2 Corinthians 2:1–11

¹And I decided this to myself, not again to come in sorrow unto you, ²for if I make you sorry, then who is he who is making me glad, except he who is made sorry by me? ³and I wrote to you this same thing, that having come, I may not have sorrow from them of whom it behoved me to have joy, having confidence in you all, that my joy is of you all, ⁴for out of much tribulation and pressure of heart I wrote to you through many tears, not that ye might be made sorry, but that ye might know the love that I have more abundantly toward you.

⁵And if any one hath caused sorrow, he hath not caused sorrow to me, but in part, that I may not burden you all; ⁶sufficient to such a one is this punishment, that is by the more part, ⁷so that, on the contrary, it is rather for you to forgive and to comfort, lest by over abundant sorrow such a one may be swallowed up; ⁸wherefore, I call upon you to confirm love to him, ⁹for, for this also did I write, that I might know the proof of you, whether in regard to all things ye are obedient. ¹⁰And to whom ye forgive anything—I also; for I also, if I have forgiven anything, to whom I have forgiven it, because of you—in the person of Christ—I forgive it, ¹¹that we may not be over-reached by the Adversary, for of his devices we are not ignorant.