1 O that you would put up with me as I now throw discretion aside with a bit of my own foolish talk! Yes, please put up with me! 2 I am jealous for you with a divine jealousy, you see. Indeed, I have committed you in a binding betrothal to one husband, the Messiah, promising to present you to him as a pure virgin. 3 I am afraid, though, that just as the serpent deceived Eve with his clever scheming, your minds may somehow be soiled and turned away from your sincere and pure devotion to the Messiah. 4 And why shouldn’t I be afraid, given how whenever someone new comes along and proclaims a message about Jesus different from the one that we proclaimed, you put up with it so gladly? Given how happily you welcome a spirit different from the one you received, or a gospel at variance with the one you received from us? 5 Yes, I believe I am lagging behind those oh-so-outstanding “apostles” of yours not in the least. 6 And suppose that I really am an amateur in my speaking abilities—still, such is certainly not true when it comes to my understanding, a fact, certainly, which we have displayed in all respects among all people through what we are in our relations with you. 7 I didn’t charge you a thing when I proclaimed the gospel of God to you; myself I humbled, so that you could be exalted. Was it a sin for me to do this? 8 It was other assemblies that I pillaged, by receiving rations from them so that I could you freely serve. 9 And so when I was with you and fell into need, I didn’t impose a financial strain on any of you, because my needs were fully provided for by the brothers who arrived from Macedonia; myself I did not allow, and will not allow, to become a financial burden to you in any way. 10 As surely as the truth of the Messiah is in me, I solemnly declare that no one in the whole province of Achaia will stop me from singing about this honorable decision of mine. 11 Why? Because I don’t love you? God himself knows that I do! 12 No, I do this, and will continue to do this, in order to undermine the fraudulent claims of those who are eager for a chance to make it appear, on the basis of the empty credentials about which they love to sing, that they are on the same level as us. 13 Such people, you see, are false apostles, deceitful workers, disguising themselves as apostles of the Messiah. 14 And yet why should that surprise us? Even Satan, after all, disguises himself as an angel of light! 15 It is hardly a shock, then, if his servants, too, disguise themselves as servants of righteousness, whose doom will match their deeds.

16 I will say it again: Let no one consider me a fool, although if it does come to that, then at least give me, just as you would a fool, a patient hearing, so that I myself, too, may do a little singing of my own praises. 17 In what I’m about to say I will be talking not like the Lord, but like a fool, in this business of self-exalting chatter. 18 Since so many love to lavish praises on themselves according to mere human standards, I, too, will give it a try myself! 19 Why not, seeing that you put up with fools so gladly, since you are so wise? 20 Why not, seeing how you are ready to put up with anyone who wants to treat you like slaves, or rob you of all you own, or get you in his clutches, or act high and mightily toward you, or strike you right in the face? 21 How shameful it is, I must admit, that we have been far too “weak” to resort to those sorts of things! In whatever respect someone else would dare stir up such nerve as to speak exaltingly of himself (I am talking like a complete fool!), I too will do the same. 22 Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Is it from Abraham that they trace their descent? Me too. 23 Are they servants of the Messiah? (I must be absolutely out of my mind to be talking like this!) My own service outshines theirs: I have worked much harder, been in prison far more often, been beaten far more severely, and have faced death time and again. 24 At the hand of the Jews I have received, on five different occasions, the forty lashes minus one. 25 Three times I was beaten by the Romans with rods, on one occasion I was pelted with stones, on three occasions I found myself on a ship as it was destroyed at sea. One time I floated adrift, in the open sea, for a whole night and a day. 26 In my many travels I have met dangers of all kinds: Dangers from floods, dangers from bandits, dangers from my fellow Jews, dangers from Gentiles, dangers in the city, dangers in the wilderness, dangers at sea, dangers among false brothers. 27 I have worked hard and toiled, I have endured many sleepless nights, I have known thirst and intense hunger, I have often gone without anything to eat, I have been cold from not having enough clothes to keep me warm. 28 And apart from what I leave unmentioned, there is the pressure that weighs heavily on me every day, namely, my anxious concern for all the assemblies. 29 When someone is weak, am I not weak, too? When one person causes another to stumble in sin, do I not burn with anger? 30 If self-exalting chatter is unavoidable, I will at least keep it to the things that highlight my weakness. 31 The God and Father of the Lord Jesus, who is blessed forever into the ages, knows that I am not lying. 32 When I was in Damascus, the governor under King Aretas ordered the city of Damascus to be kept under watch in an attempt to arrest me. 33 Yet I was lowered through an opening in the city wall in a rope-basket, through a window, and escaped his grasp.