Paul's Sufferings as an Apostle

¹⁶I repeat, rlet no one think me foolish. But even if you do, accept me as a fool, so that I too may boast a little. ¹⁷What I am saying swith this boastful confidence, tI say not as the Lord would1 but as a fool. ¹⁸Since umany boast according to the flesh, I too will boast. ¹⁹For you gladly bear with fools, vbeing wise yourselves! ²⁰For you bear it if someone wmakes slaves of you, or xdevours you, or takes advantage of you, or puts on airs, or ystrikes you in the face. ²¹To my shame, I must say, zwe were too weak for that!

But whatever anyone else dares to boast of—I am speaking as a fool—I also dare to boast of that. ²²Are they Hebrews? aSo am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they offspring of Abraham? So am I. ²³Are they bservants of Christ? cI am a better one—I am talking like a madman—with far greater labors, dfar more imprisonments, ewith countless beatings, and foften near death. ²⁴Five times I received at the hands of the Jews the gforty lashes less one. ²⁵Three times I was hbeaten with rods. iOnce I was stoned. Three times I jwas shipwrecked; a night and a day I was adrift at sea; ²⁶on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from robbers, kdanger from my own people, ldanger from Gentiles, mdanger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers; ²⁷nin toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, oin hunger and thirst, often without food,2 in cold and exposure. ²⁸And, apart from other things, there is the daily pressure on me of my anxiety for pall the churches. ²⁹qWho is weak, and I am not weak? Who is made to fall, and I am not indignant?

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