8 For even if I boast somewhat more about our authority that the Lord gave us ⌊for building you up and not for tearing you down⌋c, I will not be put to shame, 9 so that I do not want to appear as if I were terrifying you by my letters, 10 because it is said, “His letters are severe and powerful, but his bodily presence is weak and his speech is of no account.” 11 Let such a person consider this: that what we are in word by letters when we* are absent, we will also be in ⌊actions⌋d when we* are present.

12 For we do not dare to classify or to compare ourselves with some who commend themselves, but they themselves, when they measure themselves by themselves and compare themselves with themselves, do not understand. 13 But we will not boast ⌊beyond limits⌋e, but according to the measure of the assignment that God has assigned to us as a measure to reach even as far as you. 14 For we are not overextending ourselves, as if we* had not reached you, because we have reached even as far as you with the gospel of Christ, 15 not boasting ⌊beyond limits⌋f in the labors of others, but having hope that as your faith is growing to be enlarged greatly by you according to our assignment, 16 so that we may proclaim the gospel in the regions that lie beyond you, and not boast in the things accomplished in the area assigned to someone else. 17 But “the one who boasts, let him boast in the Lord.”g