matt 7:13-14, πλατεῖα (the wide gate) ↔ στενή (the narrow gate) — a widened heart and cramped bowels. ἀνέῳγεν is a perfect, ‘stands open’ (intransitive). σπλάγχνα is the word of Luke 1:78, ‘bowels of mercy’. ἀντιμισθία (Rom 1:27) stands alone in the accusative, ‘as the same recompense’. The Corinthians are addressed by name (Κορίνθιοι).
Rendering options · 3
Basis The two roots of the wide and narrow gate (Matt 7:13-14) return here on heart and bowels; ‘widened / cramped’ keeps the picture of room.
Basis The familiar rendering.
Rejected ‘Restricted’ has no narrowness and loses the opposition to ‘widened’.
Basis Paraphrasing σπλάγχνα.
Rejected καρδία, ‘heart’, is already in v.11; it merges two words and cuts the thread to Luke 1:78.
Lost in translation
πλατύνω ↔ στενοχωρέομαι — ‘widened / cramped’ stand as opposites; ‘cramped’ does not repeat the ‘narrow’ of Matt 7:13-14.
στενοχωρέομαι — one word with 4:8 ‘hemmed in’; here ‘cramped’ (a rendering that differs by place).
σπλάγχνα — one word ‘bowels’ with Luke 1:78.
Why this rendering
2Cor.6.14 Observation
Syntactic observation
Μὴ γίνεσθε ἑτεροζυγοῦντες ἀπίστοις· τίς γὰρ μετοχὴ δικαιοσύνῃ καὶ ἀνομίᾳ, ἢ τίς κοινωνία φωτὶ πρὸς σκότος; τίς δὲ συμφώνησις Χριστοῦ πρὸς Βελιάρ, ἢ τίς μερὶς πιστῷ μετὰ ἀπίστου; τίς δὲ συγκατάθεσις ναῷ θεοῦ μετὰ εἰδώλων — Do not become unequally yoked with unbelievers; for what sharing has righteousness with lawlessness, or what fellowship has light with the dark? And what concord has Christ with Beliar, or what part has a believer with an unbeliever? And what agreement has the sanctuary of God with idols? Five questions use five nouns — μετοχή · κοινωνία · συμφώνησις · μερίς · συγκατάθεσις; three of them (μετοχή · συμφώνησις · συγκατάθεσις) occur once in the New Testament, as does ἑτεροζυγέω (the ζυγός, ‘yoke’, of Matt 11:29). The connecting words also all differ — καί · πρός · πρός · μετά · μετά. Βελιάρ is the base text’s spelling; the Received Text ends the name in -λ. In v.16 ἡμεῖς … ἐσμεν (⸂⸃ — the Received Text reads ‘you are’).
Rendering options · 3
Basis Each follows a fixed rendering: μετέχω ‘share in’ (1 Cor 9:10), κοινωνία ‘fellowship’ (Acts 2:42), μερίς ‘part’ (Luke 10:42), συγκατατίθεμαι ‘agree’ (Luke 23:51); ‘concord’ for συμφώνησις keeps the fifth noun distinct.
Basis The familiar renderings.
Rejected ‘Partnership’ cuts μετοχή from μετέχω, ‘share in’, as fixed at 1 Cor 9:10.
Basis The Received Text’s spelling and the familiar name.
Rejected The base text reads Βελιάρ; the sound follows the base text.
Lost in translation
Five different nouns — ‘sharing · fellowship · concord · part · agreement’ keep five as five.
συμφώνησις ↔ συμφωνέω (Acts 5:9 ‘agree together’) — ‘concord’ does not share a root with the verb.
ἑτεροζυγέω ↔ ζυγός (Matt 11:29) — ‘unequally yoked / yoke’ keep the root.
Why this rendering
2Cor.6.16 Observation
Syntactic observation
καθὼς εἶπεν ὁ θεὸς ὅτι Ἐνοικήσω ἐν αὐτοῖς καὶ ἐμπεριπατήσω, καὶ ἔσομαι αὐτῶν θεός, καὶ αὐτοὶ ἔσονταί μου λαός. διὸ ἐξέλθατε ἐκ μέσου αὐτῶν, καὶ ἀφορίσθητε, λέγει κύριος, καὶ ἀκαθάρτου μὴ ἅπτεσθε· κἀγὼ εἰσδέξομαι ὑμᾶς· καὶ ἔσομαι ὑμῖν εἰς πατέρα, καὶ ὑμεῖς ἔσεσθέ μοι εἰς υἱοὺς καὶ θυγατέρας, λέγει κύριος παντοκράτωρ — as God said: ‘I will dwell in them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Therefore come out from among them and be separated — says the Lord — and touch no unclean thing; and I will receive you, and I will be a father to you, and you shall be sons and daughters to me — says the Lord Almighty.’ From the end of v.16 to v.18 runs one chain of quotations — Leviticus and Ezekiel’s ‘dwell and walk’, Isaiah’s ‘come out, be separated’, Ezekiel’s ‘I will receive you’, Samuel’s ‘I will be a father’ — threaded twice by λέγει κύριος. ἐμπεριπατέω (once in the New Testament) is περιπατέω, ‘walk’, with ἐν-. Verse 18 adds ‘daughters’ to Samuel’s ‘son’. παντοκράτωρ occurs outside this place only in Revelation.
Rendering options · 3
Basis ἐνοικέω as fixed at Rom 8:11, ‘dwell in’; ἐμπεριπατέω keeps ‘walk’ with ‘among’ for ἐν-.
Basis The familiar rendering.
Rejected ‘Live’ is ζάω and ‘move’ cuts the verb from περιπατέω, ‘walk’.
Basis (English adopts this form.)
Rejected Not a rejection in English; listed to record that Korean keeps the in-quotation form ‘주가 말한다’ of Rom 12:19.
Lost in translation
ἐμπεριπατέω ↔ περιπατέω — ‘walk among’ keeps ‘walk’ with the prefix as ‘among’.
λέγει κύριος twice — the same phrase as Rom 12:19, ‘says the Lord’.
εἰσδέχομαι — δέχομαι, ‘receive’, with εἰσ-; ‘receive’ shows no prefix.