2 Corinthians 11

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Literal

Paul and the False Apostles

¹I hope you will put up with a little of my foolishness, but you are already doing that.

¹I wish you were bearing with me in a little foolishness, but you also bear with me.

²I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy. For I promised you to one husband, to present you as a pure virgin to Christ.

²For I am jealous as to you with the jealousy of God. For I betrothed you to one husband, to present a pure virgin to Christ.

³I am afraid, however, that just as Eve was deceived by the serpent’s cunning, your minds may be led astray from your simple and pure devotion to Christ.

³But I fear, lest somehow, as the serpent deceived Eve in his craftiness, your minds might be corrupted from the simplicity and the purity that is to Christ.

⁴For if someone comes and proclaims a Jesus other than the One we proclaimed, or if you receive a different spirit than the One you received, or a different gospel than the one you accepted, you put up with it very easily.

⁴For if indeed the one coming proclaims another Jesus whom we did not proclaim, or you receive a different spirit that you did not receive, or a different gospel that you did not accept, you bear with it well.

⁵I consider myself in no way inferior to those “super-apostles.”

⁵For I reckon in nothing to have been lacking to the “most eminent apostles.”

⁶Although I am not a polished speaker, I am certainly not lacking in knowledge. We have made this clear to you in every way possible.

⁶But even if I am unskilled in word, yet not in knowledge; but in every way, we were made manifest to you in all things.

⁷Was it a sin for me to humble myself in order to exalt you, because I preached the gospel of God to you free of charge?

⁷Or did I commit a sin, humbling myself so that you might be exalted, because I preached the gospel of God to you freely?

⁸I robbed other churches by accepting their support in order to serve you.

⁸I robbed other churches, having received support for ministry to you.

⁹And when I was with you and in need, I was not a burden to anyone; for the brothers who came from Macedonia supplied my needs. I have refrained from being a burden to you in any way, and I will continue to do so.

⁹And being present with you and having been in need, I burdened no one; for the brothers having come from Macedonia supplied my need, and in everything I kept and will keep myself unburdensome to you.

¹⁰As surely as the truth of Christ is in me, this boasting of mine will not be silenced in the regions of Achaia.

¹⁰The truth of Christ is in me, that this boasting of mine will not be stopped in the regions of Achaia.

¹¹Why? Because I do not love you? God knows I do!

¹¹Because of what? Because I do not love you? God knows I do!

¹²But I will keep on doing what I am doing, in order to undercut those who want an opportunity to be regarded as our equals in the things of which they boast.

¹²But what I do, I also will do, so that I might cut off the opportunity of those wanting an opportunity that in what they boast they might be found according as also we.

¹³For such men are false apostles, deceitful workers, masquerading as apostles of Christ.

¹³For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ.

¹⁴And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light.

¹⁴And no wonder, for Satan himself disguises himself as an angel of light.

¹⁵It is not surprising, then, if his servants masquerade as servants of righteousness. Their end will correspond to their actions.

¹⁵Therefore it is not great if his servants also disguise themselves as servants of righteousness, whose end will be according to their works.

Paul’s Suffering and Service

¹⁶I repeat: Let no one take me for a fool. But if you do, then receive me as a fool, so that I too may boast a little.

¹⁶Again I say, no one should think me to be a fool; but if otherwise, receive me even as a fool, that I also may boast a little.

¹⁷In this confident boasting of mine, I am not speaking as the Lord would, but as a fool.

¹⁷What I am speaking, I am not speaking according to the Lord, but as in foolishness, in this confidence of boasting.

¹⁸Since many are boasting according to the flesh, I too will boast.

¹⁸Since many boast according to the flesh, I also will boast.

¹⁹For you gladly put up with fools, since you are so wise.

¹⁹For gladly you bear with fools—being wise!

²⁰In fact, you even put up with anyone who enslaves you or exploits you or takes advantage of you or exalts himself or strikes you in the face.

²⁰For you bear with it if anyone enslaves you, if anyone devours you, if anyone takes from you, if anyone lifts himself up, if anyone strikes you in the face.

²¹To my shame I concede that we were too weak for that!

Speaking as a fool, however, I can match what anyone else dares to boast about.

²¹I speak as to dishonor, as that we have been weak! But in that which anyone may dare—I speak in foolishness—I also dare.

²²Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they descendants of Abraham? So am I.

²²Are they Hebrews? I also. Are they Israelites? I also. Are they seed of Abraham? I also.

²³Are they servants of Christ? (I am speaking as if I were out of my mind.) I am so much more: in harder labor, in more imprisonments, in worse beatings, in frequent danger of death.

²³Are they servants of Christ? I speak as being beside myself—I too above measure: in labors more abundantly, in imprisonments more abundantly, in beatings surpassingly, in deaths often.

²⁴Five times I received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one.

²⁴Five times I received from the Jews forty lashes minus one.

²⁵Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked. I spent a night and a day in the open sea.

²⁵Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked. I have passed a night and a day in the deep;

²⁶In my frequent journeys, I have been in danger from rivers and from bandits, in danger from my countrymen and from the Gentiles, in danger in the city and in the country, in danger on the sea and among false brothers,

²⁶in journeyings often, in dangers of rivers, in dangers of robbers; in dangers from kindred, in dangers from the Gentiles; in dangers in the city, in dangers in the wilderness; in dangers in the sea, in dangers among false brothers;

²⁷in labor and toil and often without sleep, in hunger and thirst and often without food, in cold and exposure.

²⁷in labor and toil, in sleepless nights often; in hunger and thirst, in fastings often; in cold and nakedness.

²⁸Apart from these external trials, I face daily the pressure of my concern for all the churches.

²⁸Apart from the external things, the crowding on me on every day is the care of all the churches.

²⁹Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is led into sin, and I do not burn with grief?

²⁹Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is caused to stumble, and I am not burned?

³⁰If I must boast, I will boast of the things that show my weakness.

³⁰If it is necessary to boast, I will boast in the things of my weakness.

³¹The God and Father of the Lord Jesus, who is forever worthy of praise,^a knows that I am not lying.

³¹The God and Father of the Lord Jesus, the One being blessed to the ages, knows that I am not lying.

³²In Damascus, the governor under King Aretas secured the city of the Damascenes in order to arrest me.

³²In Damascus the governor under King Aretas was guarding the city of the Damascenes to seize me.

³³But I was lowered in a basket through a window in the wall and escaped his grasp.

³³But I was let down in a basket through a window through the wall, and I escaped his hands.