What Does 2 Corinthians 7:8 Mean in the King James?

For though I made you sorry with a letter, I do not repent, though I did repent: for I perceive that the same epistle hath made you sorry, though it were but for a season.

2 Corinthians 7:8 · KJV

The analysis reads the King James wording.

King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.

This verse in the Selah Decoded Version

THE KEY

Grief can be real and temporary without making the words that caused it regrettable.

THE MEANING

A message can make you sorrowful for a season, and that sorrow can pass without becoming permanent. Regret can also shift as you see that the grief did not last.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

It undoes the belief that pain must last to be real: the sorrow is real, and its span is a season.

THE ROOT

λυπέω

lypeō

GROWS FROM

λυπ-

lyp-

To grieve, cause sorrow, or distress.

“sorry” in this verse is lypeō. The Greek word for grieving and the noun for grief belong to the same word family. The letter causes sorrow, while “for a season” gives that sorrow a limit.

ALSO GROWS

lypē: Grief, sorrow

λύπη

The noun names the sorrow caused by the letter, keeping the cause and the feeling in one word family.

perilypos: Deeply grieved

περίλυπος

This compound intensifies the same sorrow word, showing that the family can express grief at different depths.

μεταμέλομαι

metamelomai

GROWS FROM

⁨μετα-⁩ + ⁨μελ-⁩ (meta- + mel-)

Care or concern; with meta-, a changed or afterward concern, hence regret.

The verb translated “repent” here means regret; it differs from ⁨μετάνοια⁩ (metanoia, “turning”) in verse 10. Here the speaker’s regret changes as he recognizes that the sorrow lasted only for a season.

ALSO GROWS

melei: It matters; it is a concern

μέλει

This form of the same base word points to what weighs on someone’s care or concern.

epimeleomai: Care for, tend to

ἐπιμελέομαι

This compound uses the same base to describe active care, revealing the concern within the language of regret.

THE PATTERN

A sorrow can be temporary and still open a path to enduring fruit.

For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of: but the sorrow of the world worketh death.

2 Corinthians 7:10 · KJVThe sorrow named as seasonal in verse 8 can produce a turning whose effect continues.

For his anger endureth but a moment; in his favour is life: weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning.

Psalm 30:5 · KJVWeeping has a bounded span, while what follows it lasts into the morning.

Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby.

Hebrews 12:11 · KJVPresent grief can yield fruit that appears after the painful moment has passed.

THE THREAD

For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of: but the sorrow of the world worketh death.

2 Corinthians 7:10 · KJV

Verse 8’s ⁨λυπέω⁩ (lypeō, “to grieve”) and verse 10’s ⁨λύπη⁩ (lypē, “sorrow”) share the same word family. Verse 10 names what that sorrow can produce: ⁨μετάνοια⁩ (metanoia, “turning”), so the season can end while what it opens continues.

Read the SDV Bible.

Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.

Get Selah Verse

The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.

Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us