2 Corinthians 12:16

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible

But let it be! - I, myself, did not burden you, - Notwithstanding, being crafty, with guile, I caught you?

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
Now granted, I did not burden you; yet sly as I am, I took you in by deceit!

King James Version (1611)
But be it so: I did not burthen you: neuerthelesse beeing craftie, I caught you with guile.

King James Version
But be it so, I did not burden you: nevertheless, being crafty, I caught you with guile.

English Standard Version
But granting that I myself did not burden you, I was crafty, you say, and got the better of you by deceit.

New American Standard Bible
But be that as it may, I did not burden you myself; nevertheless, devious person that I am, I took you in by deceit.

New Century Version
It is clear I was not a burden to you, but you think I was tricky and lied to catch you.

Amplified Bible
But be that as it may, I did not burden you [with my support]. But [some say that] I was sly and took you by trickery.

New American Standard Bible (1995)
But be that as it may, I did not burden you myself; nevertheless, crafty fellow that I am, I took you in by deceit.

Legacy Standard Bible
But be that as it may, I did not burden you myself. Nevertheless, crafty fellow that I am, I took you in by deceit.

Berean Standard Bible
Be that as it may, I was not a burden to you; but crafty as I am, I caught you by trickery.

Contemporary English Version
You agree that I wasn't a burden to you. Maybe that's because I was trying to catch you off guard and trick you.

Complete Jewish Bible
Let it be granted, then, that I was not a burden to you; but, crafty fellow that I am, I took you with trickery!

Darby Translation
But be it so. *I* did not burden you, but being crafty I took you by guile.

Easy-to-Read Version
It is clear that I was not a burden to you, but you think that I was tricky and used lies to catch you.

Geneva Bible (1587)
But bee it that I charged you not: yet for as much as I was craftie, I tooke you with guile.

George Lamsa Translation
But be it so, I did not burden you: nevertheless as a shrewd man, I caught you with guile:

Good News Translation
You will agree, then, that I was not a burden to you. But someone will say that I was tricky, and trapped you with lies.

Lexham English Bible
But let it be. I have not been a burden to you, but because I was crafty, I took you by cunning.

Literal Translation
But let it be so, I did not burden you; but being crafty, I took you with bait.

American Standard Version
But be it so, I did not myself burden you; but, being crafty, I caught you with guile.

Bible in Basic English
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.

Hebrew Names Version
But be it so, I did not myself burden you. But, being crafty, I caught you with deception.

International Standard Version
Granting that I have not been a burden to you, was I a clever schemer who trapped you by some trick?2 Corinthians 11:9;">[xr]

Etheridge Translation
And, perhaps, (though) I did not burden you, yet (it may be said), as a crafty man with deceit I have robbed you.

Murdock Translation
But perhaps, though I was not burdensome to you, yet, like a cunning man, I filched from you by craftiness !

Bishop's Bible (1568)
But be it, [that] I was not chargeable vnto you: Neuerthelesse, when I was craftie, I caught you with guile.

English Revised Version
But be it so, I did not myself burden you; but, being crafty, I caught you with guile.

World English Bible
But be it so, I did not myself burden you. But, being crafty, I caught you with deception.

Wesley's New Testament (1755)
But be it so: I did not burden you: but being crafty, I caught you with guile.

Weymouth's New Testament
If I love you so intensely, am I the less to be loved? Be that as it may: I was not a burden to you. But being by no means scrupulous, I entrapped you, they say!

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
But be it; Y greuyde not you, but whanne Y was sutil, Y took you with gile.

Update Bible Version
But let it be so, I did not myself burden you; but, being crafty, I caught you with guile.

Webster's Bible Translation
But be it so, I did not burden you: nevertheless, being crafty, I caught you with guile.

New English Translation
But be that as it may, I have not burdened you. Yet because I was a crafty person, I took you in by deceit!

New King James Version
But be that as it may, I did not burden you. Nevertheless, being crafty, I caught you by cunning!

New Living Translation
Some of you admit I was not a burden to you. But others still think I was sneaky and took advantage of you by trickery.

New Life Bible
It is true that I was not a heavy load to you. But some say I set a trap for you.

