2 Corinthians 4:8

ἐν παντὶ θλιβόμενοι�ʼ οὐ στενοχωρούμενοι. In every way pressed, but not straitened. The participles agree with the subject of ἔχομεν. Here, as in Mark 3:9, the notion of pressure must be preserved in translating θλίβω, although ‘pressed’ and ‘pressure’ would not be suitable, 2 Corinthians 1:4-8 : see on 2 Corinthians 1:4. By στενοχωρούμενοι (2 Corinthians 6:12) is meant ‘cramped, penned in a corner so as to be helpless.’ The vague ἐν παντί may be ‘in everything’ (2 Corinthians 6:4; 2 Corinthians 7:11; 2 Corinthians 8:7; 2 Corinthians 11:6), or ‘on every side’ (2 Corinthians 7:5), or ‘in every condition of life’ (1 Thessalonians 5:18). The context seems to require ‘in everything.’ ‘Greatly hampered, but not hemmed in’ is the general meaning. Comp. θλίψις καὶ στενοχωρία (Romans 2:9; Romans 8:35).

ἀπορούμενοι�ʼ οὐκ ἐξαπορούμενοι. Another play upon words: in difficulty, but not in despair. Comp. 2 Corinthians 1:8 and see on 2 Corinthians 1:13 and 2 Corinthians 3:2. He had this feeling about the Galatians: ἀποροῦμαι ἐν ὑμῖν (Galatians 4:20). Comp. θλίψις καὶ στενοχωρία καὶ σκότος ὥστε μὴ βλέπειν, καὶ οὐκ� (Isaiah 8:22), which S. Paul may have had in his mind. Note the accumulation of participles.