11:1 I wish that you would be patient with me in a little foolishness; but indeed you are being patient with me! 11:2 For I am jealous for you with godly jealousy, because I promised you in marriage to one husband,¹ to present you as a pure² virgin to Christ. 11:3 But I am afraid that³ just as the serpent⁴ deceived Eve by his treachery,⁵ your minds may be led astray⁶ from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ. 11:4 For if someone comes and proclaims⁷ another Jesus different from the one we proclaimed,⁸ or if you receive a different spirit than the one you received,⁹ or a different gospel than the one you accepted,¹⁰ you put up with it well enough.¹¹ 11:5 For I consider myself not at all inferior to those ‘super-apostles.’¹² 11:6 And even if I am unskilled¹³ in speaking, yet I am certainly not so in knowledge. Indeed, we have made this plain to you in everything in every way. 11:7 Or did I commit a sin by humbling myself¹⁴ so that you could be exalted, because I proclaimed¹⁵ the gospel of God to you free of charge? 11:8 I robbed other churches by receiving support from them so that I could serve you.¹⁶ 11:9 When¹⁷ I was with you and was in need, I was not a burden to anyone, for the brothers who came from Macedonia fully supplied my needs.¹⁸ I¹⁹ kept myself from being a burden to you in any way, and will continue to do so. 11:10 As the truth of Christ is in me, this boasting of mine²⁰ will not be stopped²¹ in the regions of Achaia. 11:11 Why? Because I do not love you? God knows I do!²² 11:12 And what I am doing I will also continue to do, so that I may do away with any opportunity for those who want an opportunity to be regarded as equals with us²³ in the matter they are boasting about. 11:13 For such people are false apostles, deceitful²⁴ workers, disguising themselves²⁵ as apostles of Christ. 11:14 And no wonder, for even Satan disguises himself²⁶ as an angel of light. 11:15 Therefore it is not surprising his servants also disguise themselves²⁷ as servants of righteousness, whose end will correspond to their actions.²⁸

11:16 I say again, let no one think that I am a fool.²⁹ But if you do, then at least accept me as a fool, so that I too may boast a little. 11:17 What I am saying with this boastful confidence³⁰ I do not say the way the Lord would.³¹ Instead it is, as it were, foolishness. 11:18 Since many³² are boasting according to human standards,³³ I too will boast. 11:19 For since you are so wise, you put up with³⁴ fools gladly. 11:20 For you put up with³⁵ it if someone makes slaves of you, if someone exploits you, if someone takes advantage of you, if someone behaves arrogantly³⁶ toward you, if someone strikes you in the face. 11:21 (To my disgrace³⁷ I must say that we were too weak for that!)³⁸ But whatever anyone else dares to boast about³⁹ (I am speaking foolishly), I also dare to boast about the same thing.⁴⁰ 11:22 Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they descendants of Abraham? So am I. 11:23 Are they servants of Christ? (I am talking like I am out of my mind!) I am even more so: with much greater labors, with far more imprisonments, with more severe beatings, facing death many times. 11:24 Five times I received from the Jews forty lashes less one.⁴¹ 11:25 Three times I was beaten with a rod.⁴² Once I received a stoning.⁴³ Three times I suffered shipwreck. A night and a day I spent adrift in the open sea. 11:26 I have been on journeys many times; in dangers from rivers, in dangers from robbers,⁴⁴ in dangers from my own countrymen, in dangers from Gentiles, in dangers in the city, in dangers in the wilderness,⁴⁵ in dangers at sea, in dangers from false brothers, 11:27 in hard work and toil,⁴⁶ through many sleepless nights, in hunger and thirst, many times without food, in cold and without enough clothing.⁴⁷ 11:28 Apart from other things,⁴⁸ there is the daily pressure on me of my anxious concern⁴⁹ for all the churches. 11:29 Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is led into sin,⁵⁰ and I do not burn with indignation? 11:30 If I must boast,⁵¹ I will boast about the things that show my weakness.⁵² 11:31 The God and Father of the Lord Jesus, who is blessed forever, knows I am not lying. 11:32 In Damascus, the governor⁵³ under King Aretas was guarding the city of Damascus⁵⁴ in order to arrest⁵⁵ me, 11:33 but I was let down in a rope-basket⁵⁶ through a window in the city wall, and escaped his hands.