2 Corinthians 11

1 Put up with me if I am a little foolish: but, truly, you do put up with me.

I wish you could have borne with a little foolish boasting on my part. Nay, do bear with me.

2 For I have a very great care for you: because you have been married by me to one husband, and it is my desire to give you completely holy to Christ.

I am jealous over you with God's own jealousy. For I have betrothed you to Christ to present you to Him like a faithful bride to her one husband.

3 But I have a fear, that in some way, as Eve was tricked by the deceit of the snake, your minds may be turned away from their simple and holy love for Christ.

But I am afraid that, as the serpent in his craftiness deceived Eve, so your minds may be led astray from their single-heartedness and their fidelity to Christ.

4 For if anyone comes preaching another Jesus from the one whose preachers we are, or if you have got a different spirit, or a different sort of good news from those which came to you, how well you put up with these things.

If indeed some visitor is proclaiming among you another Jesus whom we did not proclaim, or if you are receiving a Spirit different from the One you have already received or a Good News different from that which you have already welcomed, your toleration is admirable!

5 For in my opinion, I am in no way less than the most important of the Apostles.

Why, I reckon myself in no respect inferior to those superlatively great Apostles.

6 But though I am rough in my way of talking, I am not so in knowledge, as we have made clear to all by our acts among you.

And if in the matter of speech I am no orator, yet in knowledge I am not deficient. Nay, we have in every way made that fully evident to you.

7 Or did I do wrong in making myself low so that you might be lifted up, because I gave you the good news of God without reward?

Is it a sin that I abased myself in order for you to be exalted, in that I proclaimed God's Good News to you without fee or reward?

8 I took money from other churches as payment for my work, so that I might be your servant;

Other Churches I robbed, receiving pay from them in order to do you service.

9 And when I was present with you, and was in need, I let no man be responsible for me; for the brothers, when they came from Macedonia, gave me whatever was needed; and in everything I kept myself from being a trouble to you, and I will go on doing so.

And when I was with you and my resources failed, there was no one to whom I became a burden--for the brethren when they came from Macedonia fully supplied my wants--and I kept myself from being in the least a burden to you, and will do so still.

10 As the true word of Christ is in me, I will let no man take from me this my cause of pride in the country of Achaia.

Christ knows that it is true when I say that I will not be stopped from boasting of this anywhere in Greece.

11 Why? because I have no love for you? let God be judge.

And why? Because I do not love you? God knows that I do.

12 But what I do, that I will go on doing, so that I may give no chance to those who are looking for one; so that, in the cause of their pride, they may be seen to be the same as we are.

But I will persist in the same line of conduct in order to cut the ground from under the feet of those who desire an opportunity of getting themselves recognized as being on a level with us in the matters about which they boast.

13 For such men are false Apostles, workers of deceit, making themselves seem like Apostles of Christ.

For men of this stamp are sham apostles, dishonest workmen, assuming the garb of Apostles of Christ.

14 And it is no wonder; for even Satan himself is able to take the form of an angel of light.

And no wonder. Satan, their master, can disguise himself as an angel of light.

15 So it is no great thing if his servants make themselves seem to be servants of righteousness; whose end will be the reward of their works.

It is therefore no great thing for his servants also to disguise themselves as servants of righteousness. Their end will be in accordance with their actions.

16 I say again, Let me not seem foolish to anyone; but if I do, put up with me as such, so that I may take a little glory to myself.

To return to what I was saying. Let no one suppose that I am foolish. Or if you must, at any rate make allowance for me as being foolish, in order that I, as well as they, may boast a little.

17 What I am now saying is not by the order of the Lord, but as a foolish person, taking credit to myself, as it seems.

What I am now saying, I do not say by the Lord's command, but as a fool in his folly might, in this reckless boasting.

18 Seeing that there are those who take credit to themselves after the flesh, I will do the same.

Since many boast for merely human reasons, I too will boast.

19 For you put up with the foolish gladly, being wise yourselves.

Wise as you yourselves are, you find pleasure in tolerating fools.

20 You put up with a man if he makes servants of you, if he makes profit out of you, if he makes you prisoners, if he puts himself in a high place, if he gives you blows on the face.

For you tolerate it, if any one enslaves you, lives at your expense, makes off with your property, gives himself airs, or strikes you on the face.

21 I say this by way of shaming ourselves, as if we had been feeble. But if anyone puts himself forward (I am talking like a foolish person), I will do the same.

I use the language of self-disparagement, as though I were admitting our own feebleness. Yet for whatever reason any one is 'courageous' --I speak in mere folly--I also am courageous.

22 Are they Hebrews? so am I. Are they of Israel? so am I. Are they the seed of Abraham? so am I.

Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they descendants of Abraham? So am I.

23 Are they servants of Christ? (I am talking foolishly) I am more so; I have had more experience of hard work, of prisons, of blows more than measure, of death.

Are they servants of Christ? (I speak as if I were out of my mind.) Much more am I His servant; serving Him more thoroughly than they by my labours, and more thoroughly also by my imprisonments, by excessively cruel floggings, and with risk of life many a time.

24 Five times the Jews gave me forty blows but one.

From the Jews I five times have received forty lashes all but one.

25 Three times I was whipped with rods, once I was stoned, three times the ship I was in came to destruction at sea, a night and a day I have been in the water;

Three times I have been beaten with Roman rods, once I have been stoned, three times I have been shipwrecked, once for full four and twenty hours I was floating on the open sea.

26 In frequent travels, in dangers on rivers, in dangers from outlaws, in dangers from my countrymen, in dangers from the Gentiles, in dangers in the town, in dangers in the waste land, in dangers at sea, in dangers among false brothers;

I have served Him by frequent travelling, amid dangers in crossing rivers, dangers from robbers; dangers from my own countrymen, dangers from the Gentiles; dangers in the city, dangers in the Desert, dangers by sea, dangers from spies in our midst;

27 In hard work and weariness, in frequent watchings, going without food and drink, cold and in need of clothing.

with labour and toil, with many a sleepless night, in hunger and thirst, in frequent fastings, in cold, and with insufficient clothing.

28 In addition to all the other things, there is that which comes on me every day, the care of all the churches.

And besides other things, which I pass over, there is that which presses on me daily--my anxiety for all the Churches.

29 Who is feeble and I am not feeble? who is in danger of falling, and I am not angry?

Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is led astray into sin, and I am not aflame with indignation?

30 If I have to take credit to myself, I will do so in the things in which I am feeble.

If boast I must, it shall be of things which display my weakness.

31 The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom be praise for ever, is witness that the things which I say are true. (aiōn g165)

The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ--He who is blessed throughout the Ages--knows that I am speaking the truth. (aiōn g165)

32 In Damascus, the ruler under Aretas the king kept watch over the town of the people of Damascus, in order to take me:

In Damascus the governor under King Aretas kept guards at the gates of the city in order to apprehend me,

33 And being let down in a basket from the wall through a window, I got free from his hands.

but through an opening in the wall I was let down in a basket, and so escaped his hands.