2 Corinthians 12:16

American Standard Version with Strong's Numbers

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

Grammatical Analysis

Original Text

Ἔστω δέ, ἐγὼ οὐ κατεβάρησα ὑμᾶς: ἀλλʼ, ὑπάρχων πανοῦργος, δόλῳ ὑμᾶς ἔλαβον.

Transliteration

Let it be de, I not katebarēsa you: but, hyparchōn panourgos, dolō you elabon.

Grammar Details

*de*: postpositive particle - but/and/now
*katebarēsa*: aorist indicative, active, 1st singular - I burdened/weighed down
*hyparchōn*: present participle, active, nominative, masculine, singular - being/existing
*panourgos*: nominative, masculine, singular - crafty/cunning person
*dolō*: dative, masculine, singular - with deceit/craft/guile
*elabon*: aorist indicative, active, 1st singular - I took/caught

Word Meanings

*katebarēsa*: I burdened/I weighed down/I oppressed
*hyparchōn*: being/existing/beginning as
*panourgos*: crafty/cunning/shrewd/clever
*dolō*: with deceit/with craft/with guile/by trickery
*elabon*: I took/I caught/I received

ℹ️

About this Translation

American Standard Version with Strong's Numbers

Formal EquivalenceSource: American Standard VersionBest for: Word studies and original-language research

🎯 Translation Approach

A highly literal, word-for-word translation (ASV, 1901) augmented with Strong's numbering to connect English words to underlying Hebrew and Greek terms for study.

Word-for-word

5/5

Readability

2/5

💎 Distinctive Features

Integrated Strong's numbering: Links English terms to underlying Hebrew and Greek words for deeper lexical study.
Formal equivalence: Prioritizes close alignment with source-language forms and structures.
Divine name rendering: Frequently renders the Tetragrammaton as Jehovah in the Old Testament, following ASV tradition.
Study-focused formatting: Optimized for reference and research rather than casual reading.

✅ Strengths

High fidelity to original languages
Includes Strong's numbers for precise word study
Consistent lexical choices aid exegesis
Stable, longstanding scholarly text

⚠️ Considerations

Archaic language reduces readability
Older textual basis compared to some modern translations
Strong's numbers are a concordance index, not full lexical definitions

👥 Who is this for?

Ideal for

Pastors and teachers
Seminary students
Serious Bible students
Readers conducting word studies
Those referencing Hebrew/Greek tools

Consider alternatives for

Casual readers
Children and early teens
ESL learners seeking simple English
Readers preferring contemporary language

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Additional Resources

Referenced Verses

2 Cor 1:12 : 12 For our glorifying is this, the testimony of our conscience, that in holiness and sincerity of God, not in fleshly wisdom but in the grace of God, we behaved ourselves in the world, and more abundantly to you-ward.
2 Cor 4:2 : 2 but we have renounced the hidden things of shame, not walking in craftiness, nor handling the word of God deceitfully; but by the manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God.
2 Cor 7:2 : 2 Open your hearts to us: we wronged no man, we corrupted no man, we took advantage of no man.
2 Cor 10:2-3 : 2 yea, I beseech you, that I may not when present show courage with the confidence wherewith I count to be bold against some, who count of us as if we walked according to the flesh. 3 For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh
2 Cor 11:9-9 : 9 and when I was present with you and was in want, I was not a burden on any man; for the brethren, when they came from Macedonia, supplied the measure of my want; and in everything I kept myself from being burdensome unto you, and [so] will I keep [myself]. 10 As the truth of Christ is in me, no man shall stop me of this glorying in the regions of Achaia.
2 Cor 12:13 : 13 For what is there wherein ye were made inferior to the rest of the churches, except {G3361} [it be] that I myself was not a burden to you? forgive me this wrong.
1 Thess 2:3 : 3 For our exhortation [is] not of error, nor of uncleanness, nor in guile:
1 Thess 2:5 : 5 For neither at any time were we found using words of flattery, as ye know, nor a cloak of covetousness, God is witness;
1 Pet 2:3 : 3 if ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious:

Similar Verses (AI)

These verses are found using AI-powered semantic similarity based on meaning and context. Results may occasionally include unexpected connections.