New Revised Standard
Let it be assumed that I did not burden you. Nevertheless (you say) since I was crafty, I took you in by deceit.

Douay-Rheims Bible
But be it so: I did not burthen you: but being crafty, I caught you by guile.

Revised Standard Version
But granting that I myself did not burden you, I was crafty, you say, and got the better of you by guile.

Tyndale New Testament (1525)
But be it yt I greved you not: never the lesse I was crafty and toke you with gile.

Young's Literal Translation
And be it [so], I -- I did not burden you, but being crafty, with guile I did take you;

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
But let it be so that I greued you not, neuertheles for so moch as I was craftye, I toke you wt gyle.

Mace New Testament (1729)
'tis own'd I did not put you to any charges myself: but was so crafty, as to over-reach you, by others.

THE MESSAGE
And why is it that I keep coming across these whiffs of gossip about how my self-support was a front behind which I worked an elaborate scam? Where's the evidence? Did I cheat or trick you through anyone I sent? I asked Titus to visit, and sent some brothers along. Did they swindle you out of anything? And haven't we always been just as aboveboard, just as honest?

Simplified Cowboy Version
Y'all know I didn't ask for anything while I was there. Yet, some of you still think I somehow tricked y'all into doing something you didn't want to do.

Contextual Overview

¹¹ I have become foolish, - ye, compelled me: - I, in fact, ought, by you, to have been commended; for, not a whit, have I come behind the exceeding overmuch apostles, - even if I am nothing: ¹² The signs, indeed, of an apostle, were wrought out among you, in all endurance, - bothin signs, and wonders, and mighty works: ¹³ For what is there wherein ye were made inferior to the rest of the assemblies, - save that, I myself, would not allow myself to be a burden unto you? Forgive me this wrong! ¹⁴ Lo! this third time, I am holding myself, in readiness, to come unto you, and I will not allow myself to be a burden; for I seek not yours, but you; - for, the children, ought not to lay up, for the parents, but the parents for the children; - ¹⁵ And, I, most gladly, will spend, and be fully spent, for your souls: - If I, exceedingly, love you, am I, the less, loved? ¹⁶ But let it be! - I, myself, did not burden you, - Notwithstanding, being crafty, with guile, I caught you? ¹⁷ Was there, anyone of those whom I have sent unto you, through whom I have overreached you? ¹⁸ I exhorted Titus, and sent with him the brother, - Did, Titus, overreach you? Was it not, in the same spirit, we walked? Was it not, in the same steps? ¹⁹ All this time, think ye, that, unto you, we are making a defence? Before God in Christ, we speak; - but all these things, beloved, for your upbuilding. ²⁰ For I fear - lest, by any means, when I come, not such as I wish, should I find you, and, I, should be found by you, such as ye do not wish; - lest, by any means, I should find strife, jealousy, outbursts of wrath, factions, railings, whisperings, puffed up pretensions, confusions; -

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

I did not: 2 Corinthians 12:13, 2 Corinthians 11:9, 2 Corinthians 11:10

being: That is, as my enemies represent, 2 Corinthians 1:12, 2 Corinthians 4:2, 2 Corinthians 7:2, 2 Corinthians 10:2, 2 Corinthians 10:3, 1 Thessalonians 2:3, 1 Thessalonians 2:5, 1 Peter 2:3

Reciprocal: 2 Kings 5:22 - give them 2 Kings 10:19 - But Jehu Nehemiah 5:16 - all my Matthew 4:19 - I will 1 Corinthians 9:3 - them 2 Peter 1:16 - we have

Cross-References

Genesis 12:13
Say, I beseech thee that my sister, art thou, - to the end it may be well with me for thy sake, so shall my soul be preserved alive because of thee.

Genesis 12:14
And so it was when Abram entered into Egypt, the Egyptians beheld the woman, that fair, was she exceedingly.

Genesis 12:15
And the princes of Pharaoh beheld her, and praised her unto Pharaoh, - so the woman was taken to the house of Pharaoh;

Genesis 13:2
Now, Abram, was very rich, - in cattle, in silver and in gold.

Genesis 20:14
Then took Abimelech sheep and oxen and men - servants and maid-servants, and gave to Abraham, - and restored to him Sarah his wife.

