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1Since you have already been patient with me, I hope you will put up with my boasting a little longer.
2I am jealous for you with a jealousy that comes from the Great Spirit. For I have promised you in marriage to one husband, the Chosen One, to give you to him as pure as a maiden who has never been with a man.
3Long ago the evil snake used his trickster ways to take Life Bearer (Eve) down the wrong path. I fear that, in the same manner she was tricked, false message bearers may take you down the wrong path in your thinking and lead you away from your single-hearted loyalty to the Chosen One.[#11:3 Genesis 3:4, 13]
4I say this because you seem so willing to put up with someone who tells you about another Creator Sets Free (Jesus) who is not the same Creator Sets Free (Jesus) we told you about. You are also willing to welcome a different spirit from the one you welcomed from us. You even welcome a different good story from the good story we told you.
5I do not think I am any less of a message bearer than any of these puffed-up ones you have been listening to.
6I may not speak with a smooth tongue, but I know what I am talking about. For we have made ourselves clearly understood to you all.
7Was it wrong for me to humble myself by giving you Creator’s good story without charge in order to bless you?
8I felt as if I were stealing from other sacred families when I took gifts from them to serve you.
9While I was with you, I did not ask any of you for help, even though I was in need. Some sacred family members who came from Land of Tall People (Macedonia) gifted me with everything I needed. In this way, I was able to keep myself from becoming a burden to you, and I mean to keep it that way.
10I speak truth from my heart with the Chosen One as my witness. No one throughout the territory of Land of Sorrow (Achaia) will be able to keep me from walking true to my boast in what the Chosen One has helped me to do .
11You may ask why I will not let myself become a burden to you. Do you think it is because I do not love you? The Great Spirit knows I love you!
12I will keep walking this same path, so that these puffed-up message bearers will have no solid ground to walk on when they brag that they walk in the same manner that we do.
13The ones who make this boast are false message bearers and lying tricksters. They represent themselves as message bearers of the Chosen One, but the regalia they wear does not represent who they truly are.
14This should not surprise us, for Accuser (Satan) falsely represents himself as a spirit-messenger wearing bright and shining regalia.
15So it is no surprise that the followers of Accuser (Satan) would falsely represent themselves as servants of Creator’s right ways. The path they walk will take them to a bad end.
16I will say it again: I want no one to think of me as a fool. But if you think of me in that manner, then let me speak as if I were a fool so that I can brag some more.
17To be clear, I am not speaking as our Honored Chief would have me speak. Instead, I will speak as a fool who brags too much.
18Since there are so many who brag about who they are and what they have done, I will now do the same!
19If I speak as a fool, this should help you understand me better, for you are so wise that you are glad to put up with many foolish things.
20You even let others rule over you as if you were their slaves. You put up with them when they devour your goods, trick you, look down on you, and insult you.
21Shame on me! I was not strong enough to treat you so badly! But if others can boldly brag—I speak like a fool—I dare to brag just as much.
22Are they Tribal Members (Hebrews) ? So am I! Are they of the tribes of Wrestles with Creator (Israelites) ? So am I! Are they descendants of Father of Many Nations (Abraham) ? So am I!
23Are they servants of the Chosen One? Some may think I have lost my mind, but I want to brag even more! I have worked harder. I have been in prison more. I have been beaten more times than I can count. I have faced death many times.
24Five times I have been beaten with thirty-nine strikes of the whip by the people of my own tribe.
25I was beaten with clubs three times. Once I was almost killed when they threw stones at me. I was shipwrecked three times, and I drifted on the deep waters of the sea for a night and a day.
26Many times I have traveled far and wide. On these journeys I faced dangers from raging rivers and desperate outlaws. I have faced threats from my own people and from the people of the Outside Nations. I have faced dangers in villages, dangers in the desert, dangers at sea, and dangers from false sacred family members.
27My hands have been worn to the bone with hard work. On many nights I have gone without sleep. On my journeys I have been hungry and thirsty, often without food, with no blanket to keep me warm.
28Alongside all these challenges, each day I am weighed down with my deep concern for all the sacred families under my care .
29I feel the weakness of any who are weak. I burn with fire in my inner being every time someone is turned away from the good road.
30If I must boast, I choose to brag about the things that show how weak I am.
31The Great Spirit who is the Father of our Honored Chief Creator Sets Free (Jesus) , who is blessed beyond the end of all days, knows that I speak the truth.
32When I was in the village of Silent Weaver (Damascus) , the governor representing the ruler named Brave One (Aretas) was on the lookout to capture me.
33I had to sneak away from there by being lowered in a basket through an opening in the village wall.