And why?: these words refer primarily to 11.9b rather than to verse 10. The meaning is “And why have I made it a rule not to be a burden to you?” rather than “Why will I not be silenced?” The referent of the demonstrative pronoun “this” in Good News Translation is equally ambiguous. It will probably be better in most languages to make the meaning clear by saying “Why do I not burden you?” if the structure of Revised Standard Version is adopted or, following a more dynamic rendering, “When I say that I will not burden you, is it because I do not love you?”

God knows I do!: literally simply “God knows.” Revised Standard Version supplies the implied information, which is further expanded by Good News Translation.

Quoted with permission from Omanson, Roger L. and Ellingworth, Paul. A Handbook on Paul’s Second Letter to the Corinthians. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1993. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .