if indeed, after we have put on ¹  our heavenly house, ²  we will not be found naked.

biblegateway 2Co 5:3

inasmuch as we, having put it on, will not be found naked.

since, when we are clothed, we will not be found naked.

if indeed, even [after we] have taken [it] off, we will not be found naked.

biblegateway 2Co 5:3

because when we are clothed, we will not be found naked.

if indeed by putting it on we may not be found naked.

bibleoremus 2Co 5:3

if indeed, when we have taken it off we will not be found naked.

in the hope that, being thus clothed, we shall not find ourselves naked.

biblegateway 2Co 5:3

if indeed, having been clothed, we shall not be found naked.

If so be that being clothed we shall not be found naked.

biblegateway 2Co 5:3

if indeed, after we have put on ¹  our heavenly house, ²  we will not be found naked.

¹ tc ‡ Some mss read “taken off” (ἐκδυσάμενοι, ekdusamenoi) instead of “put on” (ἐνδυσάμενοι, endusamenoi). This alternative reading would change the emphasis of the verse from putting on “our heavenly house” to taking off “our earthly house” (see the following note regarding the specification of the referent). The difference between the two readings is one letter (ν or κ), either of which may be mistaken for the other especially when written in uncial script. ἐνδυσάμενοι enjoys strong support from the Alexandrian text (Ì⁴⁶ א B C 33 1739 1881), Byzantine witnesses, versions (lat sy co), and Clement of Alexandria. The Western text is the only texttype to differ: D*^,c reads ἐκδυσάμενοι, as does ar f^c Mcion Tert Spec; F and G read εκλ for εκδ which indirectly aligns them with D (and was surely due to confusion of letters in uncial script). Thus “put on” has the oldest and best external attestation by far. Internal evidence also favors this reading. At first glance, it may seem that “after we have put on our heavenly house we will not be found naked” is an obvious statement; the scribe of D may have thought so and changed the participle. But v. 3 seems parenthetical (so A. Plummer, Second Corinthians [ICC], 147), and the idea that “we do not want to be unclothed but clothed” is repeated in v. 4 with an explanatory “for.” This concept also shows up in v. 2 with the phrase “we desire to put on.” So the context can be construed to argue for “put on” as the original reading. B. M. Metzger argues against the reading of NA²⁷, stating that ἐκδυσάμενοι is “an early alteration to avoid apparent tautology” (TCGNT 511; so also Plummer, 148). In addition, the reading ἐνδυσάμενοι fits the Pauline pattern of equivalence between apodosis and protasis that is found often enough in his conditional clauses. Thus, “put on” has the mark of authenticity and should be considered original.

² tn Grk “it”; the referent (the “heavenly dwelling” of the previous verse) has been specified in the translation for clarity.