Parallel Bible results for "2 Corinthians 11"

2 Corinthians 11

Good News Translation GNT

1 I wish you would tolerate me, even when I am a bit foolish. Please do!

2 I am jealous for you, just as God is; you are like a pure virgin whom I have promised in marriage to one man only, Christ himself.

3 I am afraid that your minds will be corrupted and that you will abandon your full and pure devotion to Christ - in the same way that Eve was deceived by the snake's clever lies.

4 For you gladly tolerate anyone who comes to you and preaches a different Jesus, not the one we preached; and you accept a spirit and a gospel completely different from the Spirit and the gospel you received from us!

5 I do not think that I am the least bit inferior to those very special so-called "apostles" of yours!

6 Perhaps I am an amateur in speaking, but certainly not in knowledge; we have made this clear to you at all times and in all conditions.

7 I did not charge you a thing when I preached the Good News of God to you; I humbled myself in order to make you important. Was that wrong of me?

8 While I was working among you, I was paid by other churches. I was robbing them, so to speak, in order to help you.

9 And during the time I was with you I did not bother you for help when I needed money; the believers who came from Macedonia brought me everything I needed. As in the past, so in the future: I will never be a burden to you!

10 By Christ's truth in me, I promise that this boast of mine will not be silenced anywhere in all of Achaia.

11 Do I say this because I don't love you? God knows I love you!

12 I will go on doing what I am doing now, in order to keep those other "apostles" from having any reason for boasting and saying that they work in the same way that we do.

13 Those men are not true apostles - they are false apostles, who lie about their work and disguise themselves to look like real apostles of Christ.

14 Well, no wonder! Even Satan can disguise himself to look like an angel of light!

15 So it is no great thing if his servants disguise themselves to look like servants of righteousness. In the end they will get exactly what their actions deserve.

16 I repeat: no one should think that I am a fool. But if you do, at least accept me as a fool, just so I will have a little to boast of.

17 Of course what I am saying now is not what the Lord would have me say; in this matter of boasting I am really talking like a fool.

18 But since there are so many who boast for merely human reasons, I will do the same.

19 You yourselves are so wise, and so you gladly tolerate fools!

20 You tolerate anyone who orders you around or takes advantage of you or traps you or looks down on you or slaps you in the face.

21 I am ashamed to admit that we were too timid to do those things! But if anyone dares to boast about something - I am talking like a fool - I will be just as daring.

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

23 Are they Christ's servants? I sound like a madman - but I am a better servant than they are! I have worked much harder, I have been in prison more times, I have been whipped much more, and I have been near death more often.

24 Five times I was given the thirty-nine lashes by the Jews;

25 three times I was whipped by the Romans; and once I was stoned. I have been in three shipwrecks, and once I spent twenty-four hours in the water.

26 In my many travels I have been in danger from floods and from robbers, in danger from my own people and from Gentiles; there have been dangers in the cities, dangers in the wilds, dangers on the high seas, and dangers from false friends.

27 There has been work and toil; often I have gone without sleep; I have been hungry and thirsty; I have often been without enough food, shelter, or clothing.

28 And not to mention other things, every day I am under the pressure of my concern for all the churches.

29 When someone is weak, then I feel weak too; when someone is led into sin, I am filled with distress.

30 If I must boast, I will boast about things that show how weak I am.

31 The God and Father of the Lord Jesus - blessed be his name forever! - knows that I am not lying.

32 When I was in Damascus, the governor under King Aretas placed guards at the city gates to arrest me.

33 But I was let down in a basket through an opening in the wall and escaped from him.

New International Version NIV

1 I hope you will put up with me in a little foolishness. Yes, please put up with me!

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

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

4 For if someone comes to you and preaches a Jesus other than the Jesus we preached, or if you receive a different spirit from the Spirit you received, or a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it easily enough.

5 I do not think I am in the least inferior to those “super-apostles.”

6 I may indeed be untrained as a speaker, but I do have knowledge. We have made this perfectly clear to you in every way.

7 Was it a sin for me to lower myself in order to elevate you by preaching the gospel of God to you free of charge?

8 I robbed other churches by receiving support from them so as to serve you.

9 And when I was with you and needed something, I was not a burden to anyone, for the brothers who came from Macedonia supplied what I needed. I have kept myself from being a burden to you in any way, and will continue to do so.

10 As surely as the truth of Christ is in me, nobody in the regions of Achaia will stop this boasting of mine.

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

12 And I will keep on doing what I am doing in order to cut the ground from under those who want an opportunity to be considered equal with us in the things they boast about.

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

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

15 It is not surprising, then, if his servants also masquerade as servants of righteousness. Their end will be what their actions deserve.

16 I repeat: Let no one take me for a fool. But if you do, then tolerate me just as you would a fool, so that I may do a little boasting.

17 In this self-confident boasting I am not talking as the Lord would, but as a fool.

18 Since many are boasting in the way the world does, I too will boast.

19 You gladly put up with fools since you are so wise!

20 In fact, you even put up with anyone who enslaves you or exploits you or takes advantage of you or puts on airs or slaps you in the face.

21 To my shame I admit that we were too weak for that! Whatever anyone else dares to boast about—I am speaking as a fool—I also dare to boast about.

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

23 Are they servants of Christ? (I am out of my mind to talk like this.) I am more. I have worked much harder, been in prison more frequently, been flogged more severely, and been exposed to death again and again.

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

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

26 I have been constantly on the move. I have been in danger from rivers, in danger from bandits, in danger from my fellow Jews, in danger from Gentiles; in danger in the city, in danger in the country, in danger at sea; and in danger from false believers.

27 I have labored and toiled and have often gone without sleep; I have known hunger and thirst and have often gone without food; I have been cold and naked.

28 Besides everything else, I face daily the pressure of my concern for all the churches.

29 Who is weak, and I do not feel weak? Who is led into sin, and I do not inwardly burn?

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

31 The God and Father of the Lord Jesus, who is to be praised forever, knows that I am not lying.

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

33 But I was lowered in a basket from a window in the wall and slipped through his hands.