2 Cor 12:17-19
3 verses
84%
17Did I take advantage of you by any one of them whom I have sent unto you?
18I exhorted Titus, and I sent the brother with him. Did {G5100} Titus take any advantage of you? walked we not in the same spirit? [walked we] not in the same steps?
19{G3825} Ye think all this time that we are excusing ourselves unto you. In the sight of God speak we in Christ. But all things, beloved, [are] for your edifying.
2 Cor 12:11-15
5 verses
80%
11I am become foolish: {G2744} ye compelled me; for I ought to have been commended of you: for in nothing was I behind the very chiefest apostles, though {G2532} I am nothing.
12Truly the signs of an apostle were wrought among you in all patience, by signs and wonders and mighty works.
13For what is there wherein ye were made inferior to the rest of the churches, except {G3361} [it be] that I myself was not a burden to you? forgive me this wrong.
14Behold, this is the third time I am ready to come to you; and I will not be a burden to you: for I seek not yours, but you: for the children ought not to lay up for the parents, but the parents for the children.
15And I will most gladly spend and be spent for {G5590} your souls. If {G2532} I love you more abundantly, am I loved the less?
2 Cor 11:5-10
6 verses
76%
5For I reckon that I am not a whit behind the very chiefest apostles.
6But though [I be] rude in speech, yet [am I] not in knowledge; nay, in every way have we made [this] manifest unto you in all things.
7Or did I commit a sin in abasing myself that ye might be exalted, because I preached to you the gospel of God for nought?
8I robbed other churches, taking wages [of them] that I might minister unto you;
9and when I was present with you and was in want, I was not a burden on any man; for the brethren, when they came from Macedonia, supplied the measure of my want; and in everything I kept myself from being burdensome unto you, and [so] will I keep [myself].
10As the truth of Christ is in me, no man shall stop me of this glorying in the regions of Achaia.
2 Cor 11:12
73%
12But what I do, that I will do, that I may cut off occasion from them that desire an occasion; that wherein {G1722} they glory, they may be found even as we.
Col 2:4
72%
4{G1161} This I say, that no one may delude you with persuasiveness of speech.
2 Cor 8:13
72%
13For [I say] not [this] that others may be eased [and] ye distressed;
2 Cor 11:16
72%
16I say again, let no man think me {G1511} foolish; but if [ye do], yet as foolish receive me, that {G2504} I also may glory a little.
Gal 4:11-12
2 verses
72%
11I am afraid of you, lest by any means I have bestowed labor upon you in vain.
12I beseech you, brethren, become as I [am], for I also [am become] as ye [are]. Ye did me no wrong:
1 Cor 9:18-19
2 verses
71%
18What then is my reward? That, when I preach the gospel, I may make the gospel {G5547} without charge, so as not to use to the full my right in the gospel.
19For though I was free from all [men,] I brought myself under bondage to all, that I might gain the more.
2 Cor 1:16-17
2 verses
71%
16and by you to pass into Macedonia, and again from Macedonia to come unto you, and of you to be set forward on my journey unto Judaea.
17When I therefore was thus minded, did {G687} I show fickleness? or the things that I purpose, do I purpose according to the flesh, that with me there should be the yea yea and the nay nay?
2 Cor 11:1
71%
1Would that ye could bear with me in a little foolishness: but indeed ye do bear with me.
1 Thess 2:9
71%
9For ye remember, brethren, our labor and travail: {G1063} working night and day, that we might not burden any of you, we preached unto you the gospel of God.
2 Thess 3:8
71%
8neither did we eat bread for nought at any man's hand, but in labor and travail, working night and day, that we might not burden any of you:
2 Cor 2:4-5
2 verses
70%
4For out of much affliction and anguish of heart I wrote unto you with many tears; not that ye should be made sorry, but that ye might know the love that I have more abundantly unto you.
5But if any hath caused sorrow, he hath caused sorrow, not to me, but in part (that I press not too heavily) to you all.
1 Thess 2:5-6
2 verses
70%
5For neither at any time were we found using words of flattery, as ye know, nor a cloak of covetousness, God is witness;
6nor seeking glory of men, neither from you nor from others, when we might have claimed authority None as apostles of Christ.
2 Cor 12:6
70%
6For if I should desire to glory, I shall not be foolish; for I shall speak the truth: but I forbear, lest any man should account of me above that which he seeth me [to be], or heareth {G5100} from me.
Phil 1:16-17
2 verses
70%
16the one [do it] of love, knowing that I am set for the defence of the gospel;
17but the other {G3303} proclaim Christ of faction, not sincerely, thinking to raise up affliction for me in my bonds.
2 Cor 11:20
70%
20For ye bear with a man, if he bringeth you into bondage, if he devoureth you, if he taketh you [captive], if he exalteth himself, if he smiteth you on the face.
2 Cor 7:12
69%
12So although {G2532} I wrote unto you, I [wrote] not for his cause that did the wrong, nor for his cause that suffered the wrong, but that your earnest care for us might be made manifest unto you in the sight of God.
1 Cor 15:10-11
2 verses
69%
10But by the grace of God I am what I am: and his grace which was bestowed upon me was not found vain; but I labored more abundantly than they all: yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.
11Whether then [it be] I or they, so we preach, and so ye believed.
2 Cor 11:3
69%
3But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve in his craftiness, {G3779} your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity and the purity that is toward Christ.
2 Cor 8:8
69%
8I speak not by way of commandment, but as proving through the earnestness of others the sincerity also of your love.
Phlm 1:13-14
2 verses
69%
13whom I would fain have kept with me, that in thy behalf he might minister unto me in the bonds of the gospel:
14but without thy mind I would do nothing; that thy goodness should not be as of necessity, but of free will.
Phil 2:16
69%
16holding forth the word of life; that I may have whereof to glory in the day of Christ, that I did not run in vain neither labor in vain.
Gal 4:15
68%
15Where then is that gratulation of yourselves? for I bear you witness, that, if possible, ye would have plucked out your eyes and given them to me.
Gal 1:10
68%
10For am I now seeking the favor of men, or of God? or am I striving to please men? {G1063} if I were still pleasing men, I should not be a servant of Christ.
1 Cor 9:22
68%
22To the weak I became {G5613} weak, that I might gain the weak: I am become all things to all men, that I may by all means save some.
1 Cor 9:15
68%
15But I have used none of these things: and I write not these things that it may be so done in my case; for [it were] good for me rather to die, {G2570} than that any man should make my glorifying void.
Gal 2:4
68%
4and that because of the false brethren privily brought in, who came in privily to spy out our liberty which we have in Christ Jesus, that they might bring us into bondage:
Phlm 1:8
68%
8Wherefore, though I have all boldness in Christ to enjoin thee that which is befitting,
1 Cor 10:33
68%
33even as I also please all men in all things, not seeking mine own profit, but the [profit] of the many, that they may be saved.