42 Grk “I call upon God as witness against my soul.” Normally this implies an appeal for help (L&N 33.176).
43 Here φειδόμενος (pheidomenos) has been translated as a telic participle.
44 Paul had promised to come again to visit (see 2 Cor 1:15, 24) but explains here why he had changed his plans. For location see ; ; ; .

In other versions

But I call God to witness against me—it was to spare you that I refrained from coming again to Corinth.

I call God as my witness—and I stake my life on it—that it was in order to spare you that I did not return to Corinth.

I call on God as a witness, on my life, that it was to spare you that I did not come to Corinth.

Now I call upon God as my witness that I am telling the truth. The reason I didn’t return to Corinth was to spare you from a severe rebuke.

But I call upon God as witness against my life, that in order to spare you, I did not come again to Corinth.

Moreover I call God for a record upon my soul, that to spare you I came not as yet unto Corinth.

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