| [an error occurred while processing this directive] | New International Version |
| 1[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 1I hope you will put up with me in a little foolishness. Yes, please put up with me! |
| 2[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 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. |
| 3[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 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. |
| 4[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 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. |
| 5[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 5I do not think I am in the least inferior to those "super-apostles." |
| 6[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 6I may indeed be untrained as a speaker, but I do have knowledge. We have made this perfectly clear to you in every way. |
| 7[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 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? |
| 8[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 8I robbed other churches by receiving support from them so as to serve you. |
| 9[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 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. |
| 10[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 10As surely as the truth of Christ is in me, nobody in the regions of Achaia will stop this boasting of mine. |
| 11[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 11Why? Because I do not love you? God knows I do! |
| 12[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 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. |
| 13[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 13For such people are false apostles, deceitful workers, masquerading as apostles of Christ. |
| 14[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 14And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light. |
| 15[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 15It is not surprising, then, if his servants also masquerade as servants of righteousness. Their end will be what their actions deserve. |
| 16[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 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. |
| 17[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 17In this self-confident boasting I am not talking as the Lord would, but as a fool. |
| 18[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 18Since many are boasting in the way the world does, I too will boast. |
| 19[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 19You gladly put up with fools since you are so wise! |
| 20[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 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. |
| 21[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 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. |
| 22[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 22Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they Abraham's descendants? So am I. |
| 23[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 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. |
| 24[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 24Five times I received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one. |
| 25[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 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, |
| 26[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 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. |
| 27[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 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. |
| 28[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 28Besides everything else, I face daily the pressure of my concern for all the churches. |
| 29[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 29Who is weak, and I do not feel weak? Who is led into sin, and I do not inwardly burn? |
| 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, who is to be praised forever, knows that I am not lying. |
| 32[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 32In Damascus the governor under King Aretas had the city of the Damascenes guarded in order to arrest me. |
| 33[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 33But I was lowered in a basket from a window in the wall and slipped through his hands. |
| [an error occurred while processing this directive] | New International Version (NIV) Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. |
|
