1 Woulde to God, yee coulde suffer a litle my foolishnes, and in deede, ye suffer me. 2 For I am ielous ouer you, with godly ielousie: for I haue prepared you for one husband, to present you as a pure virgine to Christ: 3 But I feare least as the serpent beguiled Eue through his subtiltie, so your mindes shoulde be corrupt from the simplicitie that is in Christ. 4 For if he that commeth, preacheth another Iesus whome we haue not preached: or if yee receiue another spirite whome ye haue not receiued: either another Gospell, which yee haue not receiued, ye might well haue suffered him. 5 Verely I suppose that I was not inferior to the very chiefe Apostles. 6 And though I be rude in speaking, yet I am not so in knowledge, but among you wee haue beene made manifest to the vttermost, in all things. 7 Haue I committed an offence, because I abased my selfe, that ye might be exalted, and because I preached to you ye Gospell of God freely? 8 I robbed other Churches, and tooke wages of them to doe you seruice. 9 And when I was present with you, and had neede, I was not slouthfull to the hinderance of any man: for that which was lacking vnto me, the brethre which came from Macedonia, supplied, and in all thinges I kept and will keepe my selfe, that I should not be grieuous to you. 10 The trueth of Christ is in me, that this reioycing shall not be shut vp against me in the regions of Achaia. 11 Wherefore? because I loue you not? God knoweth. 12 But what I doe, that will I doe: that I may cut away occasion from them which desire occasion, that they might be found like vnto vs in that wherein they reioyce. 13 For such false apostles are deceitfull workers, and transforme themselues into the Apostles of Christ. 14 And no marueile: for Satan himselfe is transformed into an Angel of light. 15 Therefore it is no great thing, though his ministers transforme themselues, as though they were the ministers of righteousnes, whose end shall be according to their workes. 16 I say againe, Let no man thinke that I am foolish, or els take mee euen as a foole, that I also may boast my selfe a litle. 17 That I speake, I speake it not after the Lord: but as it were foolishly, in this my great boasting. 18 Seeing that many reioyce after the flesh, I will reioyce also. 19 For ye suffer fooles gladly, because that yee are wise. 20 For ye suffer, euen if a man bring you into bondage, if a man deuoure you, if a man take your goods, if a man exalt himselfe, if a man smite you on the face. 21 I speake as concerning the reproche: as though that we had bene weake: but wherein any man is bold (I speake foolishly) I am bold also. 22 They are Hebrues, so am I: they are Israelites, so am I: they are the seede of Abraham, so am I: 23 They are the ministers of Christ (I speake as a foole) I am more: in labours more aboundant: in stripes aboue measure: in prison more plenteously: in death oft. 24 Of the Iewes fiue times receiued I fourtie stripes saue one. 25 I was thrise beaten with roddes: I was once stoned: I suffered thrise shipwracke: night and day haue I bene in the deepe sea. 26 In iourneying I was often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils of mine owne nation, in perils among the Gentiles, in perils in the citie, in perils in wildernes, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren, 27 In wearinesse and painefulnesse, in watching often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in colde and in nakednesse. 28 Beside the thinges which are outwarde, I am combred dayly, and haue the care of all the Churches. 29 Who is weake, and I am not weake? who is offended, and I burne not? 30 If I must needes reioyce, I will reioyce of mine infirmities. 31 The God, euen the Father of our Lord Iesus Christ, which is blessed for euermore, knoweth that I lie not. 32 In Damascus the gouernour of the people vnder King Aretas, layde watch in the citie of the Damascens, and would haue caught me. 33 But at a window was I let downe in a basket through the wall, and escaped his handes.
2 Corinthians · Geneva Bible (1599)
2 Corinthians 11 Geneva Bible (1599)
Audio: World English Bible (WEB), read by Winfred W. Henson · About the recordings
Notes on this text (1)
- Original 16th-century spelling.
People & places in this chapter
From this site's family tree and Bible maps, only where those guides cite this chapter.
People
Aretas
The king whose governor guarded Damascus to seize Paul; Paul escaped in a basket through a window in the wall.
Cited in the guide: 2 Corinthians 11:32
Cross references (33)
Related passages for each verse, from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge as collected and ranked by readers at OpenBible.info.
