1 I wish that you would bear with me in a little foolishness,
but indeed you do bear with me. 2 For I am jealous over you with a
godly jealousy. For I married you to one husband, that I might present you as
a pure virgin to Christ. 3 But I am afraid that somehow, as the serpent
deceived Eve in his craftiness, so your minds might be corrupted from the
simplicity that is in Christ. 4 For if he who comes preaches another
Jesus, whom we did not preach, or if you receive a different spirit,
which you did not receive, or a different gospel, which you did not
accept, you put up with that well enough. 5 For I reckon that I am
not at all behind the very best apostles. 6 But though I am unskilled in
speech, yet I am not unskilled in knowledge. No, in every way we have been
revealed to you in all things. 7 Or did I commit a sin in humbling myself
that you might be exalted, because I preached to you God's gospel free
of charge? 8 I robbed other assemblies, taking wages from them that I
might serve you. 9 When I was present with you and was in need, I wasn't a
burden on anyone, for the brothers, when they came from Macedonia, supplied
the measure of my need. In everything I kept myself from being burdensome to
you, and I will continue to do so. 10 As the truth of Christ is in me, no
one will stop me from this boasting in the regions of Achaia. 11 Why?
Because I don't love you? God knows. 12 But what I do, that I will do,
that I may cut off occasion from them that desire an occasion, that in which
they boast, they may be found even as we. 13 For such men are false
apostles, deceitful workers, masquerading as Christ's apostles. 14 And no
wonder, for even Satan masquerades as an angel of light. 15 It is no great
thing therefore if his ministers also masquerade as servants of
righteousness, whose end will be according to their works.
16 I say again, let no one think me foolish. But if so, yet receive me as
foolish, that I also may boast a little. 17 That which I speak, I don't
speak according to the Lord, but as in foolishness, in this confidence of
boasting. 18 Seeing that many boast after the flesh, I will also boast.
19 For you bear with the foolish gladly, being wise. 20 For
you bear with a man, if he brings you into bondage, if he devours you,
if he takes you captive, if he exalts himself, if he strikes you on the face.
21 I speak by way of disparagement, as though we had been weak. Yet
however any is bold (I speak in foolishness), I am bold also. 22 Are they
Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they the seed of Abraham?
So am I. 23 Are they servants of Christ? (I speak as one beside himself) I
am more so; in labors more abundantly, in prisons more abundantly, in stripes
above measure, in deaths often. 24 Five times from the Jews I received
forty stripes minus one. 25 Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was
stoned. Three times I suffered shipwreck. I have been a night and a day in
the deep. 26 I have been in travels often, perils of rivers, perils of
robbers, perils from my countrymen, perils from the Gentiles, perils in the
city, perils in the wilderness, perils in the sea, perils among false
brothers; 27 in labor and travail, in watchings often, in hunger and
thirst, in fastings often, and in cold and nakedness.
28 Besides those things that are outside, there is that which presses on
me daily, anxiety for all the assemblies. 29 Who is weak, and I am not
weak? Who is caused to stumble, and I don't burn with indignation? 30 If I
must boast, I will boast of the things that concern my weakness. 31 The
God and Father of the Lord Jesus Christ, he who is blessed forevermore, knows
that I don't lie. 32 In Damascus the governor under Aretas the king
guarded the city of the Damascenes desiring to arrest me. 33 Through a
window I was let down in a basket by the wall, and escaped his hands.
World English Bible - Public Domain |
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