| [an error occurred while processing this directive] | English Standard Version |
| 1[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 1I wish you would bear with me in a little foolishness. Do bear with me! |
| 2[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 2For I feel a divine jealousy for you, since I betrothed you to one husband, to present you as a pure virgin to Christ. |
| 3[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 3But I am afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, your thoughts will be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ. |
| 4[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 4For 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 if you accept a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it readily enough. |
| 5[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 5Indeed, I consider that I am not in the least inferior to these super-apostles. |
| 6[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 6Even if I am unskilled in speaking, I am not so in knowledge; indeed, in every way we have made this plain to you in all things. |
| 7[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 7Or did I commit a sin in humbling myself so that you might be exalted, because I preached God’s gospel to you free of charge? |
| 8[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 8I robbed other churches by accepting support from them in order to serve you. |
| 9[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 9And when I was with you and was in need, I did not burden anyone, for the brothers who came from Macedonia supplied my need. So I refrained and will refrain from burdening you in any way. |
| 10[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 10As the truth of Christ is in me, this boasting of mine will not be silenced in the regions of Achaia. |
| 11[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 11And why? Because I do not love you? God knows I do! |
| 12[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 12And what I am doing I will continue to do, in order to undermine the claim of those who would like to claim that in their boasted mission they work on the same terms as we do. |
| 13[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 13For such men are false apostles, deceitful workmen, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ. |
| 14[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 14And no wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. |
| 15[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 15So it is no surprise if his servants, also, disguise themselves as servants of righteousness. Their end will correspond to their deeds. |
| 16[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 16I repeat, let no one think me foolish. But even if you do, accept me as a fool, so that I too may boast a little. |
| 17[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 17What I am saying with this boastful confidence, I say not as the Lord would but as a fool. |
| 18[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 18Since many boast according to the flesh, I too will boast. |
| 19[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 19For you gladly bear with fools, being wise yourselves! |
| 20[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 20For you bear it if someone makes slaves of you, or devours you, or takes advantage of you, or puts on airs, or strikes you in the face. |
| 21[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 21To my shame, I must say, we were too weak for that! But whatever anyone else dares to boast of—I am speaking as a fool—I also dare to boast of that. |
| 22[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 22Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they offspring of Abraham? So am I. |
| 23[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 23Are they servants of Christ? I am a better one—I am talking like a madman—with far greater labors, far more imprisonments, with countless beatings, and often near death. |
| 24[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 24Five times I received at the hands of the Jews the forty lashes less one. |
| 25[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 25Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I was adrift at sea; |
| 26[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 26on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from robbers, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers; |
| 27[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 27in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure. |
| 28[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 28And, apart from other things, there is the daily pressure on me of my anxiety for all the churches. |
| 29[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 29Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is made to fall, and I am not indignant? |
| 30[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 30If I must boast, I will boast of the things that show my weakness. |
| 31[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 31The God and Father of the Lord Jesus, he who is blessed forever, knows that I am not lying. |
| 32[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 32At Damascus, the governor under King Aretas was guarding the city of Damascus in order to seize me, |
| 33[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 33but I was let down in a basket through a window in the wall and escaped his hands. |
| [an error occurred while processing this directive] | ESV Text Edition: 2016. The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®) copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. The ESV® text has been reproduced in cooperation with and by permission of Good News Publishers. Unauthorized reproduction of this publication is prohibited. All rights reserved. |
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