1 I hope you will put up with me in a little foolishness. Yes, please put up with me!2 I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy. I promised you to one husband, to Christ, so that I might present you as a pure virgin to him.3 But I am afraid that just as Eve was deceived by the serpent's cunning, your minds may somehow be led astray from your sincere and pure devotion to Christ.4 For if someone comes to you and preaches a Jesus other than the Jesus we preached, or if you receive a different spirit from the Spirit you received, or a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it easily enough.5 I do not think I am in the least inferior to those "super-apostles." [^1]6 I may indeed be untrained as a speaker, but I do have knowledge. We have made this perfectly clear to you in every way.7 Was it a sin for me to lower myself in order to elevate you by preaching the gospel of God to you free of charge?8 I robbed other churches by receiving support from them so as to serve you.9 And when I was with you and needed something, I was not a burden to anyone, for the brothers who came from Macedonia supplied what I needed. I have kept myself from being a burden to you in any way, and will continue to do so.10 As surely as the truth of Christ is in me, nobody in the regions of Achaia will stop this boasting of mine.11 Why? Because I do not love you? God knows I do!12 And I will keep on doing what I am doing in order to cut the ground from under those who want an opportunity to be considered equal with us in the things they boast about.13 For such people are false apostles, deceitful workers, masquerading as apostles of Christ.14 And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light.15 It is not surprising, then, if his servants also masquerade as servants of righteousness. Their end will be what their actions deserve.16 I repeat: Let no one take me for a fool. But if you do, then tolerate me just as you would a fool, so that I may do a little boasting.17 In this self-confident boasting I am not talking as the Lord would, but as a fool.18 Since many are boasting in the way the world does, I too will boast.19 You gladly put up with fools since you are so wise!20 In fact, you even put up with anyone who enslaves you or exploits you or takes advantage of you or puts on airs or slaps you in the face.21 To my shame I admit that we were too weak for that! Whatever anyone else dares to boast about —I am speaking as a fool —I also dare to boast about.22 Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they Abraham's descendants? So am I.23 Are they servants of Christ? (I am out of my mind to talk like this.) I am more. I have worked much harder, been in prison more frequently, been flogged more severely, and been exposed to death again and again.24 Five times I received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one.25 Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was pelted with stones, three times I was shipwrecked, I spent a night and a day in the open sea,26 I have been constantly on the move. I have been in danger from rivers, in danger from bandits, in danger from my fellow Jews, in danger from Gentiles; in danger in the city, in danger in the country, in danger at sea; and in danger from false believers.27 I have labored and toiled and have often gone without sleep; I have known hunger and thirst and have often gone without food; I have been cold and naked.28 Besides everything else, I face daily the pressure of my concern for all the churches.29 Who is weak, and I do not feel weak? Who is led into sin, and I do not inwardly burn?30 If I must boast, I will boast of the things that show my weakness.31 The God and Father of the Lord Jesus, who is to be praised forever, knows that I am not lying.32 In Damascus the governor under King Aretas had the city of the Damascenes guarded in order to arrest me.33 But I was lowered in a basket from a window in the wall and slipped through his hands.

1 Utinam sustineretis modicum quid insipienti me, sed et supportare me : 2 mulor enim vos Dei mulatione. Despondi enim vos uni viro, virginem castam exhibere Christo. 3 Timeo autem ne sicut serpens Hevam seduxit astutia sua, ita corrumpantur sensus vestri, et excidant a simplicitate, qu est in Christo. 4 Nam si is qui venit, alium Christum prdicat, quem non prdicavimus, aut alium spiritum accipitis, quem non accepistis : aut aliud Evangelium, quod non recepistis : recte pateremini. 5 Existimo enim nihil me minus fecisse a magnis Apostolis. 6 Nam etsi imperitus sermone, sed non scientia, in omnibus autem manifestati sumus vobis.7 Aut numquid peccatum feci, meipsum humilians, ut vos exaltemini ? quoniam gratis Evangelium Dei evangelizavi vobis ? 8 Alias ecclesias expoliavi, accipiens stipendium ad ministerium vestrum. 9 Et cum essem apud vos, et egerem, nulli onerosus fui : nam quod mihi deerat, suppleverunt fratres, qui venerunt a Macedonia : et in omnibus sine onere me vobis servavi, et servabo. 10 Est veritas Christi in me, quoniam hc gloriatio non infringetur in me in regionibus Achai. 11 Quare ? quia non diligo vos ? Deus scit. 12 Quod autem facio, et faciam : ut amputem occasionem eorum qui volunt occasionem, ut in quo gloriantur, inveniantur sicut et nos. 13 Nam ejusmodi pseudoapostoli sunt operarii subdoli, transfigurantes se in apostolos Christi. 14 Et non mirum : ipse enim Satanas transfigurat se in angelum lucis. 15 Non est ergo magnum, si ministri ejus transfigurentur velut ministri justiti : quorum finis erit secundum opera ipsorum.16 Iterum dico (ne quis me putet insipientem esse, alioquin velut insipientem accipite me, ut et ego modicum quid glorier), 17 quod loquor, non loquor secundum Deum, sed quasi in insipientia, in hac substantia glori. 18 Quoniam multi gloriantur secundum carnem : et ego gloriabor. 19 Libenter enim suffertis insipientes, cum sitis ipsi sapientes. 20 Sustinetis enim si quis vos in servitutem redigit, si quis devorat, si quis accipit, si quis extollitur, si quis in faciem vos cdit. 21 Secundum ignobilitatem dico, quasi nos infirmi fuerimus in hac parte. In quo quis audet (in insipientia dico) audeo et ego : 22 Hebri sunt, et ego : Isralit sunt, et ego : semen Abrah sunt, et ego.23 Ministri Christi sunt (ut minus sapiens dico), plus ego : in laboribus plurimis, in carceribus abundantius, in plagis supra modum, in mortibus frequenter. 24 A Judis quinquies, quadragenas, una minus, accepi. 25 Ter virgis csus sum, semel lapidatus sum : ter naufragium feci, nocte et die in profundo maris fui, 26 in itineribus spe, periculis fluminum, periculis latronum, periculis ex genere, periculis ex gentibus, periculis in civitate, periculis in solitudine, periculis in mari, periculis in falsis fratribus : 27 in labore et rumna, in vigiliis multis, in fame et siti, in jejuniis multis, in frigore et nuditate, 28 prter illa qu extrinsecus sunt, instantia mea quotidiana, sollicitudo omnium ecclesiarum. 29 Quis infirmatur, et ego non infirmor ? quis scandalizatur, et ego non uror ? 30 Si gloriari oportet, qu infirmitatis me sunt, gloriabor. 31 Deus et Pater Domini nostri Jesu Christi, qui est benedictus in scula, scit quod non mentior. 32 Damasci prpositus gentis Aret regis custodiebat civitatem Damascenorum ut me comprehenderet : 33 et per fenestram in sporta dimissus sum per murum, et sic effugi manus ejus.