1 Oh, if only you would put up with just a little crazy talk from me! On second thought— you do have to put up with it! 2 I care deeply for you, and it comes from God. For I had promised you to one husband, as a pure marriageable woman to present to Christ. 3 Yet I fear that somehow, just as the serpent thoroughly deluded Eve with his treachery, your minds have been corrupted and turned from the pure simplicity of Christ. 4 In fact, if anyone comes proclaiming some other Jesus than the one we proclaimed to you, or you receive a different spirit than the one you had, or you hear a different good news than the one you received before, you just take it in stride.
5 I don’t see how I am in any way inferior to these ultra-apostles. 6 Even if I really am a poor speaker I am not poor in knowledge; we have made that quite clear in every way. 7 Did I do such a terrible thing by humbling myself so you could be exalted? Seeing that I brought the good news to you free of charge, 8 surely I must be robbing other Congregations in order to get rations to dispense to you! 9 When I was with you and in need I was not a burden to anyone, because I was replenished by the ones who came from Macedonia. And I will continue to support myself so I will not be a burden to you.
10 By all that is true of Christ, I will not be robbed of this boast I have in all the regions of Achaia. 11 (Do you think I don’t love you? God knows that I do!) 12 Now what I am doing, and will continue doing, is to knock the foundation out from under those who are looking for a reason to brag about you just as we do. 13 For such are fake apostles, fraudulent workers who try to pass themselves off as apostles of Christ. 14 And this should come as no surprise; Satan presents himself as an angel of light. 15 So it is to be expected that his servants also present themselves as servants of righteousness. But in the end they will get what they deserve.
Our weakness is God’s strength
16 I say again: Let no one take me for a fool. But if you must, then just accept me and let me keep on bragging a little more! 17 What I’m saying now is not from the Master, but as a fool and how a fool would go on bragging. 18 So since others are bragging about the flesh, then so will I. 19 After all, you must be putting up with fools because you are so dignified! 20 You let people enslave you; you let them consume you; you let them take you captive; you welcome the conceited; you let them slap you in the face! 21 How we must have humiliated you by being too weak to do any of that!
Now let me continue to compete with the other idiots. 22 Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they descendants of Abraham? So am I. 23 Are they servants of Christ (I am continuing with this crazy talk!)? I outdo them all— in exhaustion, in imprisonments, in terrible beatings, in facing death many times. 24 Five times I was given the Judeans’ 39 lashes; 25 three times I was flogged with rods; once I was stoned; three times I was shipwrecked; I spent a night and a day in the open sea. 26 I have been on many travels; I have been in danger from rivers, robbers, my own people, foreigners, the city, the desert, the sea, and fake believers. 27 I have done hard labor, kept vigils, often gone without food or drink, fasted many times, and went without adequate clothing and shelter.
28 On top of all that I have the daily responsibility for the Congregations. 29 Who is weak and I do not empathize? Who is caught in a trap and I am not enraged? 30 So if I am to keep bragging then I must surely brag about all this weakness of mine. 31 The God and Father of the Master Jesus— praise him forever!— will vouch for what I am about to say. 32 In Damascus, the governor under King Aretas had the city under surveillance in order to arrest me, 33 but I was lowered in a basket through a window in the wall and I escaped him.