2Cor 11 | RKJN | STEP | I wish you would bear with me a little in my folly: and indeed you are bearing with me.

‏ 2 Corinthians 11

1 I wish you would bear with me a little in my folly: and indeed you are bearing with me. 2 For I am jealous of you with a godly jealousy: for I have betrothed you to one husband, that I might present you to Christ as a pure virgin. 3 But I fear, lest, as the serpent deceived Eve through his cunning, so your minds will be led astray from the simplicity that is in Christ. 4 For if one comes and preaches another Jesus, whom we have not preached, or if you receive another spirit, which you have not received, or another gospel, which you have not accepted, you bear with him well enough. 5 I consider that I am not in the least inferior to these superlative apostles. 6 But though I am unskilled in speech, yet I am not in knowledge; we have made this plain to you in all things. 7 Have I committed an offence by abasing myself that you might be exalted, because I have preached the gospel of God to you without cost? 8 I robbed other churches, taking wages from them, to serve you. 9 And when I was present with you, and in want, I burdened no man: for that which I lacked the brethren who came from Macedonia supplied: and in all things I have kept myself from being burdensome to you, and so I will continue to do. 10 As the truth of Christ is in me, no man in the regions of Achaia shall stop me from this boasting. 11 Why? because I do not love you? God knows I do. 12 But what I do, that I will continue to do, that I may undermine the claim of those who desire opportunity to be regarded as our equals in that of which they boast. 13 For such men are false apostles, deceitful workers, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ. 14 And no wonder; for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. 15 Therefore it is no surprise if his servants are also disguised as servants of righteousness; their end shall be according to their works. 16 I say again, Let no man think me a fool; but if you do, receive me as a fool, that I too may boast a little. 17 That which I am speaking, I do not speak with the Lord's authority, but, as it were, foolishly, in boastful confidence. 18 Seeing that many boast according to the flesh, I will boast also. 19 For you endure fools gladly, seeing you yourselves are so wise. 20 For you bear it if a man brings you into bondage, if a man devours you, if a man takes advantage of you, if a man exalts himself, if a man strikes you on the face. 21 To my shame, I must say, we were too weak to do that. Yet in whatever else anyone dares to boast, (I speak foolishly,) I also dare to boast. 22 Are they Hebrews? so am I. Are they Israelites? so am I. Are they descendants of Abraham? so am I. 23 Are they servants of Christ? (I speak as a fool) I am more so; in labours more abundant, in beatings beyond number, in prison more frequently, in danger of death often. 24 From the Jews I five times received forty lashes less one. 25 Thrice I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, thrice I suffered shipwreck, a night and a day I have spent in the deep; 26 On frequent journeys, in perils from rivers, in perils from robbers, in perils from my own countrymen, in perils from the Gentiles, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils on the sea, in perils among false brethren; 27 In toil and hardship, in many sleepless nights, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and nakedness. 28 Beside those things that are external, there is upon me the daily pressure of concern for all the churches. 29 Who is weak, and I am not weak? who is made to fall, and I do not burn inwardly? 30 If I must boast, I will boast of things which show my weakness. 31 The God and Father of our Lord Jesus, who is blessed forevermore, knows that I do not lie. 32 In Damascus the governor, under Aretas the king, guarded the city of Damascus with a garrison in order to apprehend me: 33 but through a window in the wall I was let down in a basket, and escaped his hands.