2 Corinthians 11:16–12:10

Paul Boasts About His Sufferings

¹⁶I repeat: Let no one take me for a fool.^g But if you do, then tolerate me just as you would a fool, so that I may do a little boasting. ¹⁷In this self-confident boasting I am not talking as the Lord would,^h but as a fool.^{i 18}Since many are boasting in the way the world does,^j I too will boast.^{k 19}You gladly put up with^l fools since you are so wise!^{m 20}In fact, you even put up withⁿ anyone who enslaves you^o or exploits you or takes advantage of you or puts on airs or slaps you in the face. ²¹To my shame I admit that we were too weak^p for that!

Whatever anyone else dares to boast about—I am speaking as a fool—I also dare to boast about.^{q 22}Are they Hebrews? So am I.^r Are they Israelites? So am I.^s Are they Abraham’s descendants? So am I.^{t 23}Are they servants of Christ?^u (I am out of my mind to talk like this.) I am more. I have worked much harder,^v been in prison more frequently,^w been flogged more severely,^x and been exposed to death again and again.^{y 24}Five times I received from the Jews the forty lashes^z minus one. ²⁵Three times I was beaten with rods,^a once I was pelted with stones,^b three times I was shipwrecked,^c I spent a night and a day in the open sea, ²⁶I have been constantly on the move. I have been in danger from rivers, in danger from bandits, in danger from my fellow Jews,^d in danger from Gentiles; in danger in the city,^e in danger in the country, in danger at sea; and in danger from false believers.^{f 27}I have labored and toiled^g and have often gone without sleep; I have known hunger and thirst and have often gone without food;^h I have been cold and naked. ²⁸Besides everything else, I face daily the pressure of my concern for all the churches.^{i 29}Who is weak, and I do not feel weak?^j Who is led into sin,^k and I do not inwardly burn?

³⁰If I must boast, I will boast^l of the things that show my weakness.^{m 31}The God and Father of the Lord Jesus, who is to be praised forever,ⁿ knows^o that I am not lying. ³²In Damascus the governor under King Aretas had the city of the Damascenes guarded in order to arrest me.^{p 33}But I was lowered in a basket from a window in the wall and slipped through his hands.^q

Paul’s Vision and His Thorn

12I must go on boasting.^r Although there is nothing to be gained, I will go on to visions and revelations^s from the Lord. ²I know a man in Christ^t who fourteen years ago was caught up^u to the third heaven.^v Whether it was in the body or out of the body I do not know—God knows.^{w 3}And I know that this man—whether in the body or apart from the body I do not know, but God knows—⁴was caught up^x to paradise^y and heard inexpressible things, things that no one is permitted to tell. ⁵I will boast about a man like that, but I will not boast about myself, except about my weaknesses.^{z 6}Even if I should choose to boast,^a I would not be a fool,^b because I would be speaking the truth. But I refrain, so no one will think more of me than is warranted by what I do or say, ⁷or because of these surpassingly great revelations.^c Therefore, in order to keep me from becoming conceited, I was given a thorn in my flesh,^d a messenger of Satan,^e to torment me. ⁸Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me.^{f 9}But he said to me, “My grace^g is sufficient for you, for my power^h is made perfect in weakness.ⁱ”^j Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. ¹⁰That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight^k in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships,^l in persecutions,^m in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.ⁿ