Parallel Bible results for "2 corinthians 12"

2 Corinthians 12

The Message Bible MSG

1 You've forced me to talk this way, and I do it against my better judgment. But now that we're at it, I may as well bring up the matter of visions and revelations that God gave me.

2 For instance, I know a man who, fourteen years ago, was seized by Christ and swept in ecstasy to the heights of heaven. I really don't know if this took place in the body or out of it; only God knows.

3 I also know that this man was hijacked into paradise - again, whether in or out of the body, I don't know; God knows. There he heard the unspeakable spoken, but was forbidden to tell what he heard.

4

5 This is the man I want to talk about. But about myself, I'm not saying another word apart from the humiliations.

6 If I had a mind to brag a little, I could probably do it without looking ridiculous, and I'd still be speaking plain truth all the way. But I'll spare you. I don't want anyone imagining me as anything other than the fool you'd encounter if you saw me on the street or heard me talk.

7 Because of the extravagance of those revelations, and so I wouldn't get a big head, I was given the gift of a handicap to keep me in constant touch with my limitations. Satan's angel did his best to get me down; what he in fact did was push me to my knees. No danger then of walking around high and mighty!

8 At first I didn't think of it as a gift, and begged God to remove it. Three times I did that,

9 and then he told me, My grace is enough; it's all you need. My strength comes into its own in your weakness. Once I heard that, I was glad to let it happen. I quit focusing on the handicap and began appreciating the gift. It was a case of Christ's strength moving in on my weakness.

10 Now I take limitations in stride, and with good cheer, these limitations that cut me down to size - abuse, accidents, opposition, bad breaks. I just let Christ take over! And so the weaker I get, the stronger I become.

11 Well, now I've done it! I've made a complete fool of myself by going on like this. But it's not all my fault; you put me up to it. You should have been doing this for me, sticking up for me and commending me instead of making me do it for myself. You know from personal experience that even if I'm a nobody, a nothing, I wasn't second-rate compared to those big-shot apostles you're so taken with.

12 All the signs that mark a true apostle were in evidence while I was with you through both good times and bad: signs of portent, signs of wonder, signs of power.

13 Did you get less of me or of God than any of the other churches? The only thing you got less of was less responsibility for my upkeep. Well, I'm sorry. Forgive me for depriving you.

14 Everything is in readiness now for this, my third visit to you. But don't worry about it; you won't have to put yourselves out. I'll be no more of a bother to you this time than on the other visits. I have no interest in what you have - only in you. Children shouldn't have to look out for their parents; parents look out for the children.

15 I'd be most happy to empty my pockets, even mortgage my life, for your good. So how does it happen that the more I love you, the less I'm loved?

16 And why is it that I keep coming across these whiffs of gossip about how my self-support was a front behind which I worked an elaborate scam? Where's the evidence?

17 Did I cheat or trick you through anyone I sent?

18 I asked Titus to visit, and sent some brothers along. Did they swindle you out of anything? And haven't we always been just as aboveboard, just as honest?

19 I hope you don't think that all along we've been making our defense before you, the jury. You're not the jury; God is the jury - God revealed in Christ - and we make our case before him. And we've gone to all the trouble of supporting ourselves so that we won't be in the way or get in the way of your growing up.

20 I do admit that I have fears that when I come you'll disappoint me and I'll disappoint you, and in frustration with each other everything will fall to pieces - quarrels, jealousy, flaring tempers, taking sides, angry words, vicious rumors, swelled heads, and general bedlam.

21 I don't look forward to a second humiliation by God among you, compounded by hot tears over that crowd that keeps sinning over and over in the same old ways, who refuse to turn away from the pigsty of evil, sexual disorder, and indecency in which they wallow.

The Latin Vulgate VUL

1 si gloriari oportet non expedit quidem veniam autem ad visiones et revelationes Domini

2 scio hominem in Christo ante annos quattuordecim sive in corpore nescio sive extra corpus nescio Deus scit raptum eiusmodi usque ad tertium caelum

3 et scio huiusmodi hominem sive in corpore sive extra corpus nescio Deus scit

4 quoniam raptus est in paradisum et audivit arcana verba quae non licet homini loqui

5 pro eiusmodi gloriabor pro me autem nihil gloriabor nisi in infirmitatibus meis

6 nam et si voluero gloriari non ero insipiens veritatem enim dicam parco autem ne quis in me existimet supra id quod videt me aut audit ex me

7 et ne magnitudo revelationum extollat me datus est mihi stimulus carnis meae angelus Satanae ut me colaphizet

8 propter quod ter Dominum rogavi ut discederet a me

9 et dixit mihi sufficit tibi gratia mea nam virtus in infirmitate perficitur libenter igitur gloriabor in infirmitatibus meis ut inhabitet in me virtus Christi

10 propter quod placeo mihi in infirmitatibus in contumeliis in necessitatibus in persecutionibus in angustiis pro Christo cum enim infirmor tunc potens sum

11 factus sum insipiens vos me coegistis ego enim debui a vobis commendari nihil enim minus fui ab his qui sunt supra modum apostoli tametsi nihil sum

12 signa tamen apostoli facta sunt super vos in omni patientia signis et prodigiis et virtutibus

13 quid est enim quod minus habuistis prae ceteris ecclesiis nisi quod ego ipse non gravavi vos donate mihi hanc iniuriam

14 ecce tertio hoc paratus sum venire ad vos et non ero gravis vobis non enim quaero quae vestra sunt sed vos nec enim debent filii parentibus thesaurizare sed parentes filiis

15 ego autem libentissime inpendam et superinpendar ipse pro animabus vestris licet plus vos diligens minus diligar

16 sed esto ego vos non gravavi sed cum essem astutus dolo vos cepi

17 numquid per aliquem eorum quos misi ad vos circumveni vos

18 rogavi Titum et misi cum illo fratrem numquid Titus vos circumvenit nonne eodem spiritu ambulavimus nonne hisdem vestigiis

19 olim putatis quod excusemus nos apud vos coram Deo in Christo loquimur omnia autem carissimi propter vestram aedificationem

20 timeo enim ne forte cum venero non quales volo inveniam vos et ego inveniar a vobis qualem non vultis ne forte contentiones aemulationes animositates dissensiones detractiones susurrationes inflationes seditiones sint inter vos

21 ne iterum cum venero humiliet me Deus apud vos et lugeam multos ex his qui ante peccaverunt et non egerunt paenitentiam super inmunditia et fornicatione et inpudicitia quam gesserunt