| New International Version | NET Bible |
| 1I hope you will put up with me in a little foolishness. Yes, please put up with me! | 1I wish that you would be patient with me in a little foolishness, but indeed you are being patient with me! |
| 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. | 2For I am jealous for you with godly jealousy, because I promised you in marriage to one husband, to present you as a pure virgin to Christ. |
| 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. | 3But I am afraid that just as the serpent deceived Eve by his treachery, your minds may be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ. |
| 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. | 4For if someone comes and proclaims another Jesus different from 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 well enough! |
| 5I do not think I am in the least inferior to those "super-apostles." | 5For I consider myself not at all inferior to those "super-apostles." |
| 6I may indeed be untrained as a speaker, but I do have knowledge. We have made this perfectly clear to you in every way. | 6And even if I am unskilled in speaking, yet I am certainly not so in knowledge. Indeed, we have made this plain to you in everything in every way. |
| 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? | 7Or did I commit a sin by humbling myself so that you could be exalted, because I proclaimed the gospel of God to you free of charge? |
| 8I robbed other churches by receiving support from them so as to serve you. | 8I robbed other churches by receiving support from them so that I could serve you! |
| 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. | 9When I was with you and was in need, I was not a burden to anyone, for the brothers who came from Macedonia fully supplied my needs. I kept myself from being a burden to you in any way, and will continue to do so. |
| 10As surely as the truth of Christ is in me, nobody in the regions of Achaia will stop this boasting of mine. | 10As the truth of Christ is in me, this boasting of mine will not be stopped in the regions of Achaia. |
| 11Why? Because I do not love you? God knows I do! | 11Why? Because I do not love you? God knows I do! |
| 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. | 12And what I am doing I will continue to do, so that I may eliminate any opportunity for those who want a chance to be regarded as our equals in the things they boast about. |
| 13For such people are false apostles, deceitful workers, masquerading as apostles of Christ. | 13For such people are false apostles, deceitful workers, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ. |
| 14And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light. | 14And no wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. |
| 15It is not surprising, then, if his servants also masquerade as servants of righteousness. Their end will be what their actions deserve. | 15Therefore it is not surprising his servants also disguise themselves as servants of righteousness, whose end will correspond to their actions. |
| 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. | 16I say again, let no one think that I am a fool. But if you do, then at least accept me as a fool, so that I too may boast a little. |
| 17In this self-confident boasting I am not talking as the Lord would, but as a fool. | 17What I am saying with this boastful confidence I do not say the way the Lord would. Instead it is, as it were, foolishness. |
| 18Since many are boasting in the way the world does, I too will boast. | 18Since many are boasting according to human standards, I too will boast. |
| 19You gladly put up with fools since you are so wise! | 19For since you are so wise, you put up with fools gladly. |
| 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. | 20For you put up with it if someone makes slaves of you, if someone exploits you, if someone takes advantage of you, if someone behaves arrogantly toward you, if someone strikes you in the face. |
| 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. | 21(To my disgrace I must say that we were too weak for that!) But whatever anyone else dares to boast about (I am speaking foolishly), I also dare to boast about the same thing. |
| 22Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they Abraham's descendants? So am I. | 22Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they descendants of Abraham? So am I. |
| 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. | 23Are they servants of Christ? (I am talking like I am out of my mind!) I am even more so: with much greater labors, with far more imprisonments, with more severe beatings, facing death many times. |
| 24Five times I received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one. | 24Five times I received from the Jews forty lashes less one. |
| 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, | 25Three times I was beaten with a rod. Once I received a stoning. Three times I suffered shipwreck. A night and a day I spent adrift in the open sea. |
| 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. | 26I have been on journeys many times, in dangers from rivers, in dangers from robbers, in dangers from my own countrymen, in dangers from Gentiles, in dangers in the city, in dangers in the wilderness, in dangers at sea, in dangers from false brothers, |
| 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. | 27in hard work and toil, through many sleepless nights, in hunger and thirst, many times without food, in cold and without enough clothing. |
| 28Besides everything else, I face daily the pressure of my concern for all the churches. | 28Apart from other things, there is the daily pressure on me of my anxious concern for all the churches. |
| 29Who is weak, and I do not feel weak? Who is led into sin, and I do not inwardly burn? | 29Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is led into sin, and I do not burn with indignation? |
| 30If I must boast, I will boast of the things that show my weakness. | 30If I must boast, I will boast about the things that show my weakness. |
| 31The God and Father of the Lord Jesus, who is to be praised forever, knows that I am not lying. | 31The God and Father of the Lord Jesus, who is blessed forever, knows I am not lying. |
| 32In Damascus the governor under King Aretas had the city of the Damascenes guarded in order to arrest me. | 32In Damascus, the governor under King Aretas was guarding the city of Damascus in order to arrest me, |
| 33But I was lowered in a basket from a window in the wall and slipped through his hands. | 33but I was let down in a rope-basket through a window in the city wall, and escaped his hands. |
|
