2 Corinthians 6:12

Ye are not straitened in us, but ye are straitened in your own bowels i.e. "our heart is large enough to receive you and give you full possession of our affections, but yours is too narrow to receive any one but yourselves;" for such would seem to be the meaning hinted at, though not fully expressed, by the Apostle. The word bowelsis a Hebraism for loving-kindness. As instances of its use in the O. T., take Song of Solomon 5:4; Isaiah 16:11; and in the New, Philippians 2:1. For straitened(angwischid, Wiclif) see note on ch. 2 Corinthians 4:8. The original meaning of the word is to coop up in a narrow space. The word straitin the sense of narrow(Latin, strictus) was a common phrase when the A. V. was made. e.g. Matthew 7:13. It survives in modern English in such words as straits, strait-waistcoat.