2 Corinthians 11:24-12:10
New Catholic Bible
24 Five times I received from the Jews forty lashes minus one.[a] 25 Three times I was beaten with rods; once I was stoned; three times I was shipwrecked; once I was adrift in the open sea for a night and a day. 26 I have traveled continually and faced dangers from rivers, dangers from robbers, dangers from my own people, dangers from Gentiles, dangers in the city, dangers in the desert, dangers at sea, and dangers from false brethren.
27 I have endured toil and hardship, and sleepless nights. I have been hungry and thirsty, and I have often gone without food. I have been cold, and often all but naked.
28 Apart from these external things, I am burdened each and every day with the anxiety of caring for all the Churches. 29 Who is weak, and I am not similarly afflicted? Who is led into sinfulness, and I am not filled with indignation?
30 If I must boast, I will boast of the things that exhibit my weakness. 31 The God and Father of the Lord Jesus knows—he who is blessed forever—that I am telling the truth. 32 When I was in Damascus, the governor under King Aretas[b] assigned guards around the city of Damascus in order to arrest me. 33 However, I was let down in a basket through a window in the wall, and I thereby escaped from his clutches.
Chapter 12
Caught Up into Heaven.[c] 1 Although nothing is to be gained by doing so, I must continue to boast. So I will move on to the visions and revelations given me from the Lord.
2 I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago (whether in the body or out of the body I do not know—God knows) was caught up to the third heaven. 3 And I know that this man (whether in the body or out of the body I do not know—God knows) 4 was caught up into paradise and heard inexpressible things, things that no man may repeat.
5 About this man I am willing to boast, but about myself I will not boast, except as it concerns my weaknesses. 6 Actually, if I were to boast, I would not be a fool, because I would be telling the truth. However, I refrain from doing so in order that no one may regard me more highly than would be evident from what he has seen in me and heard from me.
A Boast of One’s Weakness.[d] 7 Therefore, to keep me from becoming unduly elated by the wondrous nature of these revelations, I was given a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan, to beat me and prevent me from becoming unduly elated. 8 Three times I begged the Lord to have it leave me, 9 but he answered me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness.”
Hence, I will boast most gladly of my weaknesses, in order that the power of Christ may dwell within me. 10 For this reason, I rejoice when I endure weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and distress for the sake of Christ. For it is when I am weak that I am strong.
Footnotes
- 2 Corinthians 11:24 Forty lashes minus one: see Deut 25:3; thirty-nine, in order not to risk going beyond the forty allowed by the Law.
- 2 Corinthians 11:32 King Aretas: Aretas IV, father-in-law of Herod Antipas, who ruled over the Nabatean Arabs from c. 9 B.C. to A.D. 40.
- 2 Corinthians 12:1 Paul here provides an exceptional testimony. His spirit was elevated to the highest contemplation of the divine mysteries, which no human words can describe. He was caught up to the third heaven, that is, beyond the created world, to the point of losing all awareness of his own bodily life, so greatly was his spirit overwhelmed by this experience. This event occurred around the year A.D. 42, five years after his conversion; at that time, Paul was in Syria or Cilicia, some years still before the beginning of his great missions.
- 2 Corinthians 12:7 Paul refers to a mysterious trial, possibly an illness, of which Christ did not will to cure him and which increased the difficulties of his apostolic life.
