[a]For though I made you sorry with a letter, I repent not, though I did repent: for I perceive that the same Epistle made you sorry, though it were but for a season.

I now rejoice, not that ye were sorry, but that ye sorrowed to [b]repentance: for ye sorrowed godly, so that in nothing ye were hurt by us.

10 For [c]godly sorrow causeth repentance unto salvation, not to be repented of: but the worldly sorrow causeth death.

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Footnotes

  1. 2 Corinthians 7:8 An objection: But thou hast handled us roughly. The Apostle answereth that he used not this toughness without grief. And he addeth moreover, that he is also glad now that he drove them to that sorrow, although it was against his will, since it was so profitable unto them: for there is a sorrow not only praiseworthy, but also necessary, to wit, whereby repentance groweth by certain degrees, for the which repentance he praiseth them highly. And this is the fifth part of this Epistle.
  2. 2 Corinthians 7:9 Insomuch that that sorrow did you much good toward the amending of your lewdness and sins.
  3. 2 Corinthians 7:10 Godly sorrow is when we are not terrified with the fear of punishment, but because we feel we have offended God our most merciful Father: contrary to this, there is another sorrow, that only feareth punishment, or when a man is vexed for the loss of some worldly goods: the fruit of the first, repentance, and the fruit of the second, is desperation, unless the Lord helps speedily.

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