2 Corinthians 11:16–12:10

Paul Brags About His Sufferings

¹⁶I will say it again. Don’t let anyone think I’m a fool. But if you do, receive me just as you would receive a fool. Then I can do a little bragging.

¹⁷When I brag about myself like this, I’m not talking the way the Lord would. I’m talking like a fool. ¹⁸Many are bragging the way the people of the world do. So I will brag like that too.

¹⁹You are so wise! You gladly put up with fools! ²⁰In fact, you even put up with anyone who makes you a slave or uses you. You put up with those who take advantage of you. You put up with those who claim to be better than you. You put up with those who slap you in the face.

²¹I’m ashamed to have to say that I was too weak for that!

What anyone else dares to brag about, I also dare to brag about. I’m speaking like a fool! ²²Are they Hebrews? So am I. Do they belong to the people of Israel? So do I. Are they Abraham’s children? So am I. ²³Are they serving Christ? I am serving him even more. I’m out of my mind to talk like this!

I have worked much harder. I have been in prison more often. I have suffered terrible beatings. Again and again I almost died. ²⁴Five times the Jews gave me 39 strokes with a whip. ²⁵Three times I was beaten with sticks. Once they tried to kill me by throwing stones at me. Three times I was shipwrecked. I spent a night and a day in the open sea.

²⁶I have had to keep on the move. I have been in danger from rivers. I have been in danger from robbers. I have been in danger from people from my own country. I have been in danger from those who aren’t Jews. I have been in danger in the city, in the country, and at sea. I have been in danger from people who pretended they were believers.

²⁷I have worked very hard. Often I have gone without sleep. I have been hungry and thirsty. Often I have gone without food. I have been cold and naked.

²⁸Besides everything else, every day I am concerned about all the churches. It is a very heavy load. ²⁹If anyone is weak, I feel weak. If anyone is led into sin, I burn on the inside.

³⁰If I have to brag, I will brag about the things that show how weak I am. ³¹I am not lying. The God and Father of the Lord Jesus knows this. May God be praised forever. ³²In Damascus the governor who served under King Aretas had their city guarded. He wanted to arrest me. ³³But I was lowered in a basket from a window in the wall. So I slipped through the governor’s hands.

Paul’s Vision and His Painful Problem

12We can’t gain anything by bragging. But I have to do it anyway. I am going to tell you what I’ve seen. I want to talk about what the Lord has shown me.

²I know a believer in Christ who was taken up to the third heaven 14 years ago. I don’t know if his body was taken up or not. Only God knows. ³I don’t know if that man was in his body or out of it. Only God knows. But I do know that ⁴he was taken up to paradise. He heard things that couldn’t be put into words. They were things that people aren’t allowed to talk about.

⁵I will brag about a man like that. But I won’t brag about myself. I will brag only about how weak I am.

⁶Suppose I decide to brag. That would not make me a fool, because I would be telling the truth. But I don’t do it. Then no one will think more of me than he should because of what I do or say.

⁷I could have become proud of myself because of the amazing and wonderful things God has shown me. So I was given a problem that caused pain in my body. It is a messenger from Satan to make me suffer. ⁸Three times I begged the Lord to take it away from me. ⁹But he said to me, “My grace is all you need. My power is strongest when you are weak.”

So I am very happy to brag about how weak I am. Then Christ’s power can rest on me. ¹⁰Because of how I suffered for Christ, I’m glad that I am weak. I am glad in hard times. I am glad when people say mean things about me. I am glad when things are difficult. And I am glad when people make me suffer. When I am weak, I am strong.