2 Corinthians 11
1 Would that ye could bear with me in a little foolishness: nay indeed bear with me.
I wish you could have borne with a little foolish boasting on my part. Nay, do bear with me.
2 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.
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 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.
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 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].
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 I reckon that I am not a whit behind the very chiefest apostles.
Why, I reckon myself in no respect inferior to those superlatively great Apostles.
6 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.
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 commit a sin in abasing myself that ye might be exalted, because I preached to you the gospel of God for nought?
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 robbed other churches, taking wages [of them] that I might minister unto you;
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 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].
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 truth of Christ is in me, no man shall stop me of this glorying in the regions 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 Wherefore? because I love you not? God knoweth.
And why? Because I do not love you? God knows that I do.
12 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.
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, deceitful workers, fashioning themselves into apostles of Christ.
For men of this stamp are sham apostles, dishonest workmen, assuming the garb of Apostles of Christ.
14 And no marvel; for even Satan fashioneth himself into an angel of light.
And no wonder. Satan, their master, can disguise himself as an angel of light.
15 It is no great thing therefore if his ministers also fashion themselves as ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to 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 no man think me foolish; but if [ye do], yet as foolish receive me, that I also may glory a little.
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 That which I speak, I speak not after the Lord, but as in foolishness, in this confidence of glorying.
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 many glory after the flesh, I will glory also.
Since many boast for merely human reasons, I too will boast.
19 For ye bear with the foolish gladly, being wise [yourselves].
Wise as you yourselves are, you find pleasure in tolerating fools.
20 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.
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 speak by way of disparagement, as though we had been weak. Yet whereinsoever any is bold (I speak in foolishness), I am bold also.
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 Israelites? 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 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.
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 Of the Jews five times received I forty [stripes] save one.
From the Jews I five times have received forty lashes all but one.
25 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;
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] 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;
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] labour and travail, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness.
with labour and toil, with many a sleepless night, in hunger and thirst, in frequent fastings, in cold, and with insufficient clothing.
28 Beside those things that are without, there is that which presseth upon me daily, anxiety for 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 weak, and I am not weak? who is made to stumble, and I burn not?
Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is led astray into sin, and I am not aflame with indignation?
30 If I must needs glory, I will glory of the things that concern my weakness.
If boast I must, it shall be of things which display my weakness.
31 The God and Father of the Lord Jesus, he who is blessed for evermore, knoweth that I lie not. (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 governor under Aretas the king guarded the city of the Damascenes, 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 through a window was I let down in a basket by the wall, and escaped his hands.
but through an opening in the wall I was let down in a basket, and so escaped his hands.
