2 Corinthians 11:27-33

11:27 in hard work and toil, ¹  through many sleepless nights, in hunger and thirst, many times without food, in cold and without enough clothing. ²  11:28 Apart from other things, ³  there is the daily pressure on me of my anxious concern ⁴  for all the churches. 11:29 Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is led into sin, ⁵  and I do not burn with indignation? 11:30 If I must boast, ⁶  I will boast about the things that show my weakness. ⁷  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 ⁸  under King Aretas was guarding the city of Damascus ⁹  in order to arrest ¹⁰  me, 11:33 but I was let down in a rope-basket ¹¹  through a window in the city wall, and escaped his hands.

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.

³ 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.

⁴ tn “Anxious concern,” so translated in L&N 25.224.

⁵ tn Or “who is caused to stumble.”

⁶ tn Grk “If boasting is necessary.”

⁷ tn Or “about the things related to my weakness.”

⁸ tn Grk “ethnarch.”

⁹ tn Grk “the city of the Damascenes.”

¹⁰ tn Or “to seize,” “to catch.”

¹¹ 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.