Utinam sustineretis modicum quid insipientiæ meæ, sed et supportare me:

Would to God you could bear with some little of my folly: but do bear with me.

If you would only bear with my vanity for a little! Pray be patient with me;

æmulor enim vos Dei æmulatione. Despondi enim vos uni viro, virginem castam exhibere Christo.

For I am jealous of you with the jealousy of God. For I have espoused you to one husband that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ.

after all, my jealousy on your behalf is the jealousy of God himself; I have betrothed you to Christ, so that no other but he should claim you, his bride without spot,

Timeo autem ne sicut serpens Hevam seduxit astutia sua, ita corrumpantur sensus vestri, et excidant a simplicitate, quæ est in Christo.

But I fear lest, as the serpent seduced Eve by his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted, and fall from the simplicity that is in Christ.

and now I am anxious about you. The serpent beguiled Eve with his cunning; what if your minds should be corrupted, and lose that innocence which is yours in Christ?

Nam si is qui venit, alium Christum prædicat, quem non prædicavimus, aut alium spiritum accipitis, quem non accepistis: aut aliud Evangelium, quod non recepistis: recte pateremini.

For if he that cometh preacheth another Christ, whom we have not preached; or if you receive another Spirit, whom you have not received; or another gospel which you have not received; you might well bear with him.

Some newcomer preaches to you a different Christ, not the one we preached to you; he brings you a spirit other than the spirit you had from us, a gospel other than the gospel you received; you would do well, then, to be patient with me.

Existimo enim nihil me minus fecisse a magnis Apostolis.

For I suppose that I have done nothing less than the great apostles.

I claim to have done no less than the very greatest of the apostles.

Nam etsi imperitus sermone, sed non scientia, in omnibus autem manifestati sumus vobis.

For although I be rude in speech, yet not in knowledge; but in all things we have been made manifest to you.

I may be unexperienced in speaking, but I am not so in my knowledge of the truth; everybody knows what we have been in every way to you.

Aut numquid peccatum feci, meipsum humilians, ut vos exaltemini? quoniam gratis Evangelium Dei evangelizavi vobis?

Or did I commit a fault, humbling myself, that you might be exalted? Because I preached unto you the gospel of God freely?

Unless perhaps you think I did wrong to honour you by abasing myself, since I preached God’s gospel to you at no charge to yourselves?

Alias ecclesias expoliavi, accipiens stipendium ad ministerium vestrum.

I have taken from other churches, receiving wages of them for your ministry.

Why, I impoverished other churches, taking pay from them so as to be at your service.

Et cum essem apud vos, et egerem, nulli onerosus fui: nam quod mihi deerat, suppleverunt fratres, qui venerunt a Macedonia: et in omnibus sine onere me vobis servavi, et servabo.

And, when I was present with you, and wanted, I was chargeable to no man: for that which was wanting to me, the brethren supplied who came from Macedonia; and in all things I have kept myself from being burthensome to you, and so I will keep myself.

I was penniless when I visited you, but I would not cripple any of you with expenses; the brethren came from Macedonia to relieve my necessities; I would not, and I will not, put any burden on you.

Est veritas Christi in me, quoniam hæc gloriatio non infringetur in me in regionibus Achaiæ.

The truth of Christ is in me, that this glorying shall not be broken off in me in the regions of Achaia.

As the truth of Christ lives in me, no one in all the country of Achaia shall silence this boast of mine.

Quare? quia non diligo vos? Deus scit.

Wherefore? Because I love you not? God knoweth it.

Why is that? Because I have no love for you? God knows I have.

Quod autem facio, et faciam: ut amputem occasionem eorum qui volunt occasionem, ut in quo gloriantur, inveniantur sicut et nos.

But what I do, that I will do, that I may cut off the occasion from them that desire occasion, that wherein they glory, they may be found even as we.

No, I shall continue to do as I have done, so as to cut away the ground from those who would gladly boast that they are no different from myself.

Nam ejusmodi pseudoapostoli sunt operarii subdoli, transfigurantes se in apostolos Christi.

For such false apostles are deceitful workmen, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ.

Such men are false apostles, dishonest workmen, that pass for apostles of Christ.

Et non mirum: ipse enim Satanas transfigurat se in angelum lucis.

And no wonder: for Satan himself transformeth himself into an angel of light.

And no wonder; Satan himself can pass for an angel of light,

Non est ergo magnum, si ministri ejus transfigurentur velut ministri justitiæ: quorum finis erit secundum opera ipsorum.

Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers be transformed as the ministers of justice, whose end shall be according to their works.

and his servants have no difficulty in passing for servants of holiness; but their end will be what their life has deserved.

Iterum dico (ne quis me putet insipientem esse, alioquin velut insipientem accipite me, ut et ego modicum quid glorier),

I say again, (let no man think me to be foolish, otherwise take me as one foolish, that I also may glory a little.)

