11:1   I wish that you would bear with me in a little foolishness; but indeed you bear with me.

11:2   For I feel jealousy for you with a godly jealousy; for I betrothed you to one husband, so that to Christ I might present you as a pure virgin.

11:3   But I fear that, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, your minds will go astray from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ.

11:4  For if one comes and preaches another Jesus whom we have not preached, or you receive a different spirit which you have not received, or a different gospel which you have not accepted, you bear this beautifully.

11:5   For I consider myself not in the least inferior to the most eminent apostles.

11:6   But even if I seem unskilled in speech, yet I have knowledge; in fact, in every way we have made this evident to you in all things.

11:7  Or did I commit a sin in humbling myself so that you might receive exaltation, because I preached the gospel of God to you without charge?

11:8  I robbed other churches by taking wages from them to serve you;

11:9  and when I found myself present with you and felt in need, I did not become a burden to anyone; for when the brethren came from Macedonia they fully supplied my need, and in everything I kept myself from becoming a burden to you, and will continue to do so.

11:10   As the truth of Christ resides in me, this boasting of mine will not stop in the regions of Achaia.

11:11  Why? Because I do not love you? God knows I do!

11:12  But what I do I will continue to do, so that I may cut off opportunity from those who desire an opportunity to take advantage in the matter about which they boast.

11:13  For such men prove themselves false apostles, deceitful workers, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ.

11:14   No wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light.

11:15   Therefore does not surprise us if his servants also disguise themselves as servants of righteousness, whose end will accord to their deeds.

11:16   Again I say, let no one think me foolish; but if you do, receive me even as foolish, so that I also may boast a little.

11:17  What I say, I do not say as the Lord would, but as in foolishness, in this confidence of boasting.

11:18   Since many boast according to the flesh, I will boast also.

11:19   For you, becoming so wise, tolerate the foolish gladly.

11:20   For you tolerate it if anyone enslaves you, anyone devours you, anyone takes advantage of you, anyone exalts himself, anyone hits you in the face.

11:21  To my shame I must say that we have shown weakness by comparison. But in whatever repsect anyone else behaves boldly- I speak in foolishness- I behave just as boldly myself.

11:22   Do they call themselves Hebrews? So do I Do they call themselves Israelites? So do I Do they call themselves descendants of Abraham? So do I.

11:23   Do they call themselves servants of Christ?--I speak as if insane--I more so; in far more labors, in far more imprisonments, beaten times without number, often in danger of death.

11:24   Five times I received from the Jews thirty-nine lashes.

11:25   Three times I they beat me with rods, once they stoned me three times I suffered shipwreck, a night and a day I have spent in the deep.

11:26   I have gone on frequent journeys, in dangers from rivers, dangers from robbers, dangers from my countrymen, dangers from the Gentiles, dangers in the city, dangers in the wilderness, dangers on the sea, dangers among false brethren;

11:27   I have labored in hardship, through many sleepless nights, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure.

11:28   Apart from such external things, I have the daily pressure on me of concern for all the churches.

11:29   Who has become weak without my becoming weak? Who gets led into sin without my intense concern?

11:30   If I have to boast, I will boast of what pertains to my weakness.

11:31  The God and Father of the Lord Jesus, He who we bless forever, knows that I do not lie.

11:32   In Damascus the ethnarch under Aretas the king who guarded the city of the Damascenes in order to seize me,

11:33   and they let me down in a basket through a window in the wall, and so escaped his hands.