2 Corinthians 11

1 [But now, because my opponents are saying that Christ sent them to you as his representatives and that he did not send me], please be patient with me, too, [while I say a] few things [that may sound as if] [IRO] [I am praising myself, like] a foolish person [would do. You have been] ([putting up with/tolerating]) [those who teach what is false; ] now then, (put up with/tolerate) me [too].

O that you were bearing with me a little of the folly, but you also bear with me:

2 I really do care about [what happens to] you, just as God cares about [what happens to you. Just like a father wants his daughter to be sexually pure when he presents her to the man she will marry] [MET], I [want you to belong] to Christ [alone and to no other]. I want to present you [to him] as people who remain faithful to him [only, and who have not believed the deceitful message of those who are teaching what is false].

for I am zealous for you with zeal of God, for I betrothed you to one Husband, a pure virgin, to present to Christ,

3 However, just like [Satan, when he] cunningly [appeared as a] snake, deceived Eve [and caused her to disobey the Lord God], I am concerned that [those teachers] will cause you to think wrongly so that you will no longer [be faithful to] Christ alone.

and I fear, lest, as the serpent deceived Eve in his subtlety, so your minds may be corrupted from the simplicity that [is] in the Christ;

4 [I say that] because some people have come among you who are teaching [their own thoughts about] Jesus. They [are saying about him] things that are [entirely] different from what I taught you. [They are urging] you to receive a [powerful] spirit who [would come to live in you], but it is not the same [Spirit] that you received [from God when you believed in Christ]. They preach [what they call] a good message, and you accept [their message, even though it is not the same as the good message about Christ that you heard from me. And] you have gladly accepted them and their message!

for if, indeed, he who is coming preaches another Jesus whom we did not preach, or you receive another spirit which you did not receive, or other good news which you did not accept—well were you bearing [it],

5 I consider that [LIT] none of those [men, even though they think of themselves as being] [IRO] extra-special apostles, are in any way greater than I am.

for I reckon that I have been nothing behind the very chiefest apostles,

6 [I admit that] I am not an eloquent speaker, but I do know [God’s message]. I have made that clear to you by everything [that I have done among you and by everything that I have taught you].

and even if a commoner in speech—yet not in knowledge, but in everything we were made evident in all things to you.

7 [I refused to accept money] from you as pay for teaching you God’s message about Christ. (It is ridiculous for you to think that what I did was wrong!/Was that wrong?) [RHQ] [I know that by teaching you without pay], I made myself seem [IRO] unimportant to you. [But I did it] to honor you.

Did I do sin—humbling myself that you might be exalted, because I freely proclaimed the good news of God to you?

8 [Some people might say that it was as though] [IRO] I was robbing other congregations because I accepted money from them in order that I might work among you.

I robbed other assemblies, having taken wages, for your ministry;

9 Furthermore, when I was [there] with you and had no [money to buy the things that I needed], I did not cause any [of you] ([to have difficulties by my depending on you/by asking you for money/support]), because our [(inc)] fellow believers who came from [here in] Macedonia [province] brought enough [money for me to buy everything] that I needed. So I have not caused you any difficulty at all [by asking you for money], and I never will [ask you for money] [EUP].

and being present with you, and having been in want, I was chargeable to no one, for the brothers supplied my lack—having come from Macedonia—and I kept myself burdenless to you in everything, and will keep.

10 [And] as [sure as you know that] everything that Christ says is true, [you can be sure that what] I say [to you now is true. Wherever I go] there in Achaia [province], [I do not let you believers pay me for doing God’s work among you]. And no one will be able to prevent me from boasting [about that].

The truth of Christ is in me, because this boasting will not be stopped in regard to me in the regions of Achaia;

11 No one should wrongly [RHQ] think that it is because I do not love you that [I do not take pay from you]. God knows [that you truly/really are very dear to me].

for what reason? Because I do not love you? God has known!

12 There are [some men there among you] who would like to be able to say boastfully that they [work among you] just as I do. So, in order to make it impossible [IDM] [for them to say that], I have [refused to accept pay from you], and I will continue doing that.

And what I do, I also will do, that I may cut off the occasion of those wishing an occasion, that in that which they boast they may be found according as we also;

13 Those men are lying [when they say that they are] apostles. They work deceitfully. [Even though they say that they work for God, they are working only for themselves]. They try to make people think that Christ [sent them] as his apostles, [but they do not truly represent him].

for those such [are] false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into apostles of Christ,

14 I am not surprised [that they act like that], because Satan himself causes people to think [that he has come] as a shining messenger [from God].

and no wonder—for even Satan transforms himself into a messenger of light;

15 So it should not surprise [you] if these men, who [really] serve [Satan, do good things in order] to make you think they [serve God]. Some day God will [punish them] according to what they deserve because of the [evil] things that they do.

[it is] no great thing, then, if his servants also transform themselves as servants of righteousness—whose end will be according to their works.

16 I say again: I do not want any of you to think that my [boasting about myself] is like foolish [people] boast. But even if anyone [thinks that I am boasting about myself like a foolish person boasts, listen to] what I [have to say anyway, just like you listen to those false apostles]. They really [speak] foolishly! Listen to me while I also boast a little.