Once more I appeal to you, let none of you think me vain; or, if it must be so, give me a hearing in spite of my vanity, and let me boast a little in my turn.

quod loquor, non loquor secundum Deum, sed quasi in insipientia, in hac substantia gloriæ.

That which I speak, I speak not according to God, but as it were in foolishness, in this matter of glorying.

When I boast with such confidence, I am not delivering a message to you from God; it is part of my vanity if you will.

Quoniam multi gloriantur secundum carnem: et ego gloriabor.

Seeing that many glory according to the flesh, I will glory also.

If so many others boast of their natural advantages, I must be allowed to boast too.

Libenter enim suffertis insipientes, cum sitis ipsi sapientes.

For you gladly suffer the foolish; whereas yourselves are wise.

You find it easy to be patient with the vanity of others, you who are so full of good sense.

Sustinetis enim si quis vos in servitutem redigit, si quis devorat, si quis accipit, si quis extollitur, si quis in faciem vos cædit.

For you suffer if a man bring you into bondage, if a man devour you, if a man take from you, if a man be lifted up, if a man strike you on the face.

Why, you let other people tyrannize over you, prey upon you, take advantage of you, vaunt their power over you, browbeat you!

Secundum ignobilitatem dico, quasi nos infirmi fuerimus in hac parte. In quo quis audet (in insipientia dico) audeo et ego:

I seek according to dishonour, as if we had been weak in this part. Wherein if any man dare (I speak foolishly), I dare also.

I say this without taking credit to myself, I say it as if we had had no power to play such a part; yet in fact—here my vanity speaks—I can claim all that others claim.

Hebræi sunt, et ego: Israëlitæ sunt, et ego: semen Abrahæ sunt, et ego.

They are Hebrews: so am I. They are Israelites: so am I. They are the seed of Abraham: so am I.

Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they descended from Abraham? So am I.

Ministri Christi sunt (ut minus sapiens dico), plus ego: in laboribus plurimis, in carceribus abundantius, in plagis supra modum, in mortibus frequenter.

They are the ministers of Christ (I speak as one less wise): I am more; in many more labours, in prisons more frequently, in stripes above measure, in deaths often.

Are they Christ’s servants? These are wild words; I am something more. I have toiled harder, spent longer days in prison, been beaten so cruelly, so often looked death in the face.

A Judæis quinquies, quadragenas, una minus, accepi.

Of the Jews five times did I receive forty stripes, save one.

Five times the Jews scourged me, and spared me but one lash in the forty;

Ter virgis cæsus sum, semel lapidatus sum: ter naufragium feci, nocte et die in profundo maris fui,

Thrice was I beaten with rods, once I was stoned, thrice I suffered shipwreck, a night and a day I was in the depth of the sea.

three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned; I have been shipwrecked three times, I have spent a night and a day as a castaway at sea.

in itineribus sæpe, periculis fluminum, periculis latronum, periculis ex genere, periculis ex gentibus, periculis in civitate, periculis in solitudine, periculis in mari, periculis in falsis fratribus:

In journeying often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils from my own nation, in perils from the Gentiles, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils from false brethren.

What journeys I have undertaken, in danger from rivers, in danger from robbers, in danger from my own people, in danger from the Gentiles; danger in cities; danger in the wilderness, danger in the sea, danger among false brethren!

in labore et ærumna, in vigiliis multis, in fame et siti, in jejuniis multis, in frigore et nuditate,

In labour and painfulness, in much watchings, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness.

I have met with toil and weariness, so often been sleepless, hungry and thirsty; so often denied myself food, gone cold and naked.

præter illa quæ extrinsecus sunt, instantia mea quotidiana, sollicitudo omnium ecclesiarum.

Besides those things which are without: my daily instance, the solicitude for all the churches.

And all this, over and above something else which I do not count; I mean the burden I carry every day, my anxious care for all the churches;

Quis infirmatur, et ego non infirmor? quis scandalizatur, et ego non uror?

Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is scandalized, and I am not on fire?

does anyone feel a scruple? I share it; is anyone’s conscience hurt? I am ablaze with indignation.

Si gloriari oportet, quæ infirmitatis meæ sunt, gloriabor.

If I must needs glory, I will glory of the things that concern my infirmity.

If I must needs boast, I will boast of the things which humiliate me;

Deus et Pater Domini nostri Jesu Christi, qui est benedictus in sæcula, scit quod non mentior.

The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who is blessed for ever, knoweth that I lie not.

the God who is Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, blessed be his name for ever, knows that I am telling the truth.

Damasci præpositus gentis Aretæ regis custodiebat civitatem Damascenorum ut me comprehenderet:

At Damascus, the governor of the nation under Aretas the king, guarded the city of the Damascenes, to apprehend me.

When I was at Damascus, the agent of king Aretas was keeping guard over the city of the Damascenes, intent on seizing me,

et per fenestram in sporta dimissus sum per murum, et sic effugi manus ejus.

And through a window in a basket was I let down by the wall, and so escaped his hands.

and to escape from his hands I had to be let down through a window along the wall, in a hamper.