2 Corinthians 11:23-33

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. 1  11:25 Three times I was beaten with a rod. 2  Once I received a stoning. 3  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, 4  in dangers from my own countrymen, in dangers from Gentiles, in dangers in the city, in dangers in the wilderness, 5  in dangers at sea, in dangers from false brothers, 11:27 in hard work and toil, 6  through many sleepless nights, in hunger and thirst, many times without food, in cold and without enough clothing. 7  11:28 Apart from other things, 8  there is the daily pressure on me of my anxious concern 9  for all the churches. 11:29 Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is led into sin, 10  and I do not burn with indignation? 11:30 If I must boast, 11  I will boast about the things that show my weakness. 12  11:31 The God and Father of the Lord Jesus, who is blessed forever, knows I am not lying. 11:32 In Damascus, the governor 13  under King Aretas was guarding the city of Damascus 14  in order to arrest 15  me, 11:33 but I was let down in a rope-basket 16  through a window in the city wall, and escaped his hands.

2 Corinthians 11:1-5

Paul and His Opponents

11:1 I wish that you would be patient with me in a little foolishness, but indeed you are being patient with me! 11:2 For I am jealous for you with godly jealousy, because I promised you in marriage to one husband, 17  to present you as a pure 18  virgin to Christ. 11:3 But I am afraid that 19  just as the serpent 20  deceived Eve by his treachery, 21  your minds may be led astray 22  from a sincere and pure 23  devotion to Christ. 11:4 For if someone comes and proclaims 24  another Jesus different from the one we proclaimed, 25  or if you receive a different spirit than the one you received, 26  or a different gospel than the one you accepted, 27  you put up with it well enough! 28  11:5 For I consider myself not at all inferior to those “super-apostles.” 29 

2 Corinthians 11:9-10

11:9 When 30  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. 31  I 32  kept myself from being a burden to you in any way, and will continue to do so. 11:10 As the truth of Christ is in me, this boasting of mine 33  will not be stopped 34  in the regions of Achaia.

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

1 sn 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.

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

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

2 tn Or “desert.”

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

2 tn 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.

1 sn 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.

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

1 tn Or “who is caused to stumble.”

1 tn Grk “If boasting is necessary.”

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

1 tn Grk “ethnarch.”

2 tn Grk “the city of the Damascenes.”

3 tn Or “to seize,” “to catch.”

1 tn 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.

1 tn That is, to Christ.

2 tn Or “chaste.”

1 tn Grk “I fear lest somehow.”

2 tn Or “the snake.”

3 tn Or “craftiness.”

4 tn Or “corrupted,” “seduced.”

5 tc Although most mss (א2 H Ψ 0121 0243 1739 1881 Ï) lack “and pure” (καὶ τῆς ἁγνότητος, kai th" Jagnothto"; Grk “and purity”) several important and early witnesses (Ì46 א* B D[2] F G 33 81 104 pc ar r co) retain these words. Their presence in such mss across such a wide geographical distribution argues for their authenticity. The omission from the majority of mss can be explained by haplography, since the -τητος ending of ἁγνότητος is identical to the ending of ἁπλότητος (Japlothto", “sincerity”) three words back (ἁπλότητος καὶ τῆς ἁγνότητος); further, since the meanings of “sincerity” and “purity” are similar they might seem redundant. A copyist would scarcely notice the omission because Paul’s statement still makes sense without “and from purity.”

1 tn Or “preaches.”

2 tn Grk “another Jesus whom we have not proclaimed.”

3 tn Grk “a different spirit which you did not receive.”

4 tn Grk “a different gospel which you did not accept.”

5 tn Or “you endure it very well.”

1 tn The implicit irony in Paul’s remark is brought out well by the TEV: “I do not think that I am the least bit inferior to those very special so-called ‘apostles’ of yours!”

1 tn Grk “you, and when.” A new sentence was started here in the translation.

2 tn If the participle ἐλθόντες (elqonte") is taken as temporal rather than adjectival, the translation would be, “for the brothers, when they came from Macedonia, fully supplied my needs” (similar to NASB).

3 tn Grk “needs, and I kept.” A new sentence was started here in the translation.

1 tn That is, that Paul offers the gospel free of charge to the Corinthians (see 2 Cor 11:7).

2 tn Or “silenced.”