1 ^10:1I PAUL also exhort you by the meekness and gentleness of Christ, who in appearance am humble among you, but being absent am bold towards you; ^10:2and I desire that I may not be bold when present, with that confidence which I design to use against some who speak of us as if we walked according to the flesh. ^10:3For though we walk in the flesh we do not war according to the flesh, ^10:4for the arms of our warfare are not of flesh, but mighty with God to the pulling down of strongholds, ^10:5destroying [false] reasonings and every height which is exalted against the knowledge of God, and subjecting every thought to the obedience of Christ, ^10:6and being ready to punish every disobedience, when your obedience is completed.

2 ^10:7You see things according to appearances. If any one trusts in himself that he is Christ's, let him consider again with himself that as he is Christ's so also are we. ^10:8For if I should even boast some of our authority which the Lord gave for your edification, and not for your destruction, I should not be ashamed. ^10:9[But I forbear,] that I may not seem as though I would terrify you by epistles. ^10:10For the epistles, say they, are weighty and powerful, but the bodily presence is weak and speech contemptible. ^10:11Let such a one think, that such as we are in word by epistles when absent, such also will we be in work when present. ^10:12For we dare not judge or compare ourselves with some who commend themselves; but they, measuring themselves with themselves, and comparing themselves with themselves, are not wise. ^10:13But we will not boast of things not measured, but according to the measure of the rule which God has given us, to come even to you. ^10:14For we do not stretch ourselves out too far, as if we had not come to you, for we came even to you with the gospel of Christ; ^10:15not boasting of things unmeasured in the labors of others, but having a hope, your faith being increased, that we shall be magnified among you according to our rule abundantly, ^10:16to preach the gospel in the parts beyond you, not to boast of things prepared by another's rule. ^10:17But let him that glories glory in the Lord; ^10:18for not he that commends himself is approved, but he whom the Lord commends.

3 ^11:1I wish you would bear a little with my folly; and indeed do bear with me. ^11:2For I am zealous for you with a godly zeal, for I joined you, a chaste virgin, to one husband, to present to Christ; ^11:3but I fear lest as the serpent deceived Eve with his craftiness, so also your minds may be corrupted from the simplicity which is in Christ. ^11:4For if he that comes preaches another Jesus whom we did not preach, or you receive another spirit which you did not receive, or another gospel which you did not receive, you might well bear it; ^11:5for I judge that I am not behind the chief of the apostles. ^11:6And even if I am rude in speech, I certainly am not in knowledge, but we have been made fully manifest to you in all things. ^11:7Have I done wrong to humble myself that you might be exalted, that I preached the gospel of God to you gratuitously? ^11:8I robbed other churches taking wages to serve you; ^11:9and when I was with you and was in want, I was burdensome to no one; for the brothers who came from Macedonia supplied beforehand my need; and in every thing I kept myself without being burdensome to you, and will keep myself so.

4 ^11:10As the truth of Christ is in me, this boasting in respect to myself shall not be silenced in the regions of Achaia. ^11:11Why? Because I love you not? God knows. ^11:12But what I do I also will do, that I may take away an occasion from those who wish an occasion, that wherein they boast they may be found even as we are. ^11:13For such false apostles, deceitful laborers, transform themselves into apostles of Christ. ^11:14And no wonder; for Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light. ^11:15It is no great thing, therefore, if his ministers transform themselves as ministers of righteousness, whose end will be according to their works.

5 ^11:16Again, I say let no one think me to be foolish; but if otherwise, even as a foolish man bear with me that I may boast a little. ^11:17What I say, I do not say according to the Lord, but as it were in foolishness, in this confidence of boasting. ^11:18Since many boast of the flesh, I also will boast. ^11:19You endure fools patiently being wise; ^11:20for you endure it if any one reduces you to servitude, if any one devours you, if any one takes from you, if any one exalts himself against you, if any one beats you in the face.

6 ^11:21I speak of reproach as if we were weak; wherein any one is bold, I speak foolishly, I am bold also. ^11:22Are they Hebrews? so am I. Are they Israelites? so am I. Are they the posterity of Abraham? so am I. ^11:23Are they ministers of Christ? I speak foolishly, I am more; in labors most abundant, in stripes above measure, in imprisonments most abundant, in deaths often; ^11:24five times I received of the Jews forty [stripes] lacking one, ^11:25thrice was I beaten with rods, once was I stoned, thrice have I been shipwrecked, a night and a day have I spent in the deep; ^11:26often on journeys, in dangers from rivers, in dangers from robbers, in dangers from [my own] race, in dangers from gentiles, in dangers in the city, in dangers in the wilderness, in dangers on the sea, in dangers among false brothers, ^11:27in labor and weariness, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness. ^11:28Besides things without, that which comes upon me daily, the care of all the churches. ^11:29Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is offended, and I am not displeased? ^11:30If it is necessary to boast, I will boast of my infirmities. ^11:31The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who is blessed forever, knows that I lie not. ^11:32In Damascus, the ethnarch, when Aretas was king, guarded the city of the Damascenes, desiring to take me, ^11:33and I was let down in a rope-basket, by a window in the wall, and escaped from his hands.

7 ^12:1It is not expedient therefore for me to boast [of these things]; for I will come to visions and revelations of the Lord. ^12:2I know a man, in Christ above fourteen years, whether in the body I know not, or out of the body I know not, God knows,—such a one caught up to the third heaven. ^12:3I know even such a man,—whether in the body or out of the body I know not, God knows,— ^12:4that he was caught up to paradise, and heard unutterable words, which it is not lawful for man to speak. ^12:5Of such a one will I boast, but of myself I will not boast except of my infirmities. ^12:6For if I shall wish to boast I shall not be foolish, for I will tell the truth. But I forbear, lest any one should think of me beyond what he sees or hears of me.

8 ^12:7And that I might not be elated with my extraordinary revelations, there was given me a thorn in the flesh, an angel of Satan to beat me, that I should not be too much exalted. ^12:8For this I besought the Lord thrice that it might leave me. ^12:9And he said to me, My grace is sufficient for you; for power is perfected in weakness. ^12:10Most gladly, therefore, will I glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Wherefore I am well pleased with infirmities, with injuries, with necessities, with persecutions, with distresses for Christ; for when I am weak, then am I strong.

9 ^12:11I have become foolish; you compelled me. For I ought to have been commended by you; for in nothing am I behind the chief of the apostles, though I also am nothing. ^12:12The signs of an apostle were performed among you with all patience, in miracles, and prodigies, and mighty works. ^12:13For what is there in which you were inferior to the rest of the churches, except that I was not burdensome to you? Forgive me this wrong.

10 ^12:14Behold, I am ready to come to you a third time, and I will not be burdensome to you; for I seek not yours, but you. For the children ought not to lay up treasure for the parents, but the parents for the children. ^12:15And I most gladly will spend and will be spent for your souls, even if the more abundantly I love you the less I am loved. ^12:16Be it so, I was not burdensome to you; but being crafty I caught you with deceit. ^12:17Did I make any thing out of you by any of those I sent to you? ^12:18I requested Titus, and sent the brother with him; did Titus make any thing out of you? Did we not walk in the same spirit, in the same steps?