¹⁶I repeat: Let no one consider me a fool. But if you do, at least accept me as a fool so that I can also boast a little. ¹⁷What I am saying in this matter^C of boasting, I don’t speak as the Lord would, but as it were, foolishly. ¹⁸Since many boast according to the flesh, I will also boast. ¹⁹For you, being so wise, gladly put up with fools!^k ²⁰In fact, you put up with it if someone enslaves you, if someone exploits^l you, if someone takes advantage of you, if someone is arrogant toward you, if someone slaps^m you in the face. ²¹I say this to our shame: We have been too weak for that!

But in whatever anyone dares to boast—I am talking foolishly—I also dare: ²²Are they Hebrews?ⁿ So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they the descendants of Abraham?^o So am I. ²³Are they servants of Christ? I’m talking like a madman—I’m a better one: with far more labors, many more imprisonments, far worse beatings, many times near death.

²⁴Five times I received the forty lashes minus one from the Jews.^p ²⁵Three times I was beaten with rods.^q Once I received a stoning.^r Three times I was shipwrecked.^s I have spent a night and a day in the open sea. ²⁶On frequent journeys, I faced dangers from rivers, dangers from robbers,^t dangers from my own people,^u dangers from Gentiles, dangers in the city, dangers in the wilderness, dangers at sea, and dangers among false brothers; ²⁷toil and hardship, many sleepless nights, hunger and thirst, often without food, cold, and without clothing.^v ²⁸Not to mention^D other things, there is the daily pressure on me: my concern for all the churches. ²⁹Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is made to stumble,^w and I do not burn with indignation?

³⁰If boasting is necessary, I will boast about my weaknesses. ³¹The God and Father^x of the Lord Jesus, who is blessed forever, knows I am not lying. ³²In Damascus,^y a ruler^E under King Aretas guarded the city of Damascus in order to arrest me. ³³So I was let down in a basket through a window in the wall and escaped from his hands.^z

Read in Logos

Footnotes

COr business, or confidence
D Apart from
E ethnarches; a leader of an ethnic community

Cross references

k Pr 3:7
l Gl 5:15
m Mt 5:39
n Php 3:5
o Gn 16:15; Gl 3:29
p Dt 25:3
q Ac 16:22
r Ac 14:19
s Ac 27:1–44; 1Tm 1:19
t Mk 14:48
u Ac 9:23; 13:50; 14:5; 17:5; 18:12; 20:3,19; 21:27; 23:10–12; 25:3
v Rm 8:35
w Jn 16:1
x Mt 5:16; 11:27; Lk 11:13; Jn 8:42; Eph 5:20
y 2Sm 8:5
z Ac 9:19–25