2 Corinthians 11

1 I hope you will bear with a little of my foolishness, but you are already doing that.

Would to God you could bear with some little of my folly: but do bear with me.

2 I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy. For I promised you to one husband, to present you as a pure virgin to Christ.

For I am jealous of you with the jealousy of God. For I have espoused you to one husband that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ.

3 I am afraid, however, that just as Eve was deceived by the serpent’s cunning, your minds may be led astray from your simple and pure devotion to Christ.

But I fear lest, as the serpent seduced Eve by his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted, and fall from the simplicity that is in Christ.

4 For if someone comes and proclaims a Jesus other than the One we proclaimed, or if you receive a different spirit than the One you received, or a different gospel than the one you accepted, you put up with it way too easily.

For if he that cometh preacheth another Christ, whom we have not preached; or if you receive another Spirit, whom you have not received; or another gospel which you have not received; you might well bear with him.

5 I consider myself in no way inferior to those “super-apostles.”

For I suppose that I have done nothing less than the great apostles.

6 Although I am not a polished speaker, I am certainly not lacking in knowledge. We have made this clear to you in every way possible.

For although I be rude in speech, yet not in knowledge; but in all things we have been made manifest to you.

7 Was it a sin for me to humble myself in order to exalt you, because I preached the gospel of God to you free of charge?

Or did I commit a fault, humbling myself, that you might be exalted? Because I preached unto you the gospel of God freely?

8 I robbed other churches by accepting their support in order to serve you.

I have taken from other churches, receiving wages of them for your ministry.

9 And when I was with you and in need, I was not a burden to anyone; for the brothers who came from Macedonia supplied my needs. I have refrained from being a burden to you in any way, and I will continue to do so.

And, when I was present with you, and wanted, I was chargeable to no man: for that which was wanting to me, the brethren supplied who came from Macedonia; and in all things I have kept myself from being burthensome to you, and so I will keep myself.

10 As surely as the truth of Christ is in me, this boasting of mine will not be silenced in the regions of Achaia.

The truth of Christ is in me, that this glorying shall not be broken off in me in the regions of Achaia.

11 Why? Because I do not love you? God knows I do!

Wherefore? Because I love you not? God knoweth it.

12 But I will keep on doing what I am doing, in order to undercut those who want an opportunity to be regarded as our equals in the things of which they boast.

But what I do, that I will do, that I may cut off the occasion from them that desire occasion, that wherein they glory, they may be found even as we.

13 For such men are false apostles, deceitful workers, masquerading as apostles of Christ.

For such false apostles are deceitful workmen, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ.

14 And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light.

And no wonder: for Satan himself transformeth himself into an angel of light.

15 It is not surprising, then, if his servants masquerade as servants of righteousness. Their end will correspond to their actions.

Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers be transformed as the ministers of justice, whose end shall be according to their works.

16 I repeat: Let no one take me for a fool. But if you do, then receive me as a fool, so that I too may boast a little.

I say again, (let no man think me to be foolish, otherwise take me as one foolish, that I also may glory a little.)

17 In this confident boasting of mine, I am not speaking as the Lord would, but as a fool.

That which I speak, I speak not according to God, but as it were in foolishness, in this matter of glorying.

18 Since many are boasting according to the flesh, I too will boast.

Seeing that many glory according to the flesh, I will glory also.

19 For you gladly tolerate fools, since you are so wise.

For you gladly suffer the foolish; whereas yourselves are wise.

20 In fact, you even put up with anyone who enslaves you or exploits you or takes advantage of you or exalts himself or strikes you in the face.

For you suffer if a man bring you into bondage, if a man devour you, if a man take from you, if a man be lifted up, if a man strike you on the face.

21 To my shame I concede that we were too weak for that! Speaking as a fool, however, I can match what anyone else dares to boast about.

I speak according to dishonour, as if we had been weak in this part. Wherein if any man dare (I speak foolishly), I dare also.

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

They are Hebrews: so am I. They are Israelites: so am I. They are the seed of Abraham: so am I.

23 Are they servants of Christ? I am speaking like I am out of my mind, but I am so much more: in harder labor, in more imprisonments, in worse beatings, in frequent danger of death.

They are the ministers of Christ (I speak as one less wise). I am more; in many more labours, in prisons more frequently, in stripes above measure, in deaths often.

24 Five times I received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one.

Of the Jews five times did I receive forty stripes, save one.

25 Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked. I spent a night and a day in the open sea.

Thrice was I beaten with rods, once I was stoned, thrice I suffered shipwreck, a night and a day I was in the depth of the sea.

26 In my frequent journeys, I have been in danger from rivers and from bandits, in danger from my countrymen and from the Gentiles, in danger in the city and in the country, in danger on the sea and among false brothers,

In journeying often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils from my own nation, in perils from the Gentiles, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils from false brethren.

27 in labor and toil and often without sleep, in hunger and thirst and often without food, in cold and exposure.

In labour and painfulness, in much watchings, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness.

28 Apart from these external trials, I face daily the pressure of my concern for all the churches.

Besides those things which are without: my daily instance, the solicitude for all the churches.

29 Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is led into sin, and I do not burn with grief?

Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is scandalized, and I am not on fire?

30 If I must boast, I will boast of the things that show my weakness.

If I must needs glory, I will glory of the things that concern my infirmity.

31 The God and Father of the Lord Jesus, who is forever worthy of praise, knows that I am not lying. (aiōn g165)

The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who is blessed for ever, knoweth that I lie not. (aiōn g165)

32 In Damascus, the governor under King Aretas secured the city of the Damascenes in order to arrest me.

At Damascus, the governor of the nation under Aretas the king, guarded the city of the Damascenes, to apprehend me.

33 But I was lowered in a basket through a window in the wall and escaped his grasp.

And through a window in a basket was I let down by the wall, and so escaped his hands.