2 Corinthians 12:20

Linguistic Bible Translation from Source Texts

For I fear that when I come, I may not find you as I wish, and you may not find me as you wish. I fear that there may be strife, jealousy, anger, selfish ambition, slander, gossip, arrogance, and disorder.

📖 Grammatical Analysis

Original Text

Φοβοῦμαι γὰρ, μή πως, ἐλθὼν, οὐχ οἵους θέλω εὕρω ὑμᾶς, κἀγὼ εὑρεθῶ ὑμῖν οἷον οὐ θέλετε: μή πως ἔρεις, ζῆλοι, θυμοί, ἐριθείαι, καταλαλιαί, ψιθυρισμοί, φυσιώσεις, ἀκαταστασίαι:

Transliteration

I phoboumai for, mē pōs, having elthōn, not such as I thelō eurō you, and I heurethō to you such as not you thelete: mē pōs ereis, zēloi, thymoi, eritheiai, katalaliai, psithyrismoi, physiōseis, akatastasiai:

Grammar Details

• *phoboumai*: present indicative, middle/passive, 1st singular - I fear
• *mē pōs*: negative particle with indefinite adverb - lest somehow
• *elthōn*: aorist participle, active, nominative, masculine, singular - having come
• *thelō*: present indicative, active, 1st singular - I wish/want
• *eurō*: aorist subjunctive, active, 1st singular - I might find
• *heurethō*: aorist subjunctive, passive, 1st singular - I might be found
• *thelete*: present indicative, active, 2nd plural - you wish/want
• *ereis*: nominative, feminine, plural - strifes/contentions
• *zēloi*: nominative, masculine, plural - jealousies/rivalries
• *thymoi*: nominative, masculine, plural - outbursts of anger
• *eritheiai*: nominative, feminine, plural - selfish ambitions
• *katalaliai*: nominative, feminine, plural - slanders/evil speakings
• *psithyrismoi*: nominative, masculine, plural - whisperings/secret slanders
• *physiōseis*: nominative, feminine, plural - puffings up/conceits
• *akatastasiai*: nominative, feminine, plural - disorders/disturbances

Word Meanings

• *phoboumai*: I fear/I am afraid
• *elthōn*: having come/when I come
• *thelō*: I wish/I want/I desire
• *eurō*: I might find/I may find
• *heurethō*: I might be found/I may be found
• *ereis*: strifes/contentions/quarrels
• *zēloi*: jealousies/rivalries/envyings
• *thymoi*: outbursts of anger/rages/furies
• *eritheiai*: selfish ambitions/factions/rivalries
• *katalaliai*: slanders/evil speakings/backbitings
• *psithyrismoi*: whisperings/secret slanders/gossips
• *physiōseis*: puffings up/conceits/inflations
• *akatastasiai*: disorders/disturbances/tumults

Other Translations

• King James Version 1769 (Standard Version)

  For I fear, lest, when I come, I shall not find you such as I would, and that I shall be found unto you such as ye would not: lest there be debates, envyings, wraths, strifes, backbitings, whisperings, swellings, tumults:

• KJV1611 – Modern English

  For I fear, lest, when I come, I shall not find you as I wish, and that I shall be found by you such as you wish not; lest there be debates, envyings, wraths, strifes, backbitings, whisperings, swellings, tumults;

• King James Version 1611 (Original)

  For I fear, lest, when I come, I shall not find you such as I would, and that I shall be found unto you such as ye would not: lest there be debates, envyings, wraths, strifes, backbitings, whisperings, swellings, tumults:

• American Standard Version with Strong's Numbers

  For I fear, lest by any means, when I come, I should find you not such as I would, and should myself be found of you such as ye would not; lest by any means [there should be] strife, jealousy, wraths, factions, backbitings, whisperings, swellings, tumults;

• King James Version with Strong's Numbers

  For I fear, lest, when I come, I shall not find you such as I would, and that I shall be found unto you such as ye would not: lest there be debates, envyings, wraths, strifes, backbitings, whisperings, swellings, tumults:

• Tyndale Bible (1526/1534)

  For I feare lest it come to passe that when I come I shall not fynde you soche as I wolde: and I shalbe foude vnto you soche as ye wolde not: I feare lest ther be founde amoge you debate envyinge wrath stryfe backbytynges whisperynges swellynges and discorde.

