Chapter 11
1 I wish that you would bear with me in a little foolishness, but indeed you do bear with me .
2 For I am jealous over you with a godly jealousy . For I promised you in marriage to one husband, that I might present you as a pure virgin to Christ .
3 But I am afraid that somehow, as the serpent deceived Eve in his craftiness , so your minds might be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ .
4 For if he who comes preaches another Jesus whom we didn’ t preach , or if you receive a different spirit which you didn’ t receive , or a different " good news " which you didn’ t accept , you put up with that well enough .
5 For I reckon that I am not at all behind the very best apostles.
6 But though I am unskilled in speech , yet I am not unskilled in knowledge . No , in every way we have been revealed to you in all things .
7 Or did I commit a sin in humbling myself that you might be exalted , because I preached to you God ’s Good News free of charge?
8 I robbed other assemblies , taking wages from them that I might serve you .
9 When I was present with you and was in need , I wasn’ t a burden on anyone , for the brothers, when they came from Macedonia , supplied the measure of my need . In everything I kept myself from being burdensome to you , and I will continue to do so .
10 As the truth of Christ is in me , no one will stop me from this boasting in the regions of Achaia.
11 Why ? Because I don’ t love you ? God knows .
12 But what I do , that I will continue to do , that I may cut off opportunity from those who desire an opportunity, that in which they boast , they may be recognised just like us .
13 For such men are false apostles , deceitful workers , masquerading as Christ ’s apostles .
14 And no wonder , for even Satan masquerades as an angel of light .
15 It is no great thing therefore if his servants also masquerade as servants of righteousness , whose end will be according to their works .
16 I say again , let no one think me foolish. But if so , yet receive me as foolish, that I also may boast a little .
17 That which I speak , I don’ t speak according to the Lord , but as in foolishness, in this confidence of boasting .
18 Seeing that many boast after the flesh , I will also boast .
19 For you bear with the foolish gladly , being wise .
20 For you bear with a man if he brings you into bondage , if he devours you , if he takes you captive, if he exalts himself , or if he strikes you on the face .
21 To my shame, I speak as though we had been weak. Yet in whatever way anyone is bold ( I speak in foolishness), I am bold also .
22 Are they Hebrews ? So am I . Are they Israelites ? So am I . Are they the offspring of Abraham? So am I .
23 Are they servants of Christ ? ( I speak as one beside himself.) I am more so : in labours more abundantly , in prisons more abundantly , in stripes above measure , and in deaths often .
24 Five times I received forty stripes minus one from the Jews .
25 Three times I was beaten with rods . Once I was stoned . Three times I suffered shipwreck . I have been a night and a day in the deep .
26 I have been in travels often , perils of rivers , perils of robbers , perils from my countrymen , perils from the Gentiles , perils in the city , perils in the wilderness , perils in the sea , perils amongst false brothers;
27 in labour and travail , in watchings often , in hunger and thirst , in fastings often , and in cold and nakedness .
28 Besides those things that are outside, there is that which presses on me daily : anxiety for all the assemblies .
29 Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is caused to stumble , and I don’t burn with indignation?
30 If I must boast , I will boast of the things that concern my weakness.
31 The God and Father of the Lord Jesus Christ , he who is blessed forever more , knows that I don’ t lie .
32 In Damascus the governor under King Aretas guarded the Damascenes ’ city , desiring to arrest me .
33 I was let down in a basket through a window by the wall , and escaped his hands .