2 Corinthians 11, side by side

¹I hope you will bear with a little of my foolishness, but you are already doing that.

¹Would to God ye could bear with me a little in my folly: and indeed bear with me.

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

²For 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.

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

³But 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.

⁴For if someone comes and proclaims a Jesus other than the One we proclaimed, or if you receive a different spirit than the One you received, or a different gospel than the one you accepted, you put up with it way too easily.

⁴For 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.

⁵I consider myself in no way inferior to those “super-apostles.”

⁵For I suppose I was not a whit behind the very chiefest apostles.

⁶Although I am not a polished speaker, I am certainly not lacking in knowledge. We have made this clear to you in every way possible.

⁶But though I be rude in speech, yet not in knowledge; but we have been throughly made manifest among you in all things.

⁷Was it a sin for me to humble myself in order to exalt you, because I preached the gospel of God to you free of charge?

⁷Have I committed an offence in abasing myself that ye might be exalted, because I have preached to you the gospel of God freely?

⁸I robbed other churches by accepting their support in order to serve you.

⁸I robbed other churches, taking wages of them, to do you service.

⁹And when I was with you and in need, I was not a burden to anyone; for the brothers who came from Macedonia supplied my needs. I have refrained from being a burden to you in any way, and I will continue to do so.

⁹And 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.

¹⁰As surely as the truth of Christ is in me, this boasting of mine will not be silenced in the regions of Achaia.

¹⁰As the truth of Christ is in me, no man shall stop me of this boasting in the regions of Achaia.

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

¹¹Wherefore? because I love you not? God knoweth.

¹²But I will keep on doing what I am doing, in order to undercut those who want an opportunity to be regarded as our equals in the things of which they boast.

¹²But 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.

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

¹³For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ.

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

¹⁴And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light.

¹⁵It is not surprising, then, if his servants masquerade as servants of righteousness. Their end will correspond to their actions.

¹⁵Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works.

¹⁶I repeat: Let no one take me for a fool. But if you do, then receive me as a fool, so that I too may boast a little.

¹⁶I say again, Let no man think me a fool; if otherwise, yet as a fool receive me, that I may boast myself a little.

¹⁷In this confident boasting of mine, I am not speaking as the Lord would, but as a fool.

¹⁷That which I speak, I speak it not after the Lord, but as it were foolishly, in this confidence of boasting.

¹⁸Since many are boasting according to the flesh, I too will boast.

¹⁸Seeing that many glory after the flesh, I will glory also.

¹⁹For you gladly tolerate fools, since you are so wise.

¹⁹For ye suffer fools gladly, seeing ye yourselves are wise.

²⁰In fact, you even put up with anyone who enslaves you or exploits you or takes advantage of you or exalts himself or strikes you in the face.

²⁰For 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.

²¹To my shame I concede that we were too weak for that! Speaking as a fool, however, I can match what anyone else dares to boast about.

²¹I speak as concerning reproach, as though we had been weak. Howbeit whereinsoever any is bold, (I speak foolishly,) I am bold also.

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

²²Are they Hebrews? so am I. Are they Israelites? so am I. Are they the seed of Abraham? so am I.

²³Are they servants of Christ? I am speaking like I am out of my mind, but I am so much more: in harder labor, in more imprisonments, in worse beatings, in frequent danger of death.

²³Are 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.

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

²⁴Of the Jews five times received I forty stripes save one.

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

²⁵Thrice was I beaten with rods, once was I stoned, thrice I suffered shipwreck, a night and a day I have been in the deep;

²⁶In my frequent journeys, I have been in danger from rivers and from bandits, in danger from my countrymen and from the Gentiles, in danger in the city and in the country, in danger on the sea and among false brothers,

²⁶In 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;

²⁷in labor and toil and often without sleep, in hunger and thirst and often without food, in cold and exposure.

²⁷In weariness and painfulness, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness.

²⁸Apart from these external trials, I face daily the pressure of my concern for all the churches.

²⁸Beside those things that are without, that which cometh upon me daily, the care of all the churches.

²⁹Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is led into sin, and I do not burn with grief?

²⁹Who is weak, and I am not weak? who is offended, and I burn not?

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

³⁰If I must needs glory, I will glory of the things which concern mine infirmities.

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

³¹The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which is blessed for evermore, knoweth that I lie not.

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

³²In Damascus the governor under Aretas the king kept the city of the Damascenes with a garrison, desirous to apprehend me:

³³But I was lowered in a basket through a window in the wall and escaped his grasp.

³³And through a window in a basket was I let down by the wall, and escaped his hands.