2 Corinthians
11
- I hope you will put up with a little of my
foolishness; but you are already doing that.
- I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy.
I promised you to one husband, to Christ, so that I might present you as a
pure virgin to him.
- But I am afraid that just as Eve was deceived
by the serpent's cunning, your minds may somehow be led astray from your sincere
and pure devotion to Christ.
- For if someone comes to you and preaches
a Jesus other than the Jesus we preached, or if you receive a different spirit
from the one you received, or a different gospel from the one you accepted,
you put up with it easily enough.
- But I do not think I am in the least inferior
to those "super-apostles."
- I may not be a trained speaker, but I do
have knowledge. We have made this perfectly clear to you in every way.
- Was it a sin for me to lower myself in order
to elevate you by preaching the gospel of God to you free of charge
?
- I robbed other churches by receiving support
from them so as to serve you.
- And when I was with you and needed something,
I was not a burden to anyone, for the brothers who came from Macedonia supplied
what I needed. I have kept myself from being a burden to you in any way, and
will continue to do so.
- As surely as the truth of Christ is in me,
nobody in the regions of Achaia will stop this boasting of mine.
- Why? Because I do not love you? God knows
I do !
- And I will keep on doing what I am doing
in order to cut the ground from under those who want an opportunity to be
considered equal with us in the things they boast about.
- For such men are false apostles, deceitful
workmen, masquerading as apostles of Christ.
- And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades
as an angel of light.
- It is not surprising, then, if his servants
masquerade as servants of righteousness. Their end will be what their actions
deserve.
- I repeat: Let no one take me for a fool.
But if you do, then receive me just as you would a fool, so that I may do
a little boasting.
- In this self-confident boasting I am not
talking as the Lord would, but as a fool.
- Since many are boasting in the way the world
does, I too will boast.
- You gladly put up with fools since you are
so wise !
- In fact, you even put up with anyone who
enslaves you or exploits you or takes advantage of you or pushes himself forward
or slaps you in the face.
- To my shame I admit that we were too weak
for that! What anyone else dares to boast about--I am speaking as a fool
-- I also dare to boast about.
- Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites?
So am I. Are they Abraham's descendants? So am I.
- Are they servants of Christ? (I am out of
my mind to talk like this.) I am more. I have worked much harder, been in
prison more frequently, been flogged more severely, and been exposed to death
again and again.
- Five times I received from the Jews the forty
lashes minus one.
- 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,
- I have been constantly on the move. I have
been in danger from rivers, in danger from bandits, in danger from my own
countrymen, in danger from Gentiles; in danger in the city, in danger in the
country, in danger at sea; and in danger from false brothers.
- I have labored and toiled and have often
gone without sleep; I have known hunger and thirst and have often gone without
food; I have been cold and naked.
- Besides everything else, I face daily the
pressure of my concern for all the churches.
- Who is weak, and I do not feel weak? Who
is led into sin, and I do not inwardly burn ?
- If I must boast, I will boast of the things
that show my weakness.
- The God and Father of the Lord Jesus, who
is to be praised forever, knows that I am not lying.
- In Damascus the governor under King Aretas
had the city of the Damascenes guarded in order to arrest me.
- But I was lowered in a basket from a window
in the wall and slipped through his hands.
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