Bible Strands
2 Corinthians 7:10
Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation without regret, but worldly sorrow brings death.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — Paul writes to the Corinthian congregation after his severe letter has produced grief in them. He is distinguishing the grief they felt from a lesser, worldly kind.
The words — λύπη (lupē) is a raw, heavy grief, not mere sadness; μετάνοια (metanoia) is the technical term for a changed mind that reorients a person.
The thread — Acts 3:19 pairs repentance with the wiping away of sins; 2 Timothy 2:25 links repentance to knowledge of the truth.
Why it lands — The verse forces a diagnosis: the sorrow you are in either produces repentance and salvation, or it produces death. Examine which one you are in.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Greek words
King James Version
For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of: but the sorrow of the world worketh death.
Cross-references
- Acts 3:19 Repent, then, and turn back, so that your sins may be wiped away,
- Acts 11:18 When they heard this, they had no further objections, and they glorified God, saying, “So then, God has granted even the Gentiles repentance unto life.”
- 2 Timothy 2:25 He must gently reprove those who oppose him, in the hope that God may grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth.
- 2 Samuel 12:13 Then David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the LORD.” “The LORD has taken away your sin,” Nathan replied. “You will not die.
- Luke 18:13 But the tax collector stood at a distance, unwilling even to lift up his eyes to heaven. Instead, he beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner!’
- Luke 15:10 In the same way, I tell you, there is joy in the presence of God’s angels over one sinner who repents.”
- 1 Kings 8:47 and when they come to their senses in the land to which they were taken, and they repent and plead with You in the land of their captors, saying, ‘We have sinned and done wrong; we have acted wickedly,’
- Jonah 3:10 When God saw their actions—that they had turned from their evil ways—He relented from the disaster He had threatened to bring upon them.
- Hebrews 12:17 For you know that afterward, when he wanted to inherit the blessing, he was rejected. He could find no ground for repentance, though he sought the blessing with tears.
- Job 33:27 Then he sings before men with these words: ‘I have sinned and perverted what was right; yet I did not get what I deserved.