2 Corinthians 11

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

1 Would to God ye could bear with me a little in my folly: and indeed 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.

2 For I am jealous over you with godly jealousy: 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.

3 But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted 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 very easily.

4 For if he that cometh preacheth another Jesus, whom we have not preached, or if ye receive another spirit, which ye have not received, or another gospel, which ye have not accepted, ye might well bear with him.

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

5 For I suppose I was not a whit behind the very chiefest 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.

6 But though I be rude in speech, yet not in knowledge; but we have been throughly made manifest among you in all things.

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?

7 Have I committed an offence in abasing myself that ye might be exalted, because I have preached to you the gospel of God freely?

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

8 I robbed other churches, taking wages of them, to do you service.

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.

9 And when I was present with you, and wanted, I was chargeable to no man: for that which was lacking to me the brethren which came from Macedonia supplied: and in all things I have kept myself from being burdensome unto you, and so will I 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.

10 As the truth of Christ is in me, no man shall stop me of this boasting in the regions of Achaia.

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

11 Wherefore? because I love you not? God knoweth.

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.

12 But what I do, that I will do, that I may cut off occasion from them which 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.

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

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

14 And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed 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.

15 Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; 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.

16 I say again, Let no man think me a fool; if otherwise, yet as a fool receive me, that I may boast myself a little.

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

17 That which I speak, I speak it not after the Lord, but as it were foolishly, in this confidence of boasting.

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

18 Seeing that many glory after the flesh, I will glory also.

19 For you gladly put up with fools, since you are so wise.

19 For ye suffer fools gladly, seeing ye 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.

20 For ye suffer, if a man bring you into bondage, if a man devour you, if a man take of you, if a man exalt himself, if a man smite 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.

21 I speak as concerning reproach, as though we had been weak. Howbeit whereinsoever any 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.

22 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 am speaking as if I were out of my mind.) I am so much more: in harder labor, in more imprisonments, in worse beatings, in frequent danger of death.

23 Are they ministers of Christ? (I speak as a fool) I am more; in labours more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequent, in deaths oft.

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

24 Of the Jews five times received I 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.

25 Thrice was I beaten with rods, once was I stoned, thrice I suffered shipwreck, a night and a day I have been in the deep;

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,

26 In journeyings often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils by mine own countrymen, in perils by the heathen, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren;

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

27 In weariness and painfulness, in watchings often, 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.

28 Beside those things that are without, that which cometh upon me daily, the care of all the churches.

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

29 Who is weak, and I am not weak? who is offended, and I burn not?

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

30 If I must needs glory, I will glory of the things which concern mine infirmities.

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

31 The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which is blessed for evermore, knoweth that I lie not.

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

32 In Damascus the governor under Aretas the king kept the city of the Damascenes with a garrison, desirous to apprehend me:

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

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