For even if I wish to boast, I will not be a fool, for I would be telling ¹  the truth, but I refrain from this so that no one may regard ²  me beyond what he sees in me or what he hears from me,

Therefore I thought it necessary to urge these brothers to go to you in advance and to arrange ahead of time the generous contribution ¹  you had promised, so this may be ready as a generous gift ²  and not as something you feel forced to do. ³ 

Therefore I am content with ¹  weaknesses, with insults, with troubles, with persecutions and difficulties ²  for the sake of Christ, for whenever I am weak, then I am strong.

by purity, by knowledge, by patience, by benevolence, by the Holy Spirit, ¹  by genuine ²  love,

For we are concerned about what is right not only before the Lord but also before men. ¹ 

since you are demanding proof that Christ is speaking through me. He ¹  is not weak toward you but is powerful among you.

For I consider myself not at all inferior to those “super-apostles.” ¹ 

We are experiencing trouble on every side, ¹  but are not crushed; we are perplexed, ²  but not driven to despair;

by truthful ¹  teaching, ²  by the power of God, with weapons of righteousness both for the right hand and for the left, ³ 

For indeed, what had been glorious now ¹  has no glory because of the tremendously greater glory of what replaced it. ² 

begging us with great earnestness for the blessing and fellowship of helping ¹  the saints.

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.

For though we live ¹  as human beings, ²  we do not wage war according to human standards, ³ 

What I am saying with this boastful confidence ¹  I do not say the way the Lord would. ²  Instead it is, as it were, foolishness.

Therefore we are always full of courage, and we know that as long as we are alive here on earth ¹  we are absent from the Lord –

Or did I commit a sin by humbling myself ¹  so that you could be exalted, because I proclaimed ²  the gospel of God to you free of charge?

For how ¹  were you treated worse than the other churches, except that I myself was not a burden to you? Forgive me this injustice!

You yourselves are our letter, ¹  written on our hearts, known and read by everyone,

I do not mean that we rule over your faith, but we are workers with you for your joy, because by faith you stand firm. ¹ 

Therefore, since we have these promises, dear friends, let us cleanse ourselves ¹  from everything that could defile the body ²  and the spirit, and thus accomplish ³  holiness out of reverence for God. ⁴