2 Corinthians 11
1 O that you were bearing with me a little of the folly, but you also 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 zealous for you with zeal of God, for I betrothed you to one Husband, a pure virgin, to present 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 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;
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, 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],
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 have been nothing behind the very chiefest apostles,
Why, I reckon myself in no respect inferior to those superlatively great Apostles.
6 and even if a commoner in speech—yet not in knowledge, but in everything we were made evident in all things to 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 Did I do sin—humbling myself that you might be exalted, because I freely proclaimed the good news of God to you?
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 assemblies, having taken wages, for your ministry;
Other Churches I robbed, receiving pay from them in order to do you service.
9 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.
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 The truth of Christ is in me, because this boasting will not be stopped in regard to me 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 for what reason? Because I do not love you? God has known!
And why? Because I do not love you? God knows that I do.
12 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;
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 those such [are] false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming 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 wonder—for even Satan transforms himself into a messenger of light;
And no wonder. Satan, their master, can disguise himself as an angel of light.
15 [it is] no great thing, then, if his servants also transform themselves as servants of righteousness—whose end will 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 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.
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 do not speak according to the LORD, but as in foolishness, in this the confidence of boasting;
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 since many boast according to the flesh, I also will boast:
Since many boast for merely human reasons, I too will boast.
19 for you gladly bear with the fools—being wise,
Wise as you yourselves are, you find pleasure in tolerating fools.
20 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;
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 in reference to dishonor, how that we were weak, and in whatever anyone is bold—in foolishness I say [it]—I also am bold.
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? I also! Are they Israelites? I also! Are they seed of Abraham? I also!
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? 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.
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 I received from Jews forty [stripes] except one;
From the Jews I five times have received forty lashes all but one.
25 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;
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 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;
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 laboriousness and painfulness, many times in watchings, in hunger and thirst, many times in fastings, 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 apart from the things without—the crowding on me that is daily—the care of all the assemblies.
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 stumbled, and I am not burned?
Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is led astray into sin, and I am not aflame with indignation?
30 If it is necessary to boast, I will boast of the things of my weakness;
If boast I must, it shall be of things which display my weakness.
31 the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ—who is blessed for all ages—has known that I do not lie! (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 was watching the city of the Damascenes, wishing to seize me,
In Damascus the governor under King Aretas kept guards at the gates of the city in order to apprehend me,
33 and I was let down through a window in a rope basket, through the wall, and fled out of his hands.
but through an opening in the wall I was let down in a basket, and so escaped his hands.
