2 Cô-rinh-tô 12

Visions and a thorn in the flesh

¹I have to boast. It does no good, but now I will turn to visions and revelations given by the Lord.^{a 2}Fourteen years ago a man I know, a man in Christ, was snatched away as far as the third heaven. Whether this happened in the body or outside the body, I do not know. God knows. ³This same man, I know (in the body or apart from it, I do not know; God knows), ⁴was snatched away into paradise. There he heard things beyond speaking, which no human being is allowed to tell. ⁵About a man like that I will boast, but about myself I will boast only of my weaknesses. ⁶Should I decide to boast, that would not make me a fool, since it would be the truth I spoke. But I hold back. I do not want anyone to think more of me than what they see in me or hear from me, ⁷or to think more of me because the revelations were so extraordinary.^b So, to stop me from becoming too proud, a thorn in the flesh was given to me: a messenger of Satan, sent to beat me down, to stop me from becoming too proud.^{cd 8}I begged the Lord three times about this, asking that it would leave me. ⁹But he answered me, “My grace is enough for you, for power comes to its fullness in weakness.”^e So I will be all the happier to boast of my weaknesses, for then the power of Christ may spread its tent over me. ¹⁰That is why I am glad to have weaknesses, insults, calamities, persecutions and tight corners, for the sake of Christ. For it is when I am weak that I am strong.

Paul’s concern for the Corinthians

¹¹I have become a fool. You forced me into it. It was you who should have been recommending me. In nothing did I fall short of these super-apostles, even if I am nothing.^{f 12}Among you, with all endurance, the signs that mark an apostle were done: signs, wonders and deeds of power. ¹³In what way were you put at a disadvantage compared with the other churches, except that I myself never lived off you? Please forgive me for this injustice!

Ready to come a third time

¹⁴Here I am, ready to come to you for the third time, and I will not live off you. I am not after your money; I am after you. It is not for children to put money aside for their parents; it is parents who put it aside for their children. ¹⁵For my part, I will gladly spend everything I have, and spend myself to the last, for your sake. If I love you so much more, does that mean you love me less? ¹⁶Granted, I myself did not weigh you down. Still, some say I was cunning and caught you with a trick.^{g 17}Take any one of those I have sent to you: did I use any of them to cheat you? ¹⁸I urged Titus to go, and I sent the brother with him. Titus did not cheat you, did he? Did we not conduct ourselves in the same spirit?^h Did we not tread in the same footsteps? ¹⁹Have you supposed this whole time that we are pleading our case before you? We are speaking in the sight of God, as those who are in Christ. Everything we do, dear friends, is to build you up. ²⁰For I fear that I may come and find you other than I wish, and that you may find me other than you wish. I fear there may be quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, rivalry, slander, whispering behind backs, people puffed up with pride, and disorder. ²¹I fear that when I come, my God may again bring me low in front of you, and that I may have to mourn over many who sinned in the past and still have not repented of what they did: impurity, sexual immorality and indecency.ⁱ