• Coverdale Bible (1535)

  For I feare, lest whan I come, I shal not fynde you soch as I wolde: and lest ye shal fynde me soch as ye wolde not: lest there be amonge you, debates, envyenges, wrathes, stryuynges, bacbytinges, whysperinges, swellinges, vproures:

• Geneva Bible (1560)

  For I feare least when I come, I shall not finde you such as I would: and that I shalbe found vnto you such as ye woulde not, and least there be strife, enuying, wrath, contentions, backebitings, whisperings, swellings and discord.

• Bishops' Bible (1568)

  For I feare lest when I come, I shall not fynde you such as I woulde: and that I shalbe founde vnto you, such as ye woulde not: lest there be debates, enuyinges, wrathes, strifes, backbitinges, whisperinges, swellinges, & seditions:

• Authorized King James Version (1611)

  For I fear, lest, when I come, I shall not find you such as I would, and [that] I shall be found unto you such as ye would not: lest [there be] debates, envyings, wraths, strifes, backbitings, whisperings, swellings, tumults:

• Webster's Bible (1833)

  For I am afraid that by any means, when I come, I might find you not the way I want to, and that I might be found by you as you don't desire; that by any means there would be strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, factions, slander, whisperings, proud thoughts, riots;

• Young's Literal Translation (1862/1898)

  for I fear lest, having come, not such as I wish I may find you, and I -- I may be found by you such as ye do not wish, lest there be strifes, envyings, wraths, revelries, evil-speakings, whisperings, puffings up, insurrections,

• American Standard Version (1901)

  For I fear, lest by any means, when I come, I should find you not such as I would, and should myself be found of you such as ye would not; lest by any means `there should be' strife, jealousy, wraths, factions, backbitings, whisperings, swellings, tumults;

• American Standard Version (1901)

  For I fear, lest by any means, when I come, I should find you not such as I would, and should myself be found of you such as ye would not; lest by any means [there should be] strife, jealousy, wraths, factions, backbitings, whisperings, swellings, tumults;

• Bible in Basic English (1941)

  For I have a fear that, when I come, you may not be answering to my desire, and that I may not be answering to yours; that there may be fighting, hate, angry feeling, divisions, evil talk about others, secrets, thoughts of pride, outbursts against authority;

• World English Bible (2000)

  For I am afraid that by any means, when I come, I might find you not the way I want to, and that I might be found by you as you don't desire; that by any means there would be strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, factions, slander, whisperings, proud thoughts, riots;

• NET Bible® (New English Translation)

  For I am afraid that somehow when I come I will not find you what I wish, and you will find me not what you wish. I am afraid that somehow there may be quarreling, jealousy, intense anger, selfish ambition, slander, gossip, arrogance, and disorder.

