2 Corinthians 11:18-33

11:18 Since many¹ are boasting according to human standards,² I too will boast. 11:19 For since you are so wise, you put up with³ fools gladly. 11:20 For you put up with⁴ it if someone makes slaves of you, if someone exploits you, if someone takes advantage of you, if someone behaves arrogantly⁵ toward you, if someone strikes you in the face. 11:21 (To my disgrace⁶ I must say that we were too weak for that!)⁷ But whatever anyone else dares to boast about⁸ (I am speaking foolishly), I also dare to boast about the same thing.⁹ 11:22 Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they descendants of Abraham? So am I. 11:23 Are 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. 11:24 Five times I received from the Jews forty lashes less one.¹⁰ 11:25 Three times I was beaten with a rod.¹¹ Once I received a stoning.¹² Three times I suffered shipwreck. A night and a day I spent adrift in the open sea. 11:26 I have been on journeys many times, in dangers from rivers, in dangers from robbers,¹³ in dangers from my own countrymen, in dangers from Gentiles, in dangers in the city, in dangers in the wilderness,¹⁴ in dangers at sea, in dangers from false brothers, 11:27 in hard work and toil,¹⁵ through many sleepless nights, in hunger and thirst, many times without food, in cold and without enough clothing.¹⁶ 11:28 Apart from other things,¹⁷ there is the daily pressure on me of my anxious concern¹⁸ for all the churches. 11:29 Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is led into sin,¹⁹ and I do not burn with indignation? 11:30 If I must boast,²⁰ I will boast about the things that show my weakness.²¹ 11:31 The God and Father of the Lord Jesus, who is blessed forever, knows I am not lying. 11:32 In Damascus, the governor²² under King Aretas was guarding the city of Damascus²³ in order to arrest²⁴ me, 11:33 but I was let down in a rope-basket²⁵ through a window in the city wall, and escaped his hands.

¹sn Many is a reference to Paul’s opponents.

²tn Grk “according to the flesh.”

³tn Or “you tolerate.”

⁴tn Or “you tolerate.”

⁵tn See L&N 88.212.

⁶tn Or “my shame.”

⁷sn It seems best, in context, to see the statement we were too weak for that as a parenthetical and ironic comment by Paul on his physical condition (weakness or sickness) while he was with the Corinthians (cf. 2 Cor 12:7-10; Gal 4:15).

⁸tn The words “to boast about” are not in the Greek text, but are implied. Direct objects were often omitted in Greek when clear from the context, and this phrase serves as the direct object of the preceding verb.

⁹tn Grk “I also dare”; the words “to boast about the same thing” are not in the Greek text, but are implied. Direct objects were often omitted in Greek when clear from the context, and this phrase serves as the direct object of the preceding verb.

¹⁰tn Grk “forty less one”; this was a standard sentence. “Lashes” is supplied to clarify for the modern reader what is meant.

¹¹sn Beaten with a rod refers to the Roman punishment of admonitio according to BDAG 902 s.v. ῥαβδίζω. Acts 16:22 describes one of these occasions in Philippi; in this case it was administered by the city magistrates, who had wide powers in a military colony.

¹²sn Received a stoning. See Acts 14:19, where this incident is described.

¹³tn Or “bandits.” The word normally refers more to highwaymen (“robbers”) but can also refer to insurrectionists or revolutionaries (“bandits”).

¹⁴tn Or “desert.”

¹⁵tn The two different words for labor are translated “in hard work and toil” by L&N 42.48.

¹⁶tn Grk “in cold and nakedness.” Paul does not mean complete nakedness, however, which would have been repugnant to a Jew; he refers instead to the lack of sufficient clothing, especially in cold weather. A related word is used to 1 Cor 4:11, also in combination with experiencing hunger and thirst.

¹⁷sn Apart from other things. Paul refers here either (1) to the external sufferings just mentioned, or (2) he refers to other things he has left unmentioned.

¹⁸tn “Anxious concern,” so translated in L&N 25.224.

¹⁹tn Or “who is caused to stumble.”

²⁰tn Grk “If boasting is necessary.”

²¹tn Or “about the things related to my weakness.”

²²tn Grk “ethnarch.”

²³tn Grk “the city of the Damascenes.”

²⁴tn Or “to seize,” “to catch.”

²⁵tn In Acts 9:25 the same basket used in Paul’s escape is called a σπυρίς (spuri"), a basket larger than a κόφινος (kofinos). It was very likely made out of rope, so the translation “rope-basket” is used.