2 Corinthians 12 :: New International Version (NIV)

Paul’s Vision and His Thorn

2Co 12:1I must go on boasting. Although there is nothing to be gained, I will go on to visions and revelations from the Lord.

2Co 12:2

2Co 12:2I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up to the third heaven. Whether it was in the body or out of the body I do not know—God knows.

2Co 12:3

2Co 12:3And I know that this man—whether in the body or apart from the body I do not know, but God knows—

2Co 12:4

2Co 12:4was caught up to paradise and heard inexpressible things, things that no one is permitted to tell.

2Co 12:5

2Co 12:5I will boast about a man like that, but I will not boast about myself, except about my weaknesses.

2Co 12:6

2Co 12:6Even if I should choose to boast, I would not be a fool, because I would be speaking the truth. But I refrain, so no one will think more of me than is warranted by what I do or say,

2Co 12:7

2Co 12:7or because of these surpassingly great revelations. Therefore, in order to keep me from becoming conceited, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me.

2Co 12:8

2Co 12:8Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me.

2Co 12:9

2Co 12:9But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.

2Co 12:10

2Co 12:10That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

Paul’s Concern for the Corinthians

2Co 12:11

2Co 12:11I have made a fool of myself, but you drove me to it. I ought to have been commended by you, for I am not in the least inferior to the “super-apostles,”[fn] even though I am nothing.

2Co 12:12

2Co 12:12I persevered in demonstrating among you the marks of a true apostle, including signs, wonders and miracles.

2Co 12:13

2Co 12:13How were you inferior to the other churches, except that I was never a burden to you? Forgive me this wrong!

2Co 12:14

2Co 12:14Now I am ready to visit you for the third time, and I will not be a burden to you, because what I want is not your possessions but you. After all, children should not have to save up for their parents, but parents for their children.

2Co 12:15

2Co 12:15So I will very gladly spend for you everything I have and expend myself as well. If I love you more, will you love me less?

2Co 12:16

2Co 12:16Be that as it may, I have not been a burden to you. Yet, crafty fellow that I am, I caught you by trickery!

2Co 12:17

2Co 12:17Did I exploit you through any of the men I sent to you?

2Co 12:18

2Co 12:18I urged Titus to go to you and I sent our brother with him. Titus did not exploit you, did he? Did we not walk in the same footsteps by the same Spirit?

2Co 12:19

2Co 12:19Have you been thinking all along that we have been defending ourselves to you? We have been speaking in the sight of God as those in Christ; and everything we do, dear friends, is for your strengthening.

2Co 12:20

2Co 12:20For I am afraid that when I come I may not find you as I want you to be, and you may not find me as you want me to be. I fear that there may be discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, slander, gossip, arrogance and disorder.

2Co 12:21

2Co 12:21I am afraid that when I come again my God will humble me before you, and I will be grieved over many who have sinned earlier and have not repented of the impurity, sexual sin and debauchery in which they have indulged.

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

NIV Footnotes

(12:11)

Or the most eminent apostles

THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV®
Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.®
Used by Permission of Biblica, Inc.® All rights reserved worldwide.

See detailed copyright information.

For more information on this translation, see the NIV Preface.