King James Version KJV
New Revised Standard NRS
1 Would to God ye could bear with me a little in my folly: and indeed 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 godly jealousy: for I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ.
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I feel a divine jealousy for you, for I promised you in marriage to one husband, to present you as a chaste virgin to Christ.
3 But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.
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But I am afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve by its 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 have not preached, or if ye receive another spirit, which ye have not received, or another gospel, which ye have not accepted, ye might well 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 a different gospel from the one you accepted, you submit to it readily enough.
5 For I suppose I was not a whit behind the very chiefest apostles.
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I think that I am not in the least inferior to these super-apostles.
6 But though I be rude in speech, yet not in knowledge; but we have been throughly made manifest among you in all things.
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I may be untrained in speech, but not in knowledge; certainly in every way and in all things we have made this evident to you.
7 Have I committed an offence in abasing myself that ye might be exalted, because I have preached to you the gospel of God freely?
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Did I commit a sin by humbling myself so that you might be exalted, because I proclaimed God's good news to you free of charge?
8 I robbed other churches, taking wages of them, to do you service.
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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 wanted, I was chargeable to no man: for that which was lacking to me the brethren which came from Macedonia supplied: and in all things I have 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 my needs were supplied by the friends who came from Macedonia. So I refrained and will continue to refrain from burdening you in any way.
10 As the truth of Christ is in me, no man shall stop me of this boasting in the regions of Achaia.
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As the truth of Christ is in me, this boast 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 which desire occasion; that wherein they glory, they may be found even as we.
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And what I do I will also continue to do, in order to deny an opportunity to those who want an opportunity to be recognized as our equals in what they boast about.
13 For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ.
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For such boasters are false apostles, deceitful workers, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ.
14 And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light.
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And no wonder! Even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light.
15 Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works.
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So it is not strange if his ministers also disguise themselves as ministers of righteousness. Their end will match their deeds.
16 I say again, Let no man think me a fool; if otherwise, yet as a fool receive me, that I may boast myself a little.
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I repeat, let no one think that I am a fool; but if you do, then accept me as a fool, so that I too may boast a little.
17 That which I speak, I speak it not after the Lord, but as it were foolishly, in this confidence of boasting.
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What I am saying in regard to this boastful confidence, I am saying not with the Lord's authority, 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 human standards, I will also boast.
19 For ye suffer fools gladly, seeing ye yourselves are wise.
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For you gladly put up with fools, being wise yourselves!
20 For ye suffer, if a man bring you into bondage, if a man devour you, if a man take of you, if a man exalt himself, if a man smite you on the face.
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For you put up with it when someone makes slaves of you, or preys upon you, or takes advantage of you, or puts on airs, or gives you a slap in the face.
21 I speak as concerning reproach, as though we had been weak. Howbeit whereinsoever any is bold, (I speak foolishly,) I am bold also.
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To my shame, I must say, we were too weak for that! But whatever anyone 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 descendants of Abraham? So am I.
23 Are they ministers of Christ? (I speak as a fool) I am more; in labours more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequent, in deaths oft.
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Are they ministers of Christ? I am talking like a madman—I am a better one: with far greater labors, far more imprisonments, with countless floggings, and often near death.
24 Of the Jews five times received I forty stripes save one.
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Five times I have received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one.
25 Thrice was I beaten with rods, once was I stoned, thrice I suffered shipwreck, a night and a day I have been in the deep;
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Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I received a stoning. Three times I was shipwrecked; for a night and a day I was adrift at sea;
26 In journeyings often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils by mine own countrymen, in perils by the heathen, 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 bandits, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers and sisters;
27 In weariness and painfulness, 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, hungry and thirsty, often without food, cold and naked.
28 Beside those things that are without, that which cometh upon me daily, the care of all the churches.
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And, besides other things, I am under daily pressure because of my anxiety for all the churches.
29 Who is weak, and I am not weak? who is offended, and I burn not?
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Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is made to stumble, and I am not indignant?
30 If I must needs glory, I will glory of the things which concern mine infirmities.
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If I must boast, I will boast of the things that show my weakness.
31 The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which is blessed for evermore, knoweth that I lie not.
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The God and Father of the Lord Jesus (blessed be he forever!) knows that I do not lie.
32 In Damascus the governor under Aretas the king kept the city of the Damascenes with a garrison, desirous to apprehend me:
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In Damascus, the governor under King Aretas guarded the city of Damascus in order to seize me,
33 And through a window in a basket was I let down 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 from his hands.
The King James Version is in the public domain.
New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.