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.

[11:24]  ¹ tn Grk “forty less one”; this was a standard sentence. “Lashes” is supplied to clarify for the modern reader what is meant.

[11:25]  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.

[11:25]  ² sn Received a stoning. See Acts 14:19, where this incident is described.

[11:26]  ¹ tn Or “bandits.” The word normally refers more to highwaymen (“robbers”) but can also refer to insurrectionists or revolutionaries (“bandits”).

[11:26]  ² tn Or “desert.”

[11:27]  ¹ tn The two different words for labor are translated “in hard work and toil” by L&N 42.48.

[11:27]  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.

[11:28]  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.

[11:28]  ² tn “Anxious concern,” so translated in L&N 25.224.

[11:29]  ¹ tn Or “who is caused to stumble.”

[11:30]  ¹ tn Grk “If boasting is necessary.”

[11:30]  ² tn Or “about the things related to my weakness.”

[11:32]  ¹ tn Grk “ethnarch.”

[11:32]  ² tn Grk “the city of the Damascenes.”

[11:32]  ³ tn Or “to seize,” “to catch.”

[11:33]  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.

[11:2]  ¹ tn That is, to Christ.

[11:2]  ² tn Or “chaste.”

[11:3]  ¹ tn Grk “I fear lest somehow.”

[11:3]  ² tn Or “the snake.”

[11:3]  ³ tn Or “craftiness.”

[11:3]  ⁴ tn Or “corrupted,” “seduced.”

[11:3]  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.”

[11:4]  ¹ tn Or “preaches.”

[11:4]  ² tn Grk “another Jesus whom we have not proclaimed.”

[11:4]  ³ tn Grk “a different spirit which you did not receive.”

[11:4]  ⁴ tn Grk “a different gospel which you did not accept.”

[11:4]  ⁵ tn Or “you endure it very well.”

[11:5]  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!”

[11:9]  ¹ tn Grk “you, and when.” A new sentence was started here in the translation.

[11:9]  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).

[11:9]  ³ tn Grk “needs, and I kept.” A new sentence was started here in the translation.

[11:10]  ¹ tn That is, that Paul offers the gospel free of charge to the Corinthians (see 2 Cor 11:7).

[11:10]  ² tn Or “silenced.”