2 Corinthians 11

NEW JERUSALEM	CATHOLIC PUBLIC DOMAIN
1 I wish you would put up with a little foolishness from me -- not that you don't do this already.	1 I wish that you would endure a small amount of my foolishness, so as to bear 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 toward you, with the jealousy of God. And I have espoused you to one husband, offering 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 lest, as the serpent led astray Eve by his cleverness, so your minds might be corrupted and might fall away from the simplicity which is in 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 anyone arrives preaching another Christ, one whom we have not preached; or if you receive another Spirit, one whom you have not received; or another Gospel, one which you have not been given: you might permit him to guide you.
5 Now, I consider that I am not in the least inferior to the super-apostles.	5 For I consider that I have done nothing less than the great Apostles.
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 For although I may be unskilled in speech, yet I am not so in knowledge. But, in all things, we have been made manifest to you.
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 Or did I commit a sin by humbling myself so that you would be exalted? For I preached the Gospel of God to you freely.
8 I was robbing other churches, taking wages from them in order to work for you.	8 I have taken from other churches, receiving a stipend from them to the benefit of your ministry.
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 was burdensome to no one. For the brothers who came from Macedonia supplied whatever was lacking to me. And in all things, I have kept myself, and I will keep myself, from being burdensome to you.
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 The truth of Christ is in me, and so this glorying shall not be broken away from me in the regions of Achaia.
11 Why should it be? Because I do not love you? God knows that I do.	11 Why so? Is it 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 But what I am doing, I will continue to do, so that I may take away an opportunity from those who desire an opportunity by which they may glory, so as to be considered to be like us.
13 These people are counterfeit apostles, dishonest workers disguising themselves as apostles ofChrist.	13 For false apostles, such as these deceitful workers, are presenting themselves as if they were 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 presents himself as if he were 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 Therefore, it is no great thing if his ministers present themselves as if they were ministers of justice, for their end shall be according to their works.
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 say again. And let no one consider me to be foolish. Or, at least, accept me as if I were foolish, so that I also may glory a small amount.
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 is not said according to God, but as if in foolishness, in this matter of glorying.
18 So many people boast on merely human grounds that I shal too.	18 Since so many glory according to the flesh, I will glory also.
19 I know how happy you are to put up with fools, being so wise yourselves;	19 For you freely accept the foolish, though you yourselves claim to be wise.
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 permit it when someone guides you into servitude, even if he devours you, even if he takes from you, even if he is extolled, even if he strikes you repeatedly on 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 I speak according to disgrace, as if we had been weak in this regard. In this matter, (I speak in foolishness) if anyone dares, I dare also.
22 Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they descendants of Abraham? So amI.	22 They are Hebrews; so am I. They are Israelites; so am I. They are the offspring 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 They are the ministers of Christ (I speak as if I were less wise); more so am I: with many more labors, with numerous imprisonments, with wounds beyond measure, with frequent mortifications.
24 Five times I have been given the thirty-nine lashes by the Jews;	24 On five occasions, I received forty stripes, less one, from the Jews.
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. One time, I was stoned. Three times, I was shipwrecked. For a night and a day, I was in the depths of the sea.
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 I have made frequent journeys, through dangerous waters, in danger of robbers, in danger from my own nation, in danger from the Gentiles, in danger in the city, in danger in the wilderness, in danger in the sea, in danger from 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 with hardships and difficulties, with much vigilance, in hunger and thirst, with frequent fasts, in cold and nakedness,
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, in addition to these things, which are external: there is my daily earnestness and solicitude 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 scandalized, and I am not being burned?
30 If I have to boast, I will boast of al the ways in which I am weak.	30 If it is necessary to glory, I will glory of the things that concern my weaknesses.
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 our Lord Jesus Christ, who is blessed forever, knows that I am not lying.
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 of the nation under Aretas the king, watched over the city of the Damascenes, so as to apprehend 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 And, through a window, I was let down along the wall in a basket; and so I escaped his hands.