2 Corinthians 11
1 I wish you could have borne with a little foolish boasting on my part. Nay, do bear with me.
I wish you would bear with me a little in my foolishness: yes, indeed, bear with me:
2 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.
for I am jealous of you with a godly jealousy; because I have espoused you to one husband, that I might present you a chaste virgin to Christ.
3 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.
But I am afraid that, by some means, as the serpent beguiled Eve by his subtlety, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity due to Christ.
4 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!
For, if, indeed, he who has come preaches another Jesus whom we have not preached; or, if you receive another Spirit which you have not received; or another gospel which you have not embraced; you might justly bear with him.
5 Why, I reckon myself in no respect inferior to those superlatively great Apostles.
For I reckon myself to have come nothing short of the very chief of the Apostles.
6 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.
And even though I be rude in speech, yet not in knowledge. But upon the whole, we have been made manifest to you in all things.
7 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?
Have I committed an offense in humbling myself that you might be exalted; because I have preached to you the gospel of God freely?
8 Other Churches I robbed, receiving pay from them in order to do you service.
I robbed other congregations, taking wages of them to do you service;
9 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.
for being present with you, and in want, we were burdensome to no one; but what I wanted, the brethren from Macedonia supplied: and in everything I have kept, and will keep myself from being burdensome to you.
10 Christ knows that it is true when I say that I will not be stopped from boasting of this anywhere in Greece.
Is the truth in me? then this my boasting shall not be prevented in the regions of Achaia.
11 And why? Because I do not love you? God knows that I do.
For what reason? because I do not love you? God knows.
12 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.
But what I do, that I will do, that I may cut off opportunity from them who desire opportunity; that in what they boast, they may be found even as we.
13 For men of this stamp are sham apostles, dishonest workmen, assuming the garb of Apostles of Christ.
For such are false Apostles, deceitful workmen, transforming themselves into Apostles of Christ.
14 And no wonder. Satan, their master, can disguise himself as an angel of light.
And no wonder; for Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light.
15 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.
Therefore, it is no great wonder if his ministers also transform themselves as ministers of righteousness: whose end shall be according to their works.
16 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.
Moreover, I say, let no one think me a fool; but, if otherwise, at least, as a fool, bear with me, that I also may boast a little.
17 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.
What I speak in this confident boasting, I do not speak according to the Lord; but as in foolishness.
18 Since many boast for merely human reasons, I too will boast.
Seeing many boast according to the flesh, I also will boast.
19 Wise as you yourselves are, you find pleasure in tolerating fools.
For, being wise, you bear with fools cheerfully.
20 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.
For if one enslave you, you bear it; if one devour you, if one take your goods, if one exalt himself, if one strike you on the face--
21 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.
I speak of reproach, as, that we are weak. But, in whatever any one is bold, (I speak foolishly, ) I am bold also.
22 Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they descendants of Abraham? So am I.
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 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.
Are they ministers of Christ? (I speak as a fool, ) I am above them: in labors more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequently, in deaths often;
24 From the Jews I five times have received forty lashes all but one.
of the Jews, five times I received forty stripes, save one:
25 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.
thrice I was beaten with rods, once I was stone, thrice I was ship-wrecked: I have spent a night and a day in the deep.
26 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;
In journeys often, in dangers from rivers, in dangers from robbers, in dangers from my countrymen, in dangers from the heathens, in dangers in the city, in dangers in the wilderness, in dangers at sea, in dangers among false brethren.
27 with labour and toil, with many a sleepless night, in hunger and thirst, in frequent fastings, in cold, and with insufficient clothing.
In labor and toil; in watching often; in hunger and thirst; in fastings often; in cold and nakedness.
28 And besides other things, which I pass over, there is that which presses on me daily--my anxiety for all the Churches.
Besides these troubles from without, that which is my daily pressure, the anxious care of all the congregations.
29 Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is led astray into sin, and I am not aflame with indignation?
Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is made to stumble, and I do not burn?
30 If boast I must, it shall be of things which display my weakness.
If I must boast, I will boast of the things which relate to my weakness.
31 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)
The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who is blessed for ever, knows that I do not lie. (aiōn g165)
32 In Damascus the governor under King Aretas kept guards at the gates of the city in order to apprehend me,
In Damascus, the governor under King Aretas, intending to apprehend me, guarded the city of the Damascenes;
33 but through an opening in the wall I was let down in a basket, and so escaped his hands.
but I was let down in a basket, through a window in the wall, and escaped his hands.