Genesis 24:35
Now, Yahweh, having blessed my lord exceedingly, and made him great, - and given him flocks and herds and silver and gold, and men-servants and maid-servants, and camels, and asses,

Genesis 26:14
So he came to have possessions of flocks gild possessions of herds, and a large body of servants, - and the Philistines envied him.

Genesis 32:5
And I have oxen and asses, flocks and men-servants, and maid-servants, So I must needs send to tell my lord, that I might find favour in thine eyes.

Job 1:3
And his substance was - seven thousand sheep, and three thousand camels, and five hundred yoke of oxen, and five hundred she-asses, and a body of servants exceeding large, - thus was that man the greatest of all the sons of the East.

Job 42:12
And, Yahweh, blessed the latter end of Job, more than his beginning, - and so he came to have fourteen thousand sheep, and six thousand camels, and a thousand yoke of oxen, and a thousand she-asses.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

But be it so, I did not burden you,.... These words are not spoken by the apostle in his own person of himself, but in the person of his adversaries, and contain a concession and an objection of theirs, but be it so; they granted that he had not burdened the Corinthians, that he had took nothing of them himself for preaching the Gospel; they owned that he had preached it freely; this was so clear a point, and so flagrant a case, that they could not deny it; yet they insinuated to the Corinthians, and objected to the apostle, that though he did not receive anything from them with his own hands, yet he craftily and cunningly made use of others to drain their purses, and receive it for him; and which is suggested in the next clause:

nevertheless, being crafty, I caught you with guile; so say the false apostles of me; for these are not the words of the apostle in his own person; nor to be understood of any spiritual craft, or lawful cunning and prudent artifices used by him, to allure and draw the Corinthians into a good liking and opinion of the Gospel and of his ministry, and so caught them, and was the happy means of their conversion; but they are spoken in the person of the false apostles, charging him with a wicked and criminal craftiness, by making use of other persons in a sly underhanded way, to get this church's money, when he pretended to preach the Gospel freely; to which he answers in the next verse.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

But be it so - This is evidently a charge of his enemies; or at least a charge which it might be supposed they would make. Whether they ever in fact made it, or whether the apostle merely anticipates an objection, it is impossible to determine. It is clearly to be regarded as the language of objectors; for:

(1) It can never be supposed that Paul would state as a serious matter that he had caught them with deceit or fraud.

(2) He answers it as an objection in the following verse. The meaning is, “We admit that you did not burden us. You did not exact a support from us. But all this was mere trick. You accomplished the same thing in another way. You professed when with us not to seek our property but our souls. But in various ways you contrived to get our money, and to secure your object. You made others the agents for doing this, and sent them among us under various pretexts to gain money from us.” It will be remembered that Paul had sent; Titus among them to take up the collection for the poor saints in Judea 2 Corinthians 8:6, and it is not at all improbable that some there had charged Paul with making use of this pretence only to obtain money for his own private use. To guard against this charge. was one of the reasons why Paul was so anxious to have some persons appointed by the church to take charge of the contribution; see 1 Corinthians 16:3; compare the notes on 2 Corinthians 8:19-21.

Being crafty - Being cunning That is, by sending persons to obtain money on different pretences.

I caught you with guile - I took you by deceit or fraud. That is, making use of fraud in pretending that the money was for poor and afflicted saints, when in reality it was for my own use. It is impossible that Paul should have ever admitted this of himself; and they greatly pervert the passage who suppose that it applies to him, and then plead that it is right to make use of guile in accomplishing their purposes. Paul never carried his measures by dishonesty, nor did he ever justify fraud; compare the notes on Acts 23:6.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse 16. But be it so, I did not burden you — That is: You grant that I did not burden you, that I took nothing from you, but preached to you the Gospel freely; but you say that, BEING CRAFTY, I caught you with guile; i.e. getting from you, by means of others, what I pretended to be unwilling to receive immediately from yourselves.

Many persons suppose that the words, being crafty, I caught you with guile, are the words of the apostle and not of his slanderers; and therefore have concluded that it is lawful to use guile, deceit, c., in order to serve a good and a religious purpose. This doctrine is abominable and the words are most evidently those of the apostle's detractors, against which he defends his conduct in the two following verses.