¹I hope you’ll put up with a little foolishness on my part. Yes, please put up with me!

²I’m jealous for you with a godly jealousy. I promised you to one husband, Christ, to give you to him like a pure virgin bride.

³But just as Eve’s mind was tricked by the snake’s clever lies, I’m afraid that your minds will also be led astray somehow from your true and pure love for Christ.

⁴If someone comes to you and preaches about a Jesus who’s different from the Jesus we preached about, or a spirit different from the Spirit you received, or a version of the good news that’s different from the one you accepted, you put up with those kinds of things easily enough.

⁵I don’t think I’m the least bit inferior those “super-apostles.”

⁶It’s true that I haven’t been trained as a speaker, but I do have knowledge. I’ve made that perfectly clear to you in every way.

⁷I preached God’s good news to you free of charge. When I did that, I was humbling myself in order to lift you up. Was that a sin?

⁸I received help from other churches so I could serve you. That was almost like robbing them.

⁹When I was with you and needed something, I didn’t make you pay for it. The believers who came from Macedonia provided everything I needed. I haven’t made you pay for anything at all, and I won’t ever do that.

¹⁰As surely as the truth of Christ is in me, nobody in Achaia will keep me from being proud of this.

¹¹Why? Because I don’t love you? No! God knows that I do!

¹²And I’m going to keep on doing what I’ve been doing, in order to discredit the people who think they should be considered equal with us.

¹³People like that are false apostles and dishonest workers. They’re only pretending to be apostles of Christ.

¹⁴But that comes as no surprise. Even Satan himself pretends to be an angel of light.

¹⁵So it shouldn’t surprise us if Satan’s servants also pretend to be serving God. But in the end, they’ll get exactly what they deserve.

¹⁶I’ll say it again: Nobody should think I’m a fool. But if you do, put up with me just as you would put up with a fool, so I can do a little bragging.

¹⁷When I brag about myself like this, I’m not talking the way the Lord would. I’m talking like a fool.

¹⁸But since many others are bragging the way the people of the world do, let me show you that I can brag like them too.

¹⁹You gladly put up with fools because you’re so wise!

²⁰In fact, you even put up with anyone who makes you a slave or uses you or takes advantage of you. You put up with those who claim to be better than you, and even with those who slap you in the face.

²¹I’m ashamed to say that I was too weak for that!

Whatever anyone else dares to brag about— I’m speaking like a fool—I also dare to brag about.

²²Are they Hebrews? So am I. Do they belong to the people of Israel? So do I. Are they Abraham’s children? So am I.

²³Are they serving Christ? I’m serving him even more. (I’m out of my mind to talk like this!) I’ve worked much harder. I’ve been in prison more often. I’ve suffered terrible beatings. Again and again I’ve almost died.

²⁴Five times the Jews gave me 39 strokes with a whip.

²⁵Three times I was beaten with sticks. Once they tried to kill me by throwing stones at me. Three times I was shipwrecked. I spent a night and a day in the open sea.

²⁶I’ve had to keep on the move constantly. I’ve been in danger from rivers, in danger from robbers, in danger from my fellow Jews, and in danger from Gentiles. I’ve been in danger in the city, in the country, and at sea. I’ve been in danger from people who pretended they were believers.

²⁷I’ve worked very hard and often gone without sleep. I’ve been hungry and thirsty and gone without food; I’ve been cold and lacked clothes.

²⁸And on top of everything else, every day I’ve felt the pressure of my concern for all the churches.

²⁹If anyone is weak, I feel weak. If anyone is led into sin, I burn on the inside.

³⁰If I have to brag, let me brag about the things that show how weak I am.

³¹The God and Father of the Lord Jesus—may he be praised forever—knows that I’m not lying.

³²In Damascus, the governor who served under King Aretas had the city locked down because he wanted to arrest me.

³³But I escaped by being lowered in a basket out a window in the city wall!