2 Korintus 2:1

2:1 So ¹  I made up my own mind ²  not to pay you another painful visit. ³ 

2 Korintus 12:4

12:4 was caught up into paradise ⁴  and heard things too sacred to be put into words, ⁵  things that a person ⁶  is not permitted to speak.

2 Korintus 13:1-2

Paul’s Third Visit to Corinth

13:1 This is the third time I am coming to visit ⁷  you. By the testimony ⁸  of two or three witnesses every matter will be established. ⁹  13:2 I said before when I was present the second time and now, though absent, I say again to those who sinned previously and to all the rest, that if I come again, I will not spare anyone, ¹⁰ 

[2:1]  ¹ tc Although usually δέ (de, “now”; found in א A C D¹ F G Ψ 0285 Ï lat) should take precedent over γάρ (gar) in textually disputed places in the corpus Paulinum, the credentials for γάρ here are not easily dismissed (Ì⁴⁶ B 0223 0243 33 1739 1881 al); here it is the preferred reading, albeit slightly.

[2:1]  ² tn Or “I decided this for myself.”

[2:1]  ³ tn Grk “not to come to you again in sorrow.”

[2:1]  sn Paul was not speaking absolutely about not making another visit, but meant he did not want to come to the Corinthians again until the conflict he mentioned in 2 Cor 2:4-11 was settled.

[12:4]  ⁴ sn In the NT, paradise is mentioned three times. In Luke 23:43 it refers to the abode of the righteous dead. In Rev 2:7 it refers to the restoration of Edenic paradise predicted in Isa 51:3 and Ezek 36:35. The reference here in 2 Cor 12:4 is probably to be translated as parallel to the mention of the “third heaven” in v. 2. Assuming that the “first heaven” would be atmospheric heaven (the sky) and “second heaven” the more distant stars and planets, “third heaven” would refer to the place where God dwells. This is much more likely than some variation on the seven heavens mentioned in the pseudepigraphic book 2 Enoch and in other nonbiblical and rabbinic works.

[12:4]  ⁵ tn Or “things that cannot be put into words.”

[12:4]  ⁶ tn Grk “a man.”

[13:1]  ⁷ tn The word “visit” is not in the Greek text, but is implied.

[13:1]  ⁸ tn Grk “By the mouth.”

[13:1]  ⁹ sn A quotation from Deut 19:15 (also quoted in Matt 18:16; 1 Tim 5:19).

[13:2]  ¹⁰ tn The word “anyone” is not in the Greek text but is implied.