2 Corinthians 11–12

Chapter 11

Paul Defends His Apostleship

¹I wish that you would ^abear with me in a little ^bfoolishness; but ¹indeed you are bearing with me.

²For I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy; for I ^abetrothed you to one husband, so that to Christ I might ^bpresent you as a pure virgin.

³But I am afraid that, as the ^aserpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, your minds will be led astray from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ.

⁴For if ¹one comes and preaches ^aanother Jesus whom we have not preached, or you receive a ^bdifferent spirit which you have not received, or a ^cdifferent gospel which you have not accepted, you ^dbear this ^ebeautifully.

⁵For I consider myself ^anot in the least inferior to the ¹most eminent apostles.

⁶But even if I am ^aunskilled in speech, yet I am not so in ^bknowledge; in fact, in every way we have ^cmade this evident to you in all things.

⁷Or ^adid I commit a sin in humbling myself so that you might be exalted, because I preached the ^bgospel of God to you ^cwithout charge?

⁸I robbed other churches by ^ataking wages from them to serve you;

⁹and when I was present with you and was in need, I was ^anot a burden to anyone; for when ^bthe brethren came from ^cMacedonia they fully supplied my need, and in everything I kept myself from being a burden to you, ¹and will continue to do so.

^10aAs the truth of Christ is in me, ^bthis boasting of mine will not be stopped in the regions of ^cAchaia.

¹¹Why? ^aBecause I do not love you? ^bGod knows I do!

¹²But what I am doing I will continue to do, ^aso that I may cut off opportunity from those who desire an opportunity to be ¹regarded just as we are in the matter about which they are boasting.

¹³For such men are ^afalse apostles, ^bdeceitful workers, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ.

¹⁴No wonder, for even ^aSatan disguises himself as an ^bangel of light.

¹⁵Therefore it is not surprising if his servants also disguise themselves as servants of righteousness, ^awhose end will be according to their deeds.

^16aAgain I say, let no one think me foolish; but if you do, receive me even as foolish, so that I also may boast a little.

¹⁷What I am saying, I am not saying ^1aas the Lord would, but as ^bin foolishness, in this confidence of boasting.

¹⁸Since ^amany boast ^baccording to the flesh, I will boast also.

¹⁹For you, ^abeing so wise, tolerate the foolish gladly.

²⁰For you tolerate it if anyone ^aenslaves you, anyone ^bdevours you, anyone ^ctakes advantage of you, anyone ^dexalts himself, anyone ^ehits you in the face.

²¹To my ^ashame I must say that we have been ^bweak by comparison.

But in whatever respect anyone else ^cis bold—I ^dspeak in foolishness—I am just as bold myself.

²²Are they ^aHebrews? ^bSo am I. Are they ^cIsraelites? So am I. Are they ^1ddescendants of Abraham? ^eSo am I.

²³Are they ^aservants of Christ?—I speak as if insane—I more so; in ^1bfar more labors, in ^cfar more imprisonments, ^2dbeaten times without number, often in ^edanger of death.

²⁴Five times I received from the Jews ^athirty-nine lashes.

²⁵Three times I was ^abeaten with rods, once I was ^bstoned, three times I was shipwrecked, a night and a day I have spent in the deep.

²⁶I have been on frequent journeys, in dangers from rivers, dangers from robbers, dangers from my ^acountrymen, dangers from the ^bGentiles, dangers in the ^ccity, dangers in the wilderness, dangers on the sea, dangers among ^dfalse brethren;

²⁷I have been in ^alabor and hardship, ¹through many sleepless nights, in ^bhunger and thirst, often ^cwithout food, in cold and ^2dexposure.

²⁸Apart from such ¹external things, there is the daily pressure on me of concern for ^aall the churches.

²⁹Who is ^aweak without my being weak? Who is ¹led into sin ²without my intense concern?

³⁰If I have to boast, I will boast of what pertains to my ^aweakness.

³¹The God and Father of the Lord Jesus, ^aHe who is blessed forever, ^bknows that I am not lying.

³²In ^aDamascus the ethnarch under Aretas the king was ^bguarding the city of the Damascenes in order to seize me,

³³and I was let down in a basket ^athrough a window ¹in the wall, and so escaped his hands.

Chapter 12

Paul’s Vision

^1aBoasting is necessary, though it is not profitable; but I will go on to visions and ^brevelations ¹of the Lord.

²I know a man ^ain Christ who fourteen years ago—whether in the body I do not know, or out of the body I do not know, ^bGod knows—such a man was ^ccaught up to the ^dthird heaven.

³And I know how such a man—whether in the body or apart from the body I do not know, ^aGod knows—

⁴was ^acaught up into ^bParadise and heard inexpressible words, which a man is not permitted to speak.

^5aOn behalf of such a man I will boast; but on my own behalf I will not boast, except in regard to my ^bweaknesses.

⁶For if I do wish to boast I will not be ^afoolish, ^bfor I will be speaking the truth; but I refrain from this, so that no one will credit me with more than he sees in me or hears from me.

A Thorn in the Flesh

⁷Because of the surpassing greatness of the ^arevelations, for this reason, to keep me from exalting myself, there was given me a ^bthorn in the flesh, a ^cmessenger of Satan to ¹torment me—to keep me from exalting myself!

⁸Concerning this I implored the Lord ^athree times that it might leave me.

⁹And He has said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for ^apower is perfected in weakness.” Most gladly, therefore, I will rather ^bboast ¹about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me.

¹⁰Therefore ^aI am well content with weaknesses, with ¹insults, with ^bdistresses, with ^cpersecutions, with difficulties, ^dfor Christ’s sake; for ^ewhen I am weak, then I am strong.

¹¹I have become ^afoolish; you yourselves compelled me. Actually I should have been commended by you, for ^bin no respect was I inferior to the ¹most eminent apostles, even though ^cI am a nobody.

¹²The ^1asigns ²of a true apostle were performed among you with all perseverance, by signs and wonders and ³miracles.

¹³For in what respect were you treated as inferior to the rest of the churches, except that ^aI myself did not become a burden to you? Forgive me ^bthis wrong!

¹⁴Here ^afor this third time I am ready to come to you, and I ^bwill not be a burden to you; for I ^cdo not seek what is yours, but ^dyou; for ^echildren are not responsible to save up for their parents, but ^fparents for their children.

¹⁵I will ^amost gladly spend and be expended for your souls. If ^bI love you more, am I to be loved less?

¹⁶But be that as it may, I ^adid not burden you myself; nevertheless, crafty fellow that I am, I ^btook you in by deceit.

^17aCertainly I have not taken advantage of you through any of those whom I have sent to you, have I?

¹⁸I ^aurged ^bTitus to go, and I sent ^cthe brother with him. Titus did not take any advantage of you, did he? Did we not ¹conduct ourselves ²in the same ^dspirit and walk ^ein the same steps?

¹⁹All this time ¹you have been thinking that we are defending ourselves to you. Actually, ^ait is in the sight of God that we have been speaking in Christ; and ^ball for your upbuilding, ^cbeloved.

²⁰For I am afraid that perhaps ^awhen I come I may find you to be not what I wish and may be found by you to be not what you wish; that perhaps there will be ^bstrife, jealousy, ^cangry tempers, ^ddisputes, ^eslanders, ^fgossip, ^garrogance, ^hdisturbances;

²¹I am afraid that when I come again my God may humiliate me before you, and I may mourn over many of those who have ^asinned in the past and not repented of the ^bimpurity, ¹immorality and sensuality which they have practiced.