Words in italic type have been added for clarity. They are not found in the original Hebrew or Aramaic.

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Concern for Their Faithfulness

II Corinthians 11:¹ Oh, that you would bear with me in a little folly—and indeed you do bear with me.

II Corinthians 11:² For I am jealous for you with godly jealousy. For I have betrothed you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ.

• Paul will be the one presenting the Gentile Bride (with Jewish Exceptions since they are ‘blinded in part’) to Christ.
• John the Baptist will be presenting the old testament (espoused) wife of the Jews to Christ during the Millennium.
• Like Leah and Rachel: God has two wives.
• See Topic: God’s Two Agendas and Jacob’s Two Wives
• See: Topic: The Difference between the Kingdom of God and the Kingdom of Heaven.

II Corinthians 11:³ But I fear, lest somehow, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, so your minds may be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.

II Corinthians 11:⁴ For if he who comes preaches another Jesus whom we have not preached, or if you receive a different spirit which you have not received, or a different gospel which you have not accepted—you may well put up with it!

Paul and False Apostles

II Corinthians 11:⁵ For I consider that I am not at all inferior to the most eminent apostles.

II Corinthians 11:⁶ Even though I am untrained in speech, yet I am not in knowledge. But we have been thoroughly manifested among you in all things.

II Corinthians 11:⁷ Did I commit sin in humbling myself (putting myself down) that you might be exalted, because I preached the gospel of God to you free of charge?

II Corinthians 11:⁸ I robbed other churches, taking wages from them to minister to you.

II Corinthians 11:⁹ And when I was present with you, and in need, I was a burden to no one, for what I lacked the brethren who came from Macedonia supplied. And in everything I kept myself from being burdensome to you, and so I will keep myself.

II Corinthians 11:¹⁰ As the truth of Christ is in me, no one shall stop me from this boasting in the regions of Achaia.

II Corinthians 11:¹¹ Why? Because I do not love you? God knows!

II Corinthians 11:¹² But what I do, I will also continue to do, that I may cut off the opportunity from those who desire an opportunity to be regarded just as we are in the things of which they boast.

II Corinthians 11:¹³ For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into apostles of Christ.

II Corinthians 11:¹⁴ And no wonder! For Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light.

II Corinthians 11:¹⁵ Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also transform themselves into ministers of righteousness, whose end will be according to their works.

Reluctant Boasting

II Corinthians 11:¹⁶ I say again, let no one think me a fool. If otherwise, at least receive me as a fool, that I also may boast a little.

II Corinthians 11:¹⁷ What I speak, I speak not according to the Lord, but as it were, foolishly, in this confidence of boasting.

II Corinthians 11:¹⁸ Seeing that many boast according to the flesh, I also will boast.

II Corinthians 11:¹⁹ For you put up with fools gladly, since you yourselves are wise!

II Corinthians 11:²⁰ For you put up with it if one brings you into bondage, if one devours you, if one takes from you, if one exalts himself, if one strikes you on the face.

• The above verse describes what these Corinthians had put up with!

II Corinthians 11:²¹ To our shame I say that we were too weak for that! But in whatever anyone is bold—I speak foolishly—I am bold also.

Suffering for Christ

II Corinthians 11:²² Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they the seed of Abraham? So am I.

II Corinthians 11:²³ Are they ministers of Christ?—I speak as a fool—I am more: in labors more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequently, in deaths often.

II Corinthians 11:²⁴ From the Jews five times I received forty stripes minus one.

II Corinthians 11:²⁵ Three times I was beaten with rods; once I was stoned; three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I have been in the deep;

II Corinthians 11:²⁶ in journeys often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils of my own countrymen, in perils of the Gentiles, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren;

II Corinthians 11:²⁷ in weariness and toil, in sleeplessness often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness—

II Corinthians 11:²⁸ besides the other things, what comes upon me daily: my deep concern for all the churches.

II Corinthians 11:²⁹ Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is made to stumble, and I do not burn with indignation?

II Corinthians 11:³⁰ If I must boast, I will boast in the things which concern my infirmity (weakness).

II Corinthians 11:³¹ The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who is blessed forever, knows that I am not lying.

II Corinthians 11:³² In Damascus the governor, under Aretas the king, was guarding the city of the Damascenes with a garrison, desiring to arrest me;

• It was on the road to Damascus that Saul was confronted by Jesus and became Paul the apostle to the Gentiles. (Acts 9)
• The old city of Damascus is considered to be among the oldest continually inhabited cities in the world. On Unesco’s List of World Heritage in Danger
• Damascus, the largest city of modern day Syria is prophesied to be in ruins in the later days even though it is one of the oldest cities in the mideast. (Isaiah 17:1)

II Corinthians 11:³³ but I was let down in a basket through a window in the wall, and escaped from his hands.

The place ascribed to Paul being lowered out of a window.