OET interlinear 1 COR 2:3

2:3

I came to you: As in 2:1a, the Greek text begins this sentence with a word meaning “And I (emphatic),” or “And I, for my part.” In 2:1 Paul was again talking about himself. He described the qualities he did not use as he spoke to the Corinthians. Now he began to describe how he did speak to them. There are two ways to interpret the phrase I came to you:

1. It refers to the time when he was with them in Corinth. For example:

   I was with you… (RSV) (KJV, NASB, RSV, ESV, NET)

2. It refers to the time when Paul first arrived there in Corinth. For example:

   I came to you… (NRSV) (BSB, CEV, NIV, NRSV, GW, NLT, NCV, REB)

It is recommended that you follow interpretation (1). The context suggests that Paul was thinking of his entire stay with the Corinthians.

in weakness and fear, and with much trembling: Paul said that he experienced three things: weakness, fear, and much trembling. The English versions combine these words in different ways. Also, some versions translate all three words as nouns, and others translate one or more as a verb or an adjective. For example:

And I was with you in weakness and in fear and with much trembling. (NET)

I was weak and fearful and trembling. (NCV)

I was weak and trembled all over with fear. (GNT)

I felt weak and so afraid that I was shaking.

Use the combination of grammatical forms that is natural in your language.

in weakness: Paul says that when he was in Corinth, he was there in weakness. There are two ways to interpret this phrase:

1. Paul was talking about feeling inadequate or not able to do his job of preaching well.

2. Paul was talking about being physically weak.

Both of these interpretations are possible. From Acts 18:9–11, we know that when Paul was in Corinth he was afraid that he could not do his job of preaching well enough. From 2 Corinthians, we also know that some people in Corinth thought that Paul was not a good speaker. They thought that he did not speak in a powerful way. (See for example 2 Corinthians 10:10.)

And from his letter to the Galatians, it appears that Paul did have some physical ailment. So it would be good to make your translation general so that it includes all different types of weakness.In 2:3 Paul wrote about the strong negative feelings he had when he first arrived in Corinth. Why did he feel that way? There may have been several reasons. The most important reason was that he greatly respected God’s message about Christ and knew that God wanted the Corinthians to believe that message. So since God sent him there to tell it, he had the big responsibility of telling it in such a way that God himself could cause them to believe it. Also he understood how much the Corinthians liked to hear clever ideas and talk. But that did not make them want to change their ways. And many of them did live in sinful ways. So he knew it would not be easy for anyone to tell God’s message there. Also Paul was concerned/worried about other things at the time. He was probably remembering how much he and his fellow workers had suffered in Philippi and Thessalonica and Berea, and how the people in Athens did not really respect his message. He may have felt alone in Corinth because he had sent Timothy back to Thessalonica to encourage the believers there and had left Silas behind in Berea for the same reason.

much trembling: The word trembling indicates that Paul felt afraid in some way. If a literal translation will not communicate this meaning, you may need to be more explicit. For example:

great trepidation (REB)

very nervous (GW)