2 Corinthians 11

1I hope you will put up with a little of my foolishness. Yes, please put up with me.

2I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy. I promised you to one husband, to Christ, so that I could present you to Him as a pure bride.

3But I am afraid of this: the snake fooled Eve by its trickery. In the same way, your minds may be led away from your sincere and pure love for Christ.

4Someone visits you and preaches a fake, different Jesus. You welcome a different spirit than the Holy Spirit you received. You accept a different good news than the true Gospel. And you swallow their lies with zero complaint!

5But I do not think I am in any way less than those super-apostles.

6I may not be a trained speaker, but I do have knowledge. We have made this perfectly clear to you in every way.

7Was it a sin for me to lower myself in order to lift you up, by preaching the good news of God to you free of charge?

8I took pay from other churches, robbing them, so to speak, in order to serve you.

9And when I was with you and needed something, I was not a burden to anyone. The brothers who came from Macedonia gave me what I needed. I have kept myself from being a burden to you in any way, and I will keep on doing so.

10As surely as the truth of Christ is in me, no one in the regions of Achaia will stop me from being proud of this.

11Why? Because I do not love you? God knows I do!

12And I will keep on doing what I am doing. I do this to take away the excuse from those who are looking for one. They brag about what they do, and they want to be seen as equal to us.

13Those men are phony apostles and deceitful workers. They disguise themselves to look like true apostles of Christ!

14This is no surprise to us at all. Even Satan disguises himself as a radiant angel of light!

15So his evil servants disguise themselves as ministers of righteousness. In the end, God will punish them for their evil deeds!

16I say again: let no one think I am a fool. But if you do, then accept me as a fool, so that I too may do a little bragging.

17What I am saying now, I am not saying as the Lord would, but as a fool would, in this confident bragging.

18Since many people brag in a worldly way, I will brag too.

19You gladly put up with fools, since you are so wise!

20In fact, you put up with anyone who makes you a slave, takes advantage of you, traps you, looks down on you, or slaps you in the face.

21To my shame, I admit that we were too weak for that! But whatever anyone else dares to brag about, I dare to brag about it too. I am speaking as a fool.

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 sound crazy talking like this, but I have served Him far more! I worked far harder and went to prison more often. Mobs beat me countless times, and I faced death repeatedly.

24Five different times, Jewish leaders whipped me with thirty-nine lashes.

25Three times Roman soldiers beat me with wooden rods. Once an angry mob stoned me with heavy rocks. Three times I suffered terrifying shipwrecks at sea. I spent a full night and day drifting in deep open water!

26I faced flash floods, deadly robbers, and murderous mobs. I faced danger in crowded cities, wild deserts, and stormy seas. I faced danger from treacherous phonies pretending to be believers!

27I labored exhausted, froze without warm clothes, and starved without food.

28Besides everything else, I face daily pressure: my concern for all the churches.

29Who is weak without my feeling weak? Who is led into sin without my burning inside?

30If I must brag, I will brag about the things that show my weakness.

31The God and Father of the Lord Jesus, who is blessed forever, knows that I am not lying.

32In the city of Damascus, King Aretas's governor guarded every gate to arrest me. Believers placed me inside a large rope basket.

33They lowered me down through a window in the high city wall! That is how I escaped right out of his greedy hands!