Referenced Verses

• Rom 1:29 : 29 They have become filled with every kind of unrighteousness, wickedness, greed, and malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, and malice. They are gossips,
• 1 Cor 1:11 : 11 For it has been reported to me about you, my brothers and sisters, by those of Chloe’s household, that there are quarrels among you.
• Gal 5:15 : 15 But if you bite and devour one another, beware that you are not consumed by one another.
• 1 Pet 2:1 : 1 Therefore, rid yourselves of all malice, all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and every kind of slander.
• 2 Pet 2:18 : 18 For they utter arrogant, empty words and entice those who are barely escaping from others living in error, by appealing to the lustful desires of the flesh and by debauchery.
• Jude 1:16 : 16 These people are grumblers and complainers, living according to their own desires. Their mouths speak arrogant words, flattering others for their own advantage.
• Ps 41:7 : 7 When one of them comes to visit, he speaks falsely, his heart gathers wickedness, and when he goes out, he tells it to others.
• Prov 16:28 : 28 A perverse person spreads conflict, and a gossip separates close friends.
• Gal 5:19-21 : 19 Now the works of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity, debauchery, 20 idolatry, sorcery, hostilities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambitions, dissensions, factions, 21 envy, murders, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.
• Gal 5:26 : 26 Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another.
• Eph 4:31-32 : 31 Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, shouting, and slander be removed from you, along with all malice. 32 Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving one another, just as God also forgave you in Christ.
• Jas 3:14-16 : 14 But if you have bitter envy and selfish ambition in your heart, do not boast and deny the truth. 15 This is not the wisdom that comes down from above but is earthly, unspiritual, and demonic. 16 For where there is jealousy and selfish ambition, there is disorder and every evil practice.
• Jas 4:1-5 : 1 What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your desires that battle within your body parts? 2 You desire but do not have, so you kill. You covet but cannot get what you want, so you quarrel and fight. You do not have because you do not ask God. 3 When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures. 4 You adulterous people, don’t you know that friendship with the world means enmity against God? Therefore, anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God. 5 Or do you think Scripture says without reason that the spirit God caused to dwell in us longs jealously for us?
• 1 Cor 3:3-4 : 3 For you are still worldly. Since there is jealousy, strife, and divisions among you, are you not worldly and living like mere humans? 4 For when someone says, 'I follow Paul,' and another, 'I follow Apollos,' are you not acting like mere humans?
• 1 Cor 4:6-8 : 6 Brothers and sisters, I have applied these things to myself and Apollos for your sake, so that you may learn from us not to go beyond what is written. Then you will not be puffed up in being a follower of one of us over and against another. 7 For who makes you different from anyone else? What do you have that you did not receive? And if you did receive it, why do you boast as though you did not? 8 Already you are full! Already you are rich! You have begun to reign without us—and how I wish that you really had begun to reign, so that we also might reign with you!
• 1 Cor 4:18-21 : 18 Some of you have become arrogant, as though I were not coming to you. 19 But I will come to you soon, if the Lord is willing, and I will find out not only what those who are arrogant are saying, but what power they have. 20 For the kingdom of God is not a matter of words, but of power. 21 What do you prefer? Shall I come to you with a rod, or in love and with a gentle spirit?
• 1 Cor 5:3-5 : 3 For though I am absent in body, I am present in spirit, and I have already passed judgment on the one who has committed this act, as if I were present. 4 In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, when you are gathered together, and my spirit is with you, along with the power of our Lord Jesus, 5 hand this man over to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved on the day of the Lord.
• 1 Cor 6:7-8 : 7 The very fact that you have lawsuits among you means you have been completely defeated already. Why not rather be wronged? Why not rather be cheated? 8 Instead, you yourselves wrong and cheat—and you do this to your brothers and sisters.
• 1 Cor 11:16-19 : 16 If anyone is inclined to be contentious, we have no such custom, nor do the churches of God. 17 Now in giving this instruction, I do not praise you, because when you gather together, it is not for the better but for the worse. 18 First of all, I hear that when you come together as a church, there are divisions among you, and in part, I believe it. 19 Indeed, there must be factions among you so that those who are approved may be recognized among you.
• 1 Cor 14:33 : 33 For God is not a God of disorder but of peace, as in all the churches of the saints.
• 1 Cor 14:36-37 : 36 Or did the word of God originate with you? Or are you the only ones it has reached? 37 If anyone considers themselves to be a prophet or spiritually gifted, let them acknowledge that the things I am writing to you are the Lord’s commands.
• 2 Cor 1:23-2:4 : 23 I call God as my witness and stake my life on it: it was to spare you that I did not return to Corinth. 24 Not that we lord it over your faith, but we are fellow workers for your joy, because it is by faith that you stand firm. 1 I decided this for myself: that I would not come to you again in sorrow. 2 For if I grieve you, who then will make me glad but the one who is grieved by me? 3 I wrote this very thing to you so that when I came, I would not have sorrow from those who ought to bring me joy. I have confidence in all of you, that my joy is your joy. 4 For out of great distress and anguish of heart, I wrote to you with many tears, not to grieve you but to let you know the love I have for you more abundantly.
• 2 Cor 10:2 : 2 I beg you that when I am present, I will not have to be bold with the confidence I consider using against some, who think we live according to the flesh.
• 2 Cor 10:6 : 6 And we are ready to punish every act of disobedience, once your obedience is complete.
• 2 Cor 10:8-9 : 8 Even if I boast a little more about the authority the Lord gave us for building you up and not for tearing you down, I will not be ashamed. 9 I do not want to seem as though I am trying to frighten you with my letters.
• 2 Cor 12:21 : 21 I fear that when I come again, my God will humble me before you, and I will grieve over many who have sinned earlier and have not repented of the impurity, sexual immorality, and sensuality they have practiced.
• 2 Cor 13:2 : 2 I have said before, and I am saying again now as though present, even though I am absent, to those who have sinned previously and to all the rest: If I come again, I will not spare anyone.
• 2 Cor 13:9-9 : 9 We are glad whenever we are weak but you are strong; and our prayer is that you may be fully restored. 10 This is why I write these things while absent, so that when I come, I may not have to be harsh in my use of the authority that the Lord gave me for building you up, not tearing you down.