2nd Corinthians Chapter 12 verse 16 Holy Bible

ASV 2ndCorinthians 12:16

But be it so, I did not myself burden you; but, being crafty, I caught you with guile.
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BBE 2ndCorinthians 12:16

But let it be so, that I was not a trouble to you myself; but (someone may say) being false, I took you with deceit.
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DARBY 2ndCorinthians 12:16

But be it so. *I* did not burden you, but being crafty I took you by guile.
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KJV 2ndCorinthians 12:16

But be it so, I did not burden you: nevertheless, being crafty, I caught you with guile.
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WBT 2ndCorinthians 12:16


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WEB 2ndCorinthians 12:16

But be it so, I did not myself burden you. But, being crafty, I caught you with deception.
read chapter 12 in WEB

YLT 2ndCorinthians 12:16

And be it `so', I -- I did not burden you, but being crafty, with guile I did take you;
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Pulpit Commentary

Pulpit CommentaryVerse 16. - But be it so, I did not burden you. The "I" is emphatic. It is shocking to think that, even after Paul has so triumphantly cleared himself from the disgraceful charge of trying to make gain out of the Corinthians, he should still be obliged to meet the slanderous innuendo that, even if he had not personally tried to get anything out of them, still he had done so indirectly through the agency of Titus. Being crafty, I caught you with guile. He is here quoting the sneer of his enemies (see what he has already said in 2 Corinthians 1:12; 2 Corinthians 7:2). The word used for "being" means "being by my very nature."

Ellicott's Commentary

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers(16) But be it so, I did not burden you.--The pronoun is again emphatic. The word for "burden" is not the same as in 2Corinthians 12:13-14, but puts the fact less figuratively. The abruptness of the sentence requires us to trace between the lines the under-currents of unexpressed thoughts. The extreme, almost jealous, sensitiveness of the Apostle's nature leads him to imagine the cynical sneer with which these assertions of disinterested work would be received. "Be it so," he hears them saying; "we admit that he, in his own person, when he was with us, made no demands on our purses; but what are we to think of this 'collection for the saints'? How do we know into whose pockets that money will go? We know him to be subtle enough" (the adjective is that from which we get the "subtlety" of 2Corinthians 4:2; 2Corinthians 11:3) "to take us in somehow: what if the collection be a trap?" There is a specially taunting force in the Greek for "being crafty," as taking the fact for granted, and assuming that it would inevitably lead on to some new development of that character in act.