¹If only you would bear with me for a short time in foolishness. But actually, you do bear with me. ²For I am zealous for you with a tremendous zeal, for I have betrothed you to one man, so as to present you as a chaste virgin to Christ. ³But I fear that, as the serpent deceived Eve with his trickery, so your minds may be drawn away to corruption from the simplicity which is in Christ. ⁴For if he who is coming proclaims another Jesus, whom we have not proclaimed, or you receive a different spirit, which you have not received, or if you accept a different gospel, which you have not accepted, then that's a fine way to bear up! ⁵For I consider myself in no way to have fallen short of the most superlative apostles. ⁶And even if we are an amateur in speech, we are not in knowledge, for we have been made known to you in every respect and in all regards. ⁷Or have I committed a sin in lowering myself so that you might be exalted, because I have preached the gospel of God to you freely? ⁸I have plundered other churches, taking pay from them for your relief, ⁹and when I was present with you and having run short, I did not press heavily on anyone, for the brothers who came from Macedonia made up for my shortage, and I guarded – and will guard – myself against being a burden to you in any way. ¹⁰As the truth of Christ is in me, so this boasting will not be stifled with me in the regions of Achaea. ¹¹Why? Because I don't love you? God knows the truth. ¹²And this I do, and will do, in order to eliminate any opportunity for those wanting an opportunity to be found as equal to us in what they boast of. ¹³For such people are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into apostles of Christ. ¹⁴And it is not a thing to marvel at, for Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light. ¹⁵So it is not a great thing then if his servants also transform themselves, as if they were servants of righteousness, whose end will be according to their works. ¹⁶Again I say it, in case anyone considers me to be foolish. Otherwise, receive me even as a fool, so that I too have some small grounds for boasting. ¹⁷What I say, I do not say from the Lord's perspective, but as it were in foolishness, on these boastful grounds. ¹⁸Since many boast according to the flesh, I too will boast. ¹⁹For you bear with fools courteously, being wise yourselves. ²⁰For you bear up if anyone domineers over you, if anyone exploits you, if anyone arrests you, if anyone is overbearing, if anyone hits you on the face. ²¹I speak to my shame, as if we were taken ill. And in whatever way someone might be daring – I speak in foolishness – I myself am daring too. ²²Are they Hebrews? I am too. Are they Israelites? I am too. Are they the seed of Abraham? I am too. ²³Are they ministers of Christ? – I speak as if deranged – I go further: in labours more prolifically, in beatings more exceedingly, in imprisonments more frequently, in situations in danger of death, often; ²⁴five times I received forty minus one lashes from the Jews, ²⁵three times I was beaten with sticks, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked, and I have spent a night and a day in the deep; ²⁶in travels often, in dangers of rivers, in dangers of robbers, in dangers from my race, in dangers from the Gentiles, in dangers in the city, in dangers in the desert, in dangers at sea, in dangers among false brothers; ²⁷in toil and hardship, in sleepless nights often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness. ²⁸Apart from all else, there is my daily mental turmoil: the care of all the churches. ²⁹Who is ill, and I am not ill with him? Who is offended, and I am not ablaze with indignation? ³⁰If it is necessary to boast, I will boast of the things concerning my ills. ³¹The God and father of the Lord Jesus Christ, who is blessed throughout the ages, knows that I do not lie. ³²In Damascus the governor under King Aretas was guarding the city of the Damascenes, wishing to lay hold of me, ³³but through a window I was lowered in a basket alongside the wall, and I escaped his clutches.