2 Corinthians 11:25-33

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

[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]  ³ tn Or “bandits.” The word normally refers more to highwaymen (“robbers”) but can also refer to insurrectionists or revolutionaries (“bandits”).

[11:26]  ⁴ tn Or “desert.”

[11:27]  ⁵ tn The two different words for labor are translated “in hard work and toil” by L&N 42.48.

[11:27]  ⁶ 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]  ⁷ 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]  ⁸ tn “Anxious concern,” so translated in L&N 25.224.

[11:29]  ⁹ tn Or “who is caused to stumble.”

[11:30]  ¹⁰ tn Grk “If boasting is necessary.”

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

[11:32]  ¹² tn Grk “ethnarch.”

[11:32]  ¹³ tn Grk “the city of the Damascenes.”

[11:32]  ¹⁴ tn Or “to seize,” “to catch.”

[11:33]  ¹⁵ 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.