Nevertheless God, who encourages the downcast, encouraged us by the coming of Titus,

and not only by his coming, but also by the comfort with which he was encouraged in you, when he told us of your earnest desire, your mourning, your zeal for me, so that I rejoiced even more.

For godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation, not to be regretted; but the sorrow of the world produces death.

Sorrow is better than laughter; for by the sadness of the face the heart is made better.

I have surely heard Ephraim bemoaning himself, saying, You have chastised me, and I was chastised, like an untrained bull; draw me back, and I shall return. For You are Jehovah my God.

Is Ephraim My dear son? Is he a delightful child? For as often as I spoke against him, I call to mind and remember him still. Therefore My heart is stirred for him; I will have mercy and compassion upon him, says Jehovah.

And I will pour on the house of David, and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the Spirit of grace and supplication. And they shall look on Me whom they have pierced; and they shall mourn for Him, as one mourns for an only son, and they shall be bitter over Him, like the bitterness over the firstborn.

I say to you that likewise there will be more joy in Heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine just persons who need no repentance.

Likewise, I say to you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.

But when he came to himself, he said, How many of my father's hired servants have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger.

and I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Make me like one of your hired servants.

And the son said to him, Father, I have sinned against Heaven and in your sight, and am no longer worthy to be called your son.

And bring the fatted calf here and kill it, and let us eat and be merry;

testifying both to Jews, and also to Greeks, repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.

For godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation, not to be regretted; but the sorrow of the world produces death.

For observe this very thing, that you sorrowed in a godly manner: What diligence it produced in you, what clearing of yourselves, what indignation, what fear, what vehement desire, what zeal, what vengeance! In all things you proved yourselves to be clear in this matter.

For our rejoicing is this: the testimony of our conscience, that we conducted ourselves in the world in simplicity and godly sincerity, not in fleshly wisdom but in the grace of God, and more abundantly toward you.

To the one we are the aroma of death leading to death, and to the other the aroma of life leading to life. And who is sufficient for these things?

For even if I should boast somewhat more about our authority, which the Lord gave us for edification and not for your destruction, I shall not be ashamed;

For his letters, they say, are weighty and powerful, but his bodily presence is weak, and his speech of no account.

For we have no power against the truth, but on behalf of truth.

Therefore I write these things being absent, that when present I should not use sharpness, according to the authority which the Lord has given me for building up and not for pulling down.

And He said, Go, and tell this people, You listen to hear, but do not understand; you look to see, but do not perceive.

Then I said, Lord, how long? And He answered, Until the cities have been smashed to ruins without inhabitant, and the houses without a man, and the land is left devastated,