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1 Would that ye could bear with me in a little foolishness: but indeed ye do bear with me.
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I wish you would bear with me in a little foolishness. Do bear with me!
2 For I am jealous over you with a godly jealousy: for I espoused you to one husband, that I might present you [as] a pure virgin to Christ.
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For I feel a divine jealousy for you, since I betrothed you to one husband, to present you as a pure virgin to Christ.
3 But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve in his craftiness, your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity and the purity that is toward Christ.
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But I am afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, your thoughts will be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ.
4 For if he that cometh preacheth another Jesus, whom we did not preach, or [if] ye receive a different spirit, which ye did not receive, or a different gospel, which ye did not accept, ye do well to bear with [him].
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For if someone comes and proclaims another Jesus than the one we proclaimed, or if you receive a different spirit from the one you received, or if you accept a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it readily enough.
5 For I reckon that I am not a whit behind the very chiefest apostles.
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Indeed, I consider that I am not in the least inferior to these super-apostles.
6 But though [I be] rude in speech, yet [am I] not in knowledge; nay, in every way have we made [this] manifest unto you in all things.
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Even if I am unskilled in speaking, I am not so in knowledge; indeed, in every way we have made this plain to you in all things.
7 Or did I commit a sin in abasing myself that ye might be exalted, because I preached to you the gospel of God for nought?
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Or did I commit a sin in humbling myself so that you might be exalted, because I preached God’s gospel to you free of charge?
8 I robbed other churches, taking wages [of them] that I might minister unto you;
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I robbed other churches by accepting support from them in order to serve you.
9 and when I was present with you and was in want, I was not a burden on any man; for the brethren, when they came from Macedonia, supplied the measure of my want; and in everything I kept myself from being burdensome unto you, and [so] will I keep [myself].
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And when I was with you and was in need, I did not burden anyone, for the brothers who came from Macedonia supplied my need. So I refrained and will refrain from burdening you in any way.
10 As the truth of Christ is in me, no man shall stop me of this glorying in the regions of Achaia.
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As the truth of Christ is in me, this boasting of mine will not be silenced in the regions of Achaia.
11 Wherefore? because I love you not? God knoweth.
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And why? Because I do not love you? God knows I do!
12 But what I do, that I will do, that I may cut off occasion from them that desire an occasion; that wherein they glory, they may be found even as we.
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And what I am doing I will continue to do, in order to undermine the claim of those who would like to claim that in their boasted mission they work on the same terms as we do.
13 For such men are false apostles, deceitful workers, fashioning themselves into apostles of Christ.
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For such men are false apostles, deceitful workmen, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ.
14 And no marvel; for even Satan fashioneth himself into an angel of light.
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And no wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light.
15 It is no great thing therefore if his ministers also fashion themselves as ministers of righteousness, whose end shall be according to their works.
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So it is no surprise if his servants, also, disguise themselves as servants of righteousness. Their end will correspond to their deeds.
16 I say again, let no man think me foolish; but if [ye do], yet as foolish receive me, that I also may glory a little.
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I repeat, let no one think me foolish. But even if you do, accept me as a fool, so that I too may boast a little.
17 That which I speak, I speak not after the Lord, but as in foolishness, in this confidence of glorying.
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What I am saying with this boastful confidence, I say not as the Lord would but as a fool.
18 Seeing that many glory after the flesh, I will glory also.
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Since many boast according to the flesh, I too will boast.
19 For ye bear with the foolish gladly, being wise [yourselves].
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For you gladly bear with fools, being wise yourselves!
20 For ye bear with a man, if he bringeth you into bondage, if he devoureth you, if he taketh you [captive], if he exalteth himself, if he smiteth you on the face.
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For you bear it if someone makes slaves of you, or devours you, or takes advantage of you, or puts on airs, or strikes you in the face.
21 I speak by way of disparagement, as though we had been weak. Yet whereinsoever any is bold (I speak in foolishness), I am bold also.
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To my shame, I must say, we were too weak for that! But whatever anyone else dares to boast of—I am speaking as a fool—I also dare to boast of that.
22 Are they Hebrews? so am I. Are they Israelites? so am I. Are they the seed of Abraham? so am I.
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Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they offspring of Abraham? So am I.
23 Are they ministers of Christ? (I speak as one beside himself) I more; in labors more abundantly, in prisons more abundantly, in stripes above measure, in deaths oft.
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Are they servants of Christ? I am a better one—I am talking like a madman—with far greater labors, far more imprisonments, with countless beatings, and often near death.
24 Of the Jews five times received I forty [stripes] save one.
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Five times I received at the hands of the Jews the forty lashes less one.
25 Thrice was I beaten with rods, once was I stoned, thrice I suffered shipwreck, a night and a day have I been in the deep;
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Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I was adrift at sea;
26 [in] journeyings often, [in] perils of rivers, [in] perils of robbers, [in] perils from [my] countrymen, [in] perils from the Gentiles, [in] perils in the city, [in] perils in the wilderness, [in] perils in the sea, [in] perils among false brethren;
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on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from robbers, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers;
27 [in] labor and travail, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness.
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in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure.
28 Besides those things that are without, there is that which presseth upon me daily, anxiety for all the churches.
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And, apart from other things, there is the daily pressure on me of my anxiety for all the churches.
29 Who is weak, and I am not weak? who is caused to stumble, and I burn not?
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Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is made to fall, and I am not indignant?
30 If I must needs glory, I will glory of the things that concern my weakness.
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If I must boast, I will boast of the things that show my weakness.
31 The God and Father of the Lord Jesus, he who is blessed for evermore knoweth that I lie not.
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The God and Father of the Lord Jesus, he who is blessed forever, knows that I am not lying.
32 In Damascus the governor under Aretas the king guarded the city of the Damascenes in order to take me:
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At Damascus, the governor under King Aretas was guarding the city of Damascus in order to seize me,
33 and through a window was I let down in a basket by the wall, and escaped his hands.
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but I was let down in a basket through a window in the wall and escaped his hands.