Again I say, may no one think me to be a fool; and if otherwise, receive me even as a fool, that I also may boast a little.

17 About the things that I am [going to tell you], boasting confidently [about myself, surely you know that they are not the kind of things] that the Lord [Jesus] would say. Instead, [I will speak] as a foolish [person would speak].

That which I speak, I do not speak according to the LORD, but as in foolishness, in this the confidence of boasting;

18 Because many among you are boasting [about their own work], as unbelievers do, I will also boast [about myself and my work] [MTY, IRO].

since many boast according to the flesh, I also will boast:

19 [I am sure that you, who think that you are so wise, will accept what I say] because you gladly [accept the] false teachers and the foolish things [that they say].

for you gladly bear with the fools—being wise,

20 When people [treat] you as if they were your bosses, you gladly submit [to them. You think that it is all right when others] force you to provide for their needs. You think that it is all right [when people] take control over you, when they boast about themselves, [or when they insult you by] slapping you in the face.

for you bear, if anyone is bringing you under bondage, if anyone devours, if anyone takes away, if anyone exalts himself, if anyone strikes you on the face;

21 I agree that I was not bold enough to treat you in such ways. [Ha! Do you think that] [IRO] I should feel ashamed [because I did not do that?] So now, talking like a person who does not have any sense, I will boldly tell you [some things about myself, just like those false apostles tell you things about themselves].

I speak in reference to dishonor, how that we were weak, and in whatever anyone is bold—in foolishness I say [it]—I also am bold.

22 Do [they tell you] that they are Hebrews [and can speak the Hebrew language?] Well, I can say the same thing [about myself]. Do they [tell you that they] belong [to God’s people], the nation of Israel? Well, I can say the same thing [about myself]. [Do they tell you that] they are descendants of [our great] ancestor Abraham? Well, he is my ancestor, too.

Are they Hebrews? I also! Are they Israelites? I also! Are they seed of Abraham? I also!

23 [Do they tell you how much] work they have done for Christ? Now I am talking like a crazy person talks [EUP]. Well, I work for Christ much more [than they do. I have been] in prison many more times [than they have. Many times I] have been beaten {[people] have beaten me} very severely [because I believe in and obey Christ]. Many times I almost died [because of serving Christ].

Are they servants of Christ? As [if] beside myself I speak—I [am] more; in labors more abundantly, in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequently, in deaths many times.

24 On five occasions Jewish [religious leaders] beat me 39 times with a whip.

Five times I received from Jews forty [stripes] except one;

25 On three occasions I was beaten {[Roman] officials beat me} with wooden sticks. On one occasion [a large crowd of people] threw stones at me [to kill me]. On three occasions the ship [that I was traveling on] was wrecked [and sank. On one of those occasions] I was [floating] in the water a night and a day [before I was rescued].

three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked, I have passed a night and a day in the deep;

26 As I have often traveled to other places, [I have often risked losing my life. For example], sometimes I have been in danger [crossing] rivers. [I have been] in danger [traveling in places] where there were bandits. [At times I have been in] danger among people of my own nation, [the Jews], and [at other times I been in] danger among those who are not Jews. [I have been] in danger in cities, and I have been in dangerous situations in barren areas. I have been in dangerous situations [when I was traveling in ships]. [I have been in] danger among people who falsely [claim to be] fellow believers.

journeys many times, perils of rivers, perils of robbers, perils from [my own] race, perils from nations, perils in city, perils in wilderness, perils in sea, perils among false brothers;

27 I have worked very hard [DOU] [to earn] ([a living/what I need]), and often I did not sleep. At times I was hungry and thirsty, and at times I did not have enough time to eat. Sometimes I was cold [because] I did not have enough clothes [to wear].

in laboriousness and painfulness, many times in watchings, in hunger and thirst, many times in fastings, in cold and nakedness;

28 In addition to all that, I am constantly and deeply concerned about all the congregations [that I have helped to begin].

apart from the things without—the crowding on me that is daily—the care of all the assemblies.

29 [Every time that I hear about fellow believers] [RHQ] who are not strong [spiritually], I sympathize with them [and try to help them. Every time that I learn about a fellow believer] [RHQ] who causes [another believer] to do something wrong, that makes me very angry.

Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is stumbled, and I am not burned?

30 Because [it seems that] it is necessary for me to [continue] boasting [about myself], I will boast about things that [caused some people to think of me] as being weak.

If it is necessary to boast, I will boast of the things of my weakness;

31 God, who is the Father of our [(inc)] Lord Jesus, and who is the one [whom we should] praise forever, knows that I am not lying [about this]. (aiōn g165)

the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ—who is blessed for all ages—has known that I do not lie! (aiōn g165)

32 [One time when I was] in Damascus [city], the governor whom King Aretas [had appointed] to rule [part of his area, told his soldiers] to guard [the gates of] the city so that they could seize me [if I tried to leave the city].

In Damascus the governor [under] Aretas the king was watching the city of the Damascenes, wishing to seize me,

33 But [my friends] helped me to escape [by] putting me in a large basket and lowering me [to the ground by a rope] through an opening in the [city] wall. [That was really humiliating]!

and I was let down through a window in a rope basket, through the wall, and fled out of his hands.