2 Corinthians · King James Version (with Apocrypha)
2 Corinthians 11 King James Version (with Apocrypha)
Audio: World English Bible (WEB), read by Winfred W. Henson · About the recordings
1 Would to God ye could bear with me a little in [my] folly: and indeed bear with me.
1 I wish that you would bear with me in a little foolishness, but indeed you do bear with me.
2 For I am jealous over you with godly jealousy: for I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present [you as] a chaste virgin to Christ.
2 For I am jealous over you with a godly jealousy. For I promised you in marriage to one husband, that I might present you as a pure virgin to Christ.
3 But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.
3 But I am afraid that somehow, as the serpent deceived Eve in his craftiness, so your minds might be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.
4 For if he that cometh preacheth another Jesus, whom we have not preached, or [if] ye receive another spirit, which ye have not received, or another gospel, which ye have not accepted, ye might well bear with [him].
4 For if he who comes preaches another Jesus whom we didn’t preach, or if you receive a different spirit which you didn’t receive, or a different “good news” which you didn’t accept, you put up with that well enough.
5 For I suppose I was not a whit behind the very chiefest apostles.
5 For I reckon that I am not at all behind the very best apostles.
6 But though [I be] rude in speech, yet not in knowledge; but we have been throughly made manifest among you in all things.
6 But though I am unskilled in speech, yet I am not unskilled in knowledge. No, in every way we have been revealed to you in all things.
7 Have I committed an offence in abasing myself that ye might be exalted, because I have preached to you the gospel of God freely?
7 Or did I commit a sin in humbling myself that you might be exalted, because I preached to you God’s Good News free of charge?
8 I robbed other churches, taking wages [of them], to do you service.
8 I robbed other assemblies, taking wages from them that I might serve you.
9 And when I was present with you, and wanted, I was chargeable to no man: for that which was lacking to me the brethren which came from Macedonia supplied: and in all [things] I have kept myself from being burdensome unto you, and [so] will I keep [myself].
9 When I was present with you and was in need, I wasn’t a burden on anyone, for the brothers, when they came from Macedonia, supplied the measure of my need. In everything I kept myself from being burdensome to you, and I will continue to do so.
10 As the truth of Christ is in me, no man shall stop me of this boasting in the regions of Achaia.
10 As the truth of Christ is in me, no one will stop me from this boasting in the regions of Achaia.
11 Wherefore? because I love you not? God knoweth.
11 Why? Because I don’t love you? God knows.
12 But what I do, that I will do, that I may cut off occasion from them which desire occasion; that wherein they glory, they may be found even as we.
12 But what I do, that I will continue to do, that I may cut off opportunity from those who desire an opportunity, that in which they boast, they may be recognized just like us.
13 For such [are] false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ.
13 For such men are false apostles, deceitful workers, masquerading as Christ’s apostles.
14 And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light.
14 And no wonder, for even Satan masquerades as an angel of light.
15 Therefore [it is] no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works.
15 It is no great thing therefore if his servants also masquerade as servants of righteousness, whose end will be according to their works.
16 I say again, Let no man think me a fool; if otherwise, yet as a fool receive me, that I may boast myself a little.
16 I say again, let no one think me foolish. But if so, yet receive me as foolish, that I also may boast a little.
17 That which I speak, I speak [it] not after the Lord, but as it were foolishly, in this confidence of boasting.
17 That which I speak, I don’t speak according to the Lord, but as in foolishness, in this confidence of boasting.
18 Seeing that many glory after the flesh, I will glory also.
18 Seeing that many boast after the flesh, I will also boast.
19 For ye suffer fools gladly, seeing ye [yourselves] are wise.
19 For you bear with the foolish gladly, being wise.
20 For ye suffer, if a man bring you into bondage, if a man devour [you], if a man take [of you], if a man exalt himself, if a man smite you on the face.
20 For you bear with a man if he brings you into bondage, if he devours you, if he takes you captive, if he exalts himself, or if he strikes you on the face.
21 I speak as concerning reproach, as though we had been weak. Howbeit whereinsoever any is bold, (I speak foolishly,) I am bold also.
21 To my shame, I speak as though we had been weak. Yet in whatever way anyone is bold (I speak in foolishness), I am bold also.
22 Are they Hebrews? so [am] I. Are they Israelites? so [am] I. Are they the seed of Abraham? so [am] I.
22 Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they the offspring of Abraham? So am I.
23 Are they ministers of Christ? (I speak as a fool) I [am] more; in labours more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequent, in deaths oft.
23 Are they servants of Christ? (I speak as one beside himself.) I am more so: in labors more abundantly, in prisons more abundantly, in stripes above measure, and in deaths often.
24 Of the Jews five times received I forty [stripes] save one.
24 Five times I received forty stripes minus one from the Jews.
25 Thrice was I beaten with rods, once was I stoned, thrice I suffered shipwreck, a night and a day I have been in the deep;
25 Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I suffered shipwreck. I have been a night and a day in the deep.
26 [In] journeyings often, [in] perils of waters, [in] perils of robbers, [in] perils by [mine own] countrymen, [in] perils by the heathen, [in] perils in the city, [in] perils in the wilderness, [in] perils in the sea, [in] perils among false brethren;
26 I have been in travels often, perils of rivers, perils of robbers, perils from my countrymen, perils from the Gentiles, perils in the city, perils in the wilderness, perils in the sea, perils among false brothers;
27 In weariness and painfulness, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness.
27 in labor and travail, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, and in cold and nakedness.
28 Beside those things that are without, that which cometh upon me daily, the care of all the churches.
28 Besides those things that are outside, there is that which presses on me daily: anxiety for all the assemblies.
29 Who is weak, and I am not weak? who is offended, and I burn not?
29 Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is caused to stumble, and I don’t burn with indignation?
30 If I must needs glory, I will glory of the things which concern mine infirmities.
30 If I must boast, I will boast of the things that concern my weakness.
31 The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which is blessed for evermore, knoweth that I lie not.
31 The God and Father of the Lord Jesus Christ, he who is blessed forever more, knows that I don’t lie.
32 In Damascus the governor under Aretas the king kept the city of the Damascenes with a garrison, desirous to apprehend me:
32 In Damascus the governor under King Aretas guarded the Damascenes’ city, desiring to arrest me.
33 And through a window in a basket was I let down by the wall, and escaped his hands.
33 I was let down in a basket through a window by the wall, and escaped his hands.
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)