2 Corinthians 11
1 I hope you can put up with a little more foolishness from me—well you already do put up with me!
Would that ye could bear with me in a little foolishness: nay indeed bear with me.
2 I agonize over you with a divine kind of jealousy, for I promised you to a single husband—Christ—so that I could present you as a pure virgin to him.
For I am jealous over you with a godly jealousy: for I espoused you to one husband, that I might present you [as] a pure virgin to Christ.
3 I worry that in some way, just as the serpent deceived Eve with his devious cunning, that you might be led astray in your thinking from your sincere and pure commitment to Christ.
But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve in his craftiness, your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity and the purity that is toward Christ.
4 If anyone comes and tells you about a different Jesus to the one we shared with you, you easily go along with them, accepting a different spirit to the one you received, and a different kind of good news to the one you believed.
For if he that cometh preacheth another Jesus, whom we did not preach, or [if] ye receive a different spirit, which ye did not receive, or a different gospel, which ye did not accept, ye do well to bear with [him].
5 I don't believe I'm inferior to these “super-apostles.”
For I reckon that I am not a whit behind the very chiefest apostles.
6 Even though I may not be skilled in giving speeches, I do know what I'm talking about. We have made this absolutely clear to you in every way.
But though [I be] rude in speech, yet [am I] not in knowledge; nay, in everything we have made [it] manifest among all men to you-ward.
7 Was it wrong of me to humble myself so you could be elevated, since I shared the good news with you at no charge?
Or did I commit a sin in abasing myself that ye might be exalted, because I preached to you the gospel of God for nought?
8 I robbed as it were other churches, taking pay from them so I could work for you.
I robbed other churches, taking wages [of them] that I might minister unto you;
9 When I was there with you and needed something, I wasn't a burden to anyone because the believers who came from Macedonia took care of my needs. I was determined never to be a burden to you and I never shall.
and when I was present with you and was in want, I was not a burden on any man; for the brethren, when they came from Macedonia, supplied the measure of my want; and in everything I kept myself from being burdensome unto you, and [so] will I keep [myself].
10 This is as certain as the truth of Christ that is in me: nobody in all Achaia will stop me boasting about this!
As the truth of Christ is in me, no man shall stop me of this glorying in the regions of Achaia.
11 And why? Because I don't love you? God knows that I do!
Wherefore? because I love you not? God knoweth.
12 I'll continue to do what I've always done, so as to remove any opportunity for those who want to boast that their work is the same as ours.
But what I do, that I will do, that I may cut off occasion from them which desire an occasion; that wherein they glory, they may be found even as we.
13 These people are false apostles, dishonest workers, who pretend to be apostles of Christ.
For such men are false apostles, deceitful workers, fashioning themselves into apostles of Christ.
14 Don't be surprised at this for even Satan himself pretends to be an angel of light.
And no marvel; for even Satan fashioneth himself into an angel of light.
15 So it's no wonder then if those who serve him pretend to be agents of good. But their final end will be in accordance with what they've done.
It is no great thing therefore if his ministers also fashion themselves as ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works.
16 Let me say it again: please don't think I'm being foolish. However, even if you do, accept me as someone who is foolish, and let me also boast a little.
I say again, Let no man think me foolish; but if [ye do], yet as foolish receive me, that I also may glory a little.
17 What I'm saying is not as the Lord would say it—all this foolish boasting.
That which I speak, I speak not after the Lord, but as in foolishness, in this confidence of glorying.
18 But since many others are boasting in the way the world does, let me boast too.
Seeing that many glory after the flesh, I will glory also.
19 (You're happy to put up with fools, since you are so wise!)
For ye bear with the foolish gladly, being wise [yourselves].
20 You put up with people who make you slaves, who take what you have, who exploit you, who arrogantly put you down, who hit you in the face.
For ye bear with a man, if he bringeth you into bondage, if he devoureth you, if he taketh you [captive], if he exalteth himself, if he smiteth you on the face.
21 I'm so sorry that we were too weak to do anything like that! But whatever people dare to boast about, I dare to do too. (Here I'm talking like a fool again.)
I speak by way of disparagement, as though we had been weak. Yet whereinsoever any is bold (I speak in foolishness), I am bold also.
22 Are they Hebrews? Me too. Are they Israelites? Me too. Are they descendants of Abraham? Me too.
Are they Hebrews? so am I. Are they Israelites? so am I. Are they the seed of Abraham? so am I.
23 Are they servants of Christ? (I know I'll sound like I'm crazy, talking like this.) But I have done so much more. I've worked harder, been imprisoned more often, whipped more times than I can count, faced death time and again.
Are they ministers of Christ? (I speak as one beside himself) I more; in labours more abundantly, in prisons more abundantly, in stripes above measure, in deaths oft.
24 Five times I received from the Jews the forty lashes less one.
Of the Jews five times received I forty [stripes] save one.
25 Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked. Once I spent twenty-four hours adrift on the ocean.
Thrice was I beaten with rods, once was I stoned, thrice I suffered shipwreck, a night and a day have I been in the deep;
26 During my many journeys I have faced the dangers of crossing rivers, robber gangs, attacks from my own countrymen, as well as from foreigners. I have faced danger in cities, in the deserts, and on the sea. I have faced the danger of people who pretend to be Christians.
[in] journeyings often, [in] perils of rivers, [in] perils of robbers, [in] perils from [my] countrymen, [in] perils from the Gentiles, [in] perils in the city, [in] perils in the wilderness, [in] perils in the sea, [in] perils among false brethren;
27 I have faced hard labor and struggles, many sleepless nights, hungry and thirsty, often going without food, cold, without enough clothing to keep warm.
[in] labour and travail, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness.
28 Besides all this, I face the daily concerns of dealing with all the churches.
Beside those things that are without, there is that which presseth upon me daily, anxiety for all the churches.
29 Who is weak, and I don't feel weak too? Who is led into sin, and I don't burn up?
Who is weak, and I am not weak? who is made to stumble, and I burn not?
30 If I have to boast, I will boast about how weak I am.
If I must needs glory, I will glory of the things that concern my weakness.
The God and Father of the Lord Jesus, he who is blessed for evermore, knoweth that I lie not. (aiōn g165)
32 While I was in Damascus, the governor under King Aretas had the city guarded in order to capture me.
In Damascus the governor under Aretas the king guarded the city of the Damascenes, in order to take me:
33 But I was lowered in a basket from a window in the city wall, and so I escaped from him.
and through a window was I let down in a basket by the wall, and escaped his hands.
