2 Corinthians 11
Berean Standard BibleTranslation
Berean Standard Bible
Douay-Rheims Bible, American Edition (1899)
1I hope you will bear with a little of my foolishness, but you are already doing that.
1Would to God you could bear with some little of my folly: but do bear with me.
2I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy. For I promised you to one husband, to present you as a pure virgin to Christ.
2For I am jealous of you with the jealousy of God. For I have espoused you to one husband that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ.
3I am afraid, however, that just as Eve was deceived by the serpent’s cunning, your minds may be led astray from your simple and pure devotion to Christ.
3But I fear lest, as the serpent seduced Eve by his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted, and fall from the simplicity that is in Christ.
4For if someone comes and proclaims a Jesus other than the One we proclaimed, or if you receive a different spirit than the One you received, or a different gospel than the one you accepted, you put up with it way too easily.
4For if he that cometh preacheth another Christ, whom we have not preached; or if you receive another Spirit, whom you have not received; or another gospel which you have not received; you might well bear with him.
5I consider myself in no way inferior to those “super-apostles.”
5For I suppose that I have done nothing less than the great apostles.
6Although I am not a polished speaker, I am certainly not lacking in knowledge. We have made this clear to you in every way possible.
6For although I be rude in speech, yet not in knowledge; but in all things we have been made manifest to you.
7Was it a sin for me to humble myself in order to exalt you, because I preached the gospel of God to you free of charge?
7Or did I commit a fault, humbling myself, that you might be exalted? Because I preached unto you the gospel of God freely?
8I robbed other churches by accepting their support in order to serve you.
8I have taken from other churches, receiving wages of them for your ministry.
9And when I was with you and in need, I was not a burden to anyone; for the brothers who came from Macedonia supplied my needs. I have refrained from being a burden to you in any way, and I will continue to do so.
9And, when I was present with you, and wanted, I was chargeable to no man: for that which was wanting to me, the brethren supplied who came from Macedonia; and in all things I have kept myself from being burthensome to you, and so I will keep myself.
10As surely as the truth of Christ is in me, this boasting of mine will not be silenced in the regions of Achaia.
10The truth of Christ is in me, that this glorying shall not be broken off in me in the regions of Achaia.
11Why? Because I do not love you? God knows I do!
11Wherefore? Because I love you not? God knoweth it.
12But I will keep on doing what I am doing, in order to undercut those who want an opportunity to be regarded as our equals in the things of which they boast.
12But what I do, that I will do, that I may cut off the occasion from them that desire occasion, that wherein they glory, they may be found even as we.
13For such men are false apostles, deceitful workers, masquerading as apostles of Christ.
13For such false apostles are deceitful workmen, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ.
14And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light.
14And no wonder: for Satan himself transformeth himself into an angel of light.
15It is not surprising, then, if his servants masquerade as servants of righteousness. Their end will correspond to their actions.
15Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers be transformed as the ministers of justice, whose end shall be according to their works.
16I repeat: Let no one take me for a fool. But if you do, then receive me as a fool, so that I too may boast a little.
16I say again, (let no man think me to be foolish, otherwise take me as one foolish, that I also may glory a little.)
17In this confident boasting of mine, I am not speaking as the Lord would, but as a fool.
17That which I speak, I speak not according to God, but as it were in foolishness, in this matter of glorying.
18Since many are boasting according to the flesh, I too will boast.
18Seeing that many glory according to the flesh, I will glory also.
19For you gladly tolerate fools, since you are so wise.
19For you gladly suffer the foolish; whereas yourselves are wise.
20In fact, you even put up with anyone who enslaves you or exploits you or takes advantage of you or exalts himself or strikes you in the face.
20For you suffer if a man bring you into bondage, if a man devour you, if a man take from you, if a man be lifted up, if a man strike you on the face.
21To my shame I concede that we were too weak for that! Speaking as a fool, however, I can match what anyone else dares to boast about.
21I speak according to dishonour, as if we had been weak in this part. Wherein if any man dare (I speak foolishly), I dare also.
22Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they descendants of Abraham? So am I.
22They are Hebrews: so am I. They are Israelites: so am I. They are the seed of Abraham: so am I.
23Are they servants of Christ? I am speaking like I am out of my mind, but I am so much more: in harder labor, in more imprisonments, in worse beatings, in frequent danger of death.
23They are the ministers of Christ (I speak as one less wise). I am more; in many more labours, in prisons more frequently, in stripes above measure, in deaths often.
24Five times I received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one.
24Of the Jews five times did I receive forty stripes, save one.
25Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked. I spent a night and a day in the open sea.
25Thrice was I beaten with rods, once I was stoned, thrice I suffered shipwreck, a night and a day I was in the depth of the sea.
26In my frequent journeys, I have been in danger from rivers and from bandits, in danger from my countrymen and from the Gentiles, in danger in the city and in the country, in danger on the sea and among false brothers,
26In journeying often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils from my own nation, in perils from the Gentiles, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils from false brethren.
27in labor and toil and often without sleep, in hunger and thirst and often without food, in cold and exposure.
27In labour and painfulness, in much watchings, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness.
28Apart from these external trials, I face daily the pressure of my concern for all the churches.
28Besides those things which are without: my daily instance, the solicitude for all the churches.
29Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is led into sin, and I do not burn with grief?
29Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is scandalized, and I am not on fire?
30If I must boast, I will boast of the things that show my weakness.
30If I must needs glory, I will glory of the things that concern my infirmity.
31The God and Father of the Lord Jesus, who is forever worthy of praise, knows that I am not lying.
31The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who is blessed for ever, knoweth that I lie not.
32In Damascus, the governor under King Aretas secured the city of the Damascenes in order to arrest me.
32At Damascus, the governor of the nation under Aretas the king, guarded the city of the Damascenes, to apprehend me.
33But I was lowered in a basket through a window in the wall and escaped his grasp.
33And through a window in a basket was I let down by the wall, and so escaped his hands.
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