2 Corinthians 11 :: New International Version (NIV)

Paul and the False Apostles

2Co 11:1I hope you will put up with me in a little foolishness. Yes, please put up with me!

2Co 11:2I 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.

2Co 11:3

2Co 11:3But 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.

2Co 11:4

2Co 11:4For 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.

2Co 11:5

2Co 11:5I do not think I am in the least inferior to those “super-apostles.”[fn]

2Co 11:6

2Co 11:6I may indeed be untrained as a speaker, but I do have knowledge. We have made this perfectly clear to you in every way.

2Co 11:7

2Co 11:7Was it a sin for me to lower myself in order to elevate you by preaching the gospel of God to you free of charge?

2Co 11:8

2Co 11:8I robbed other churches by receiving support from them so as to serve you.

2Co 11:9

2Co 11:9And 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.

2Co 11:10

2Co 11:10As surely as the truth of Christ is in me, nobody in the regions of Achaia will stop this boasting of mine.

2Co 11:11

2Co 11:11Why? Because I do not love you? God knows I do!

2Co 11:12

2Co 11:12And 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.

2Co 11:13

2Co 11:13For such people are false apostles, deceitful workers, masquerading as apostles of Christ.

2Co 11:14

2Co 11:14And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light.

2Co 11:15

2Co 11:15It is not surprising, then, if his servants also masquerade as servants of righteousness. Their end will be what their actions deserve.

Paul Boasts About His Sufferings

2Co 11:16

2Co 11:16I 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.

2Co 11:17

2Co 11:17In this self-confident boasting I am not talking as the Lord would, but as a fool.

2Co 11:18

2Co 11:18Since many are boasting in the way the world does, I too will boast.

2Co 11:19

2Co 11:19You gladly put up with fools since you are so wise!

2Co 11:20

2Co 11:20In 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.

2Co 11:21

2Co 11:21To 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.

2Co 11:22

2Co 11:22Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they Abraham’s descendants? So am I.

2Co 11:23

2Co 11:23Are 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.

2Co 11:24

2Co 11:24Five times I received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one.

2Co 11:25

2Co 11:25Three 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,

2Co 11:26

2Co 11:26I 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.

2Co 11:27

2Co 11:27I 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.

2Co 11:28

2Co 11:28Besides everything else, I face daily the pressure of my concern for all the churches.

2Co 11:29

2Co 11:29Who is weak, and I do not feel weak? Who is led into sin, and I do not inwardly burn?

2Co 11:30

2Co 11:30If I must boast, I will boast of the things that show my weakness.

2Co 11:31

2Co 11:31The God and Father of the Lord Jesus, who is to be praised forever, knows that I am not lying.

2Co 11:32

2Co 11:32In Damascus the governor under King Aretas had the city of the Damascenes guarded in order to arrest me.

2Co 11:33

2Co 11:33But I was lowered in a basket from a window in the wall and slipped through his hands.

See the NIV Preface (Especially for Parenthesis, Brackets, & Asterisks).

NIV Footnotes

(11:5)

Or to the most eminent apostles

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2 Corinthians Chapter 11 — Additional Translations:

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2 Corinthians 11 :: New International Version (NIV)

Paul and the False Apostles

Paul Boasts About His Sufferings

NIV Footnotes

2 Corinthians Chapter 11 — Additional Translations:

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