- 1 2 Corinthians 11:4; 1 Corinthians 1:21; 2 Corinthians 11:21; 2 Corinthians 11:19; 2 Corinthians 5:13
- 2 Hosea 2:19–20; Ephesians 5:26–27; Isaiah 54:5; Colossians 1:28; Leviticus 21:13–15
- 3 Colossians 2:8; Galatians 1:6; Ephesians 4:14; 1 John 4:1; Colossians 2:4
- 4 Galatians 1:6–8; 1 Corinthians 3:11; 1 Timothy 2:5; Ephesians 4:4–5; 1 Corinthians 12:4–11
- 5 1 Corinthians 15:10; 2 Corinthians 12:11–12; Galatians 2:6–9
- 6 1 Corinthians 1:17; Ephesians 3:4; 2 Corinthians 4:2; 1 Corinthians 1:21; 2 Peter 3:15–16
- 7 2 Corinthians 12:13; 1 Corinthians 4:10–12; 2 Corinthians 10:1; 1 Thessalonians 2:9; 1 Corinthians 9:6
- 8 2 Corinthians 11:9; Philippians 4:14–16; Philippians 4:18
- 9 2 Thessalonians 3:8–9; 1 Thessalonians 2:9; 1 Thessalonians 2:6; Philippians 4:10–16; Hebrews 11:37
- 10 Romans 9:1; Acts 18:12; Romans 1:9; 2 Corinthians 1:23; 2 Corinthians 11:31
- 11 2 Corinthians 12:15; 2 Corinthians 7:3; 2 Corinthians 6:11–12; 2 Corinthians 12:2–3; Revelation 2:23
- 12 1 Corinthians 9:12; 2 Corinthians 10:17; Galatians 1:7; 2 Corinthians 11:9; 2 Corinthians 11:18
- 13 Galatians 1:7; Revelation 2:2; 1 John 4:1; Philippians 3:2; Galatians 2:4
- 14 Galatians 1:8; 2 Corinthians 2:11; 2 Corinthians 11:3; Revelation 12:9; Matthew 4:1–10
- 15 Philippians 3:19; 2 Corinthians 3:9; Revelation 9:11; Jeremiah 23:14–15; Jude 4
- 16 2 Corinthians 11:1; 2 Corinthians 12:6; 2 Corinthians 12:11; 2 Corinthians 11:19; 2 Corinthians 11:21–23
- 17 1 Corinthians 7:12; Philippians 3:3–6; 2 Corinthians 9:4; 1 Corinthians 7:25; 2 Corinthians 11:18–27
- 18 2 Corinthians 12:11; 2 Corinthians 12:9; Philippians 3:3–4; 1 Peter 1:24; 2 Corinthians 12:5–6
- 19 1 Corinthians 4:10; 1 Corinthians 10:15; 1 Corinthians 8:1; Revelation 3:17
- 20 Galatians 2:4; Galatians 5:1; Galatians 4:3; Galatians 4:9; Isaiah 50:6
- 21 2 Corinthians 10:10; 2 Corinthians 10:1–2; 2 Corinthians 11:17; 2 Corinthians 11:22–27; 2 Corinthians 13:10
- 22 Philippians 3:5; Romans 11:1; Romans 9:4; Exodus 7:16; Exodus 9:13
- 23 2 Corinthians 6:4–5; Colossians 1:24; 2 Corinthians 6:9; 2 Corinthians 1:9–10; 2 Corinthians 11:24–25
- 24 Mark 13:9; Deuteronomy 25:2–3; Matthew 10:17
- 25 Acts 14:19; Hebrews 11:37; Acts 27:1–44; Acts 16:37; Acts 16:33
- 26 Acts 14:5; Acts 20:19; Acts 25:3; Acts 17:5; Acts 13:50
- 27 2 Corinthians 6:5; Philippians 4:12; 1 Thessalonians 2:9; 2 Thessalonians 3:8; 1 Corinthians 4:11–12
- 28 1 Corinthians 7:17; Romans 15:16; Acts 20:18–35; Romans 11:13; Acts 15:40–41
- 29 1 Corinthians 8:13; 1 Corinthians 9:22; Galatians 4:8–20; Nehemiah 13:23–25; Nehemiah 13:15–20
- 30 2 Corinthians 12:5–11; Proverbs 25:27; 1 Corinthians 2:3; Jeremiah 9:23–24; Proverbs 27:2
- 31 Romans 9:5; Ephesians 1:3; John 10:30; Romans 15:6; 1 Peter 1:3
- 32 Acts 9:24–25; 2 Corinthians 11:26
- 33 Acts 9:25; Joshua 2:18; 1 Samuel 19:12
Cross references: OpenBible.info (CC BY), drawn mainly from the public-domain Treasury of Scripture Knowledge. · Sources & licences
What the Fathers said
Passages from the Church Fathers that expound or quote this chapter, verbatim from the public-domain Schaff edition (19th-century English translations).
How these were chosen
“Commentary” is the opening of a homily or exposition on this chapter (John Chrysostom’s homilies, Augustine’s tractates, sermons and expositions of the Psalms). “Quotes” are sentences where the edition’s own footnotes identify a quotation of a verse here, kept only when the wording matches the verse. Only works whose authorship is not in doubt are used. Psalms follow the Hebrew/English numbering (Augustine numbers them as the Septuagint does: his Psalm 50 is Psalm 51 here).
Being about to enter upon his own praises he uses much previous correction. And he does this not once or twice, although the necessity of the subject, and what he had often said, were sufficient excuse for him.
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 12 (1889)
For the devil it was, transforming himself into an angel of light. And he much allured proud flesh, in that he had no fleshly body.
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 1 (1886)
Wherefore Paul also said, "That wherein they glory, they may be found even as we." But if when we are in a strange country, and are going unto persons unknown to us, we must seek nothing more than our food for the day, much more when abiding at home.
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 10 (1888)
The devil also transfigures himself into an angel of light; not that he may reascend to where he was, for having made his heart hard as an anvil, he has henceforth a will that cannot repent; but in order that he may envelope those who are living an Angelic life in a mist of blindness, and a pestilent condition …
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 2, vol. 7 (1894)
… not in his own voice, doth he call on that other deep, for whom being jealous he feareth, lest that, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so their minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in our Bridegroom, Thine only Son. What a light of beauty will that be when "we shall see Him as He …
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 1 (1886)