| King James Bible | New International Version |
| 1Would to God ye could bear with me a little in my folly: and indeed bear with me. | 1I hope you will put up with me in a little foolishness. Yes, please put up with me! |
| 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. | 2I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy. I promised you to one husband, to Christ, so that I might present you as a pure virgin to him. |
| 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. | 3But I am afraid that just as Eve was deceived by the serpent's cunning, your minds may somehow be led astray from your sincere and pure devotion to Christ. |
| 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. | 4For if someone comes to you and preaches a Jesus other than the Jesus we preached, or if you receive a different spirit from the Spirit you received, or a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it easily enough. |
| 5For I suppose I was not a whit behind the very chiefest apostles. | 5I do not think I am in the least inferior to those "super-apostles." |
| 6But though I be rude in speech, yet not in knowledge; but we have been throughly made manifest among you in all things. | 6I may indeed be untrained as a speaker, but I do have knowledge. We have made this perfectly clear to you in every way. |
| 7Have I committed an offence in abasing myself that ye might be exalted, because I have preached to you the gospel of God freely? | 7Was it a sin for me to lower myself in order to elevate you by preaching the gospel of God to you free of charge? |
| 8I robbed other churches, taking wages of them, to do you service. | 8I robbed other churches by receiving support from them so as to serve you. |
| 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. | 9And when I was with you and needed something, I was not a burden to anyone, for the brothers who came from Macedonia supplied what I needed. I have kept myself from being a burden to you in any way, and will continue to do so. |
| 10As the truth of Christ is in me, no man shall stop me of this boasting in the regions of Achaia. | 10As surely as the truth of Christ is in me, nobody in the regions of Achaia will stop this boasting of mine. |
| 11Wherefore? because I love you not? God knoweth. | 11Why? Because I do not love you? God knows I do! |
| 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. | 12And I will keep on doing what I am doing in order to cut the ground from under those who want an opportunity to be considered equal with us in the things they boast about. |
| 13For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ. | 13For such people are false apostles, deceitful workers, masquerading as apostles of Christ. |
| 14And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. | 14And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light. |
| 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. | 15It is not surprising, then, if his servants also masquerade as servants of righteousness. Their end will be what their actions deserve. |
| 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. | 16I repeat: Let no one take me for a fool. But if you do, then tolerate me just as you would a fool, so that I may do a little boasting. |
| 17That which I speak, I speak it not after the Lord, but as it were foolishly, in this confidence of boasting. | 17In this self-confident boasting I am not talking as the Lord would, but as a fool. |
| 18Seeing that many glory after the flesh, I will glory also. | 18Since many are boasting in the way the world does, I too will boast. |
| 19For ye suffer fools gladly, seeing ye yourselves are wise. | 19You gladly put up with fools since you are so wise! |
| 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. | 20In fact, you even put up with anyone who enslaves you or exploits you or takes advantage of you or puts on airs or slaps you in the face. |
| 21I speak as concerning reproach, as though we had been weak. Howbeit whereinsoever any is bold, (I speak foolishly,) I am bold also. | 21To my shame I admit that we were too weak for that! Whatever anyone else dares to boast about--I am speaking as a fool--I also dare to boast about. |
| 22Are they Hebrews? so am I. Are they Israelites? so am I. Are they the seed of Abraham? so am I. | 22Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they Abraham's descendants? So am I. |
| 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. | 23Are they servants of Christ? (I am out of my mind to talk like this.) I am more. I have worked much harder, been in prison more frequently, been flogged more severely, and been exposed to death again and again. |
| 24Of the Jews five times received I forty stripes save one. | 24Five times I received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one. |
| 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; | 25Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was pelted with stones, three times I was shipwrecked, I spent a night and a day in the open sea, |
| 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; | 26I have been constantly on the move. I have been in danger from rivers, in danger from bandits, in danger from my fellow Jews, in danger from Gentiles; in danger in the city, in danger in the country, in danger at sea; and in danger from false believers. |
| 27In weariness and painfulness, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness. | 27I have labored and toiled and have often gone without sleep; I have known hunger and thirst and have often gone without food; I have been cold and naked. |
| 28Beside those things that are without, that which cometh upon me daily, the care of all the churches. | 28Besides everything else, I face daily the pressure of my concern for all the churches. |
| 29Who is weak, and I am not weak? who is offended, and I burn not? | 29Who is weak, and I do not feel weak? Who is led into sin, and I do not inwardly burn? |
| 30If I must needs glory, I will glory of the things which concern mine infirmities. | 30If I must boast, I will boast of the things that show my weakness. |
| 31The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which is blessed for evermore, knoweth that I lie not. | 31The God and Father of the Lord Jesus, who is to be praised forever, knows that I am not lying. |
| 32In Damascus the governor under Aretas the king kept the city of the Damascenes with a garrison, desirous to apprehend me: | 32In Damascus the governor under King Aretas had the city of the Damascenes guarded in order to arrest me. |
| 33And through a window in a basket was I let down by the wall, and escaped his hands. | 33But I was lowered in a basket from a window in the wall and slipped through his hands. |
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