2 Corinthians, 11

1. Would to God ye could bear with me a little in [my] folly: and indeed bear with me.

1. May you bear with me in some little foolishness! But surely you will.

2. For 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.

2. I confess that I share the jealousy of God for you, for I have promised you in marriage to Christ, the only spouse, to present you to him as a pure virgin.

3. But 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.

3. And this is my fear: the serpent that seduced Eve with cunning could also corrupt your minds and divert you from the christian sincerity.

4. For 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].

4. Someone now comes and preaches another Jesus different from the one we preach, or you are offered a different spirit from the one you have received, with a different Gospel from the one you have accepted - and you agree!

5. For I suppose I was not a whit behind the very chiefest apostles.

5. I do not see how I am inferior to those super-apostles.

6. But though [I be] rude in speech, yet not in knowledge; but we have been throughly made manifest among you in all things.

6. Does my speaking leave much to be desired? Perhaps, but not my knowledge, as I have abundantly shown to you in every way.

7. Have I committed an offence in abasing myself that ye might be exalted, because I have preached to you the gospel of God freely?

7. Perhaps my sin was that I humbled myself in order to uplift you, or that I gave you the Gospel free of charge.

8. I robbed other churches, taking wages [of them], to do you service.

8. I called upon the services of other churches and served you with the support I received from them.

9. And 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].

9. When I was with you, although I was in need, I did not become a burden to anyone. The friends from Macedonia gave me what I needed. I have taken care not to be a burden to you in anything and I will continue to do so.

10. As the truth of Christ is in me, no man shall stop me of this boasting in the regions of Achaia.

10. By the truth of Christ within me, I will let no one in the land of Achaia stop this boasting of mine.

11. Wherefore? because I love you not? God knoweth.

11. Why? Because I do not love you? God knows that I do!

12. But 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.

12. Yet I do and I will continue to do so to silence any people anxious to appear as equal to me: this is my glory.

13. For such [are] false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ.

13. In reality, they are false apostles, deceivers disguised as apostles of Christ.

14. And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light.

14. It is not surprising: if Satan disguises himself as an angel of light,

15. Therefore [it is] no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works.

15. his servants can easily disguise themselves as ministers of salvation, until they receive what their deeds deserve.

16. I say again, Let no man think me a fool; if otherwise, yet as a fool receive me, that I may boast myself a little.

16. I say again: Do not take me for a fool, but if you do take me as such, bear with me that I may sing my own praises a little.

17. That which I speak, I speak [it] not after the Lord, but as it were foolishly, in this confidence of boasting.

17. I will not speak in the language of Christ, but in that of a fool, bringing my own merits to prominence.

18. Seeing that many glory after the flesh, I will glory also.

18. As some people boast of human advantages, I will do the same.

19. For ye suffer fools gladly, seeing ye [yourselves] are wise.

19. Fortunately you bear rather well with fools, you who are so wise!

20. For 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.

20. You tolerate being enslaved, and exploited, robbed, treated with contempt and slapped in the face.

21. I speak as concerning reproach, as though we had been weak. Howbeit whereinsoever any is bold, (I speak foolishly,) I am bold also.

21. What a shame that I acted so weakly with you! But if others are so bold, I shall also dare, although I may speak like a fool.

22. Are they Hebrews? so [am] I. Are they Israelites? so [am] I. Are they the seed of Abraham? so [am] I.

22. Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they descendants of Abraham? So am I.

23. Are 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.

23. Are they ministers of Christ? (I begin to talk like a madman) I am better than they. Better than they with my numerous labors. Better than they with the time spent in prison. The beatings I received are beyond comparison. How many times have I found myself in danger of death!

24. Of the Jews five times received I forty [stripes] save one.

24. Five times the Jews sentenced me to thirty-nine lashes.

25. Thrice was I beaten with rods, once was I stoned, thrice I suffered shipwreck, a night and a day I have been in the deep;

25. Three times I was beaten with a rod, once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked, and once I spent a night and a day adrift on the high seas.

26. [In] 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;

26. I have been continually in hazards of traveling because of rivers, because of bandits, because of my fellow Jews, or because of the pagans; in danger in the city, in the open country, at sea; in danger from false brothers.

27. In weariness and painfulness, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness.

27. I have worked and often labored without sleep, I have been hungry and thirsty and starving, cold and without shelter.

28. Beside those things that are without, that which cometh upon me daily, the care of all the churches.

28. Besides these and other things, there was my daily concern for all the churches.

29. Who is weak, and I am not weak? who is offended, and I burn not?

29. Whoever wavers, do I not waver with him? Whoever stumbles, am I not on hot bricks?

30. If I must needs glory, I will glory of the things which concern mine infirmities.

30. If it is necessary to boast, let me proclaim the occasions on which I was found weak.

31. The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which is blessed for evermore, knoweth that I lie not.

31. The God and Father of Jesus the Lord - may he be blessed for ever! - knows that I speak the truth.

32. In Damascus the governor under Aretas the king kept the city of the Damascenes with a garrison, desirous to apprehend me:

32. At Damascus, the governor under King Aretas placed the city under guard in order to arrest me,

33. And through a window in a basket was I let down by the wall, and escaped his hands.

33. and I had to be let down in a basket through a window in the wall. In that way I slipped through his hands.