2 Korintus 12:3-4

12:3 And I know that this man (whether in the body or apart from the body I do not know, God knows) 12:4 was caught up into paradise ¹  and heard things too sacred to be put into words, ²  things that a person ³  is not permitted to speak.

2 Korintus 2:7

2:7 so that now instead ⁴  you should rather forgive and comfort him. ⁵  This will keep him from being overwhelmed by excessive grief to the point of despair. ⁶ 

[12:4]  ¹ 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]  ² tn Or “things that cannot be put into words.”

[12:4]  ³ tn Grk “a man.”

[2:7]  ⁴ tn Grk “so that on the other hand.”

[2:7]  ⁵ tn The word “him” is not in the Greek text but is supplied. Direct objects in Greek were often omitted and must be supplied from the context.

[2:7]  ⁶ tn Grk “comfort him, lest somehow such a person be swallowed up by excessive grief,” an idiom for a person being so overcome with grief as to despair or give up completely (L&N 25.285). In this context of excessive grief or regret for past sins, “overwhelmed” is a good translation since contemporary English idiom speaks of someone “overwhelmed by grief.” Because of the length of the Greek sentence and the difficulty of expressing a negative purpose/result clause in English, a new sentence was started here in the translation.