Second Letter to the Corinthians 12

¹ Must I go on boasting, though there is nothing to be gained by it? But I will move on to the visions and revelations I have had from the Lord.

² I know a man in Christ who, fourteen years ago, was caught up whether still in the body or out of the body, I do not know; God knows-right into the third heaven.[*a]

³ I do know, however, that this same person-whether in the body or out of the body, I do not know; God knows-

⁴ was caught up into paradise and heard things which must not and cannot be put into human language.

⁵ I will boast about a man like that, but not about anything of my own except my weaknesses.

⁶ If I should decide to boast, I should not be made to look foolish, because I should only be speaking the truth; but I am not going to, in case anyone should begin to think I am better than he can actually see and hear me to be.

⁷ In view of the extraordinary nature of these revelations, to stop me from getting too proud I was given a thorn in the flesh, an angel of Satan to beat me and stop me from getting too proud!

⁸ About this thing, I have pleaded with the Lord three times for it to leave me,

⁹ but he has said, ‘My grace is enough for you: my power is at its best in weakness’. So I shall be very happy to make my weaknesses my special boast so that the power of Christ may stay over me,

¹⁰ and that is why I am quite content with my weaknesses, and with insults, hardships, persecutions, and the agonies I go through for Christ’s sake. For it is when I am weak that I am strong.

¹¹ I have been talking like a fool, but you forced me to do it: you are the ones who should have been commending me. Though I am a nobody, there is not a thing these arch-apostles have that I do not have as well.

¹² You have seen done among you all the things that mark the true apostle, unfailingly produced: the signs, the marvels, the miracles.

¹³ Is there anything of which you have had less than the other churches have had, except that I have not myself been a burden on you? For this unfairness, please forgive me.

¹⁴ I am all prepared now to come to you for the third time, and I am not going to be a burden on you: it is you I want, not your possessions. Children are not expected to save up for their parents, but parents for children.

¹⁵ I am perfectly willing to spend what I have, and to be expended, in the interests of your souls. Because I love you more, must I be loved the less?

¹⁶ All very well, you say: I personally put no pressure on you, but like the cunning fellow that I am, I took you in by a trick.

¹⁷ So we exploited you, did we, through one of the men that I have sent to you?

¹⁸ Well, Titus went at my urging, and I sent the brother that came with him. Can Titus have exploited you? You know that he and I have always been guided by the same spirit and trodden in the same tracks.

¹⁹ All this time you have been thinking that our defence is addressed to you, but it is before God that we, in Christ, are speaking; and it is all, my dear brothers, for your benefit.

²⁰ What I am afraid of is that when I come I may find you different from what I want you to be, and you may find that I am not as you would like me to be; and then there will be wrangling, jealousy, and tempers roused, intrigues and backbiting and gossip, obstinacies and disorder.

²¹ I am afraid that on my next visit, my God may make me ashamed on your account and I shall be grieving over all those who sinned before and have still not repented of the impurities, fornication and debauchery they committed.