| 11:1 | I WISH you could put up with a little of my foolishnessplease try! |
| 11:2 | My jealousy over you is the right sort of jealousy, for in my eyes you ere like a fresh unspoiled girl whom I am presenting as fianc� to your only husband, Christ himself. |
| 11:3 | I am afraid that your minds may be seduced from a singlehearted devotion to him by the same subtle means that the serpent used towards Eve. |
| 11:4 | For apparently you cheerfully accept a man who comes to you preaching a different Jesus from the one we told you about, and you readily receive a spirit and a gospel quite different from the ones you originally accepted. |
| 11:5 | Yet I cannot believe I am in the least inferior to these extraspecial messengers. |
| 11:6 | Perhaps I am not a polished speaker, but I do know what I am talking about, and both what I am and what I say is well known to you. |
| 11:7 | Perhaps I made a mistake in lowering myself (though I did it to raise you up) by preaching the gospel of God without a fee? |
| 11:8 | As a matter of fact I was only able to do this by "robbing" other churches, for it was what they paid me that made it possible to minister to you. |
| 11:9 | Even when I was with you and was hard up, I did not bother any of you. It was the brothers who came from Macedonia who brought me all that I needed. Yes, I kept myself from being a burden to you then, and so I intend to do in the future. |
| 11:10 | By the truth of Christ within me, no one shall stop my being proud of this independence through all Achaia! |
| 11:11 | Does this mean that I do not love you? God knows it doesn't, |
| 11:12 | but I am determined to go on doing as I am doing, so as to cut the ground from under the feet of those who would dearly love to be thought of as God's messengers on the same terms as I am. |
| 11:13 | [God's] messengers? They are counterfeits of the real thing, dishonest practitioners masquerading as the messengers of Christ. |
| 11:14 | Nor do their tactics surprise me when I consider how Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light. |
| 11:15 | It is only to be expected that his agents shall have the appearance of ministers of righteousnessbut they will get what they deserve in the end. |
| 11:16 | Once more, let me advise you not to look upon me as a fool. Yet if you do, then listen to what this "fool" has to make his little boast about. |
| 11:17 | I am not now speaking as the Lord commands me but as a fool in this business of boasting. |
| 11:18 | Since all the others are so proud of themselves, let me do a little boasting as well. |
| 11:19 | From your heights of wisdom I am sure you can smile tolerantly on a fool. |
| 11:20 | Oh, you're tolerant all right! You don't mind, do you, if a man takes away your liberty, spends your money, takes advantage of you, puts on airs or even smacks your face? |
| 11:21 | I am almost ashamed to say that never did brave strong things like that to you. Yet in whatever particular they parade such confidence I (speaking as a fool, remember) can do the same. |
| 11:22 | Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they descendants of Abraham? So am I. |
| 11:23 | Are they ministers of Christ? I have more claim to this title than they. This is a silly game but look at this list: I have worked harder than any of them. I have served more prison sentences! I have been beaten times without number. I have faced death again and again. |
| 11:24 | I have been beaten the regulation thirtynine stripes by the Jews five times. |
| 11:25 | I have been beaten with rods three times; I have been stoned once. I have been shipwrecked three times. I have been twentyfour hours in the open sea. |
| 11:26 | In my travels I have been in constant danger from rivers, from bandits, from my own countrymen, and from pagans. I have faced danger in city streets, danger in the desert, danger on the high seas, danger among false Christians. |
| 11:27 | I have known drudgery, exhaustion, many sleepless nights, hunger and thirst, fasting, cold and exposure. |
| 11:28 | Apart from all external trials I have the daily burden of responsibility for all the churches. |
| 11:29 | Do you think anyone is weak without my feeling his weakness? Does anyone have his faith upset without my burning with indignation? |
| 11:30 | Oh, if I am going to boast, let me boast of the things which have shown up my weakness! |
| 11:31 | The God and Father of the Lord Jesus, he who is blessed for ever, knows that I speak the simple truth. |
| 11:32 | In Damascus, the town governor, acting by King Aretas' order, had his patrols out to arrest me. |
| 11:33 | I escaped through a window and was let down the wall in a basket. |
2 Corinthians 11 - Philips NT in Modern English
