2 Corinthians 11

NEW JERUSALEM	NEW AMERICAN BIBLE
1 I wish you would put up with a little foolishness from me -- not that you don't do this already.	1 If only you would put up with a little foolishness from me! Please put up with me.
2 The jealousy that I feel for you is, you see, God's own jealousy: I gave you all in marriage to a singlehusband, a virgin pure for presentation to Christ.	2 For I am jealous of you with the jealousy of God, since I betrothed you to one husband to present you as a chaste virgin to Christ.
3 But I am afraid that, just as the snake with his cunning seduced Eve, your minds may be led astrayfrom single-minded devotion to Christ.	3 But I am afraid that, as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, your thoughts may be corrupted from a sincere (and pure) commitment to Christ.
4 Because any chance comer has only to preach a Jesus other than the one we preached, or you haveonly to receive a spirit different from the one you received, or a gospel different from the one you accepted -- andyou put up with that only too wil ingly.	4 For if someone comes and preaches another Jesus than the one we preached, or if you receive a different spirit from the one you received or a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it well enough.
5 Now, I consider that I am not in the least inferior to the super-apostles.	5 For I think that I am not in any way inferior to these "superapostles."
6 Even if there is something lacking in my public speaking, this is not the case with my knowledge, aswe have openly shown to you at al times and before everyone.	6 Even if I am untrained in speaking, I am not so in knowledge; in every way we have made this plain to you in all things.
7 Have I done wrong, then, humbling myself so that you might be raised up, by preaching the gospel ofGod to you for nothing?	7 Did I make a mistake when I humbled myself so that you might be exalted, because I preached the gospel of God to you without charge?
8 I was robbing other churches, taking wages from them in order to work for you.	8 I plundered other churches by accepting from them in order to minister to you.
9 When I was with you and needed money, I was no burden to anybody, for the brothers fromMacedonia brought me as much as I needed when they came; I have always been careful not to let myself be aburden to you in any way, and I shall continue to be so.	9 And when I was with you and in need, I did not burden anyone, for the brothers who came from Macedonia supplied my needs. So I refrained and will refrain from burdening you in any way.
10 And as Christ's truth is in me, this boast of mine is not going to be silenced in the regions of Achaia.	10 By the truth of Christ in me, this boast of mine shall not be silenced in the regions of Achaia.
11 Why should it be? Because I do not love you? God knows that I do.	11 And why? Because I do not love you? God knows I do!
12 I wil go on acting as I do at present, to cut the ground from under the feet of those who are lookingfor a chance to be proved my equals in grounds for boasting.	12 And what I do I will continue to do, in order to end this pretext of those who seek a pretext for being regarded as we are in the mission of which they boast.
13 These people are counterfeit apostles, dishonest workers disguising themselves as apostles ofChrist.	13 For such people are false apostles, deceitful workers, who masquerade as apostles of Christ.
14 There is nothing astonishing in this; even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light.	14 And no wonder, for even Satan masquerades as an angel of light.
15 It is nothing extraordinary, then, when his servants disguise themselves as the servants ofuprightness. They wil come to the end appropriate to what they have done.	15 So it is not strange that his ministers also masquerade as ministers of righteousness. Their end will correspond to their deeds.
16 To repeat: let no one take me for a fool, but if you do, then treat me as a fool, so that I, too, can do alittle boasting.	16 I repeat, no one should consider me foolish; but if you do, accept me as a fool, so that I too may boast a little.
17 I shal not be fol owing the Lord's way in what I say now, but wil be speaking out of foolishness in theconviction that I have something to boast about.	17 What I am saying I am not saying according to the Lord but as in foolishness, in this boastful state.
18 So many people boast on merely human grounds that I shal too.	18 Since many boast according to the flesh, I too will boast.
19 I know how happy you are to put up with fools, being so wise yourselves;	19 For you gladly put up with fools, since you are wise yourselves.
20 and how you wil still go on putting up with a man who enslaves you, eats up al you possess, keepsyou under his orders and sets himself above you, or even slaps you in the face.	20 For you put up with it if someone enslaves you, or devours you, or gets the better of you, or puts on airs, or slaps you in the face.
21 I say it to your shame; perhaps we have been too weak. Whatever bold claims anyone makes -- nowI am talking as a fool -- I can make them too.	21 To my shame I say that we were too weak! But what anyone dares to boast of (I am speaking in foolishness) I also dare.
22 Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they descendants of Abraham? So amI.	22 Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they descendants of Abraham? So am I.
23 Are they servants of Christ? I speak in utter fol y -- I am too, and more than they are: I have donemore work, I have been in prison more, I have been flogged more severely, many times exposed to death.	23 Are they ministers of Christ? (I am talking like an insane person.) I am still more, with far greater labors, far more imprisonments, far worse beatings, and numerous brushes with death.
24 Five times I have been given the thirty-nine lashes by the Jews;	24 Five times at the hands of the Jews I received forty lashes minus one.
25 three times I have been beaten with sticks; once I was stoned; three times I have been shipwrecked,and once I have been in the open sea for a night and a day;	25 Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked, I passed a night and a day on the deep;
26 continual y travelling, I have been in danger from rivers, in danger from brigands, in danger from myown people and in danger from the gentiles, in danger in the towns and in danger in the open country, in dangerat sea and in danger from people masquerading as brothers;	26 on frequent journeys, in dangers from rivers, dangers from robbers, dangers from my own race, dangers from Gentiles, dangers in the city, dangers in the wilderness, dangers at sea, dangers among false brothers;
27 I have worked with unsparing energy, for many nights without sleep; I have been hungry and thirsty,and often altogether without food or drink; I have been cold and lacked clothing.	27 in toil and hardship, through many sleepless nights, through hunger and thirst, through frequent fastings, through cold and exposure.
28 And, besides all the external things, there is, day in day out, the pressure on me of my anxiety for althe churches.	28 And apart from these things, there is the daily pressure upon me of my anxiety for all the churches.
29 If anyone weakens, I am weakened as wel ; and when anyone is made to fal , I burn in agony myself.	29 Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is led to sin, and I am not indignant?
30 If I have to boast, I will boast of al the ways in which I am weak.	30 If I must boast, I will boast of the things that show my weakness.
31 The God and Father of the Lord Jesus -- who is for ever to be blessed -- knows that I am not lying.	31 The God and Father of the Lord Jesus knows, he who is blessed forever, that I do not lie.
32 When I was in Damascus, the governor who was under King Aretas put guards round Damascus cityto catch me,	32 At Damascus, the governor under King Aretas guarded the city of Damascus, in order to seize me,
33 and I was let down in a basket through a window in the wall, and that was how I escaped from hishands.	33 but I was lowered in a basket through a window in the wall and escaped his hands.