[11:16] I repeat: no one should think that I am a fool. But if you do, at least accept me as a fool, just so I will have a little to boast of.
[11:17] Of course what I am saying now is not what the Lord would have me say; in this matter of boasting I am really talking like a fool.
[11:18] But since there are so many who boast for merely human reasons, I will do the same.
[11:19] You yourselves are so wise, and so you gladly tolerate fools!
[11:20] You tolerate anyone who orders you around or takes advantage of you or traps you or looks down on you or slaps you in the face.
[11:21] I am ashamed to admit that we were too timid to do those things! But if anyone dares to boast about something—I am talking like a fool—I will be just as daring.
[11:22] Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they Abraham's descendants? So am I.
[11:23] Are they Christ's servants? I sound like a madman—but I am a better servant than they are! I have worked much harder, I have been in prison more times, I have been whipped much more, and I have been near death more often.
[11:24] Five times I was given the thirty-nine lashes by the Jews;
[11:25] three times I was whipped by the Romans; and once I was stoned. I have been in three shipwrecks, and once I spent twenty-four hours in the water.
[11:26] In my many travels I have been in danger from floods and from robbers, in danger from my own people and from Gentiles; there have been dangers in the cities, dangers in the wilds, dangers on the high seas, and dangers from false friends.
[11:27] There has been work and toil; often I have gone without sleep; I have been hungry and thirsty; I have often been without enough food, shelter, or clothing.
[11:28] And not to mention other things, every day I am under the pressure of my concern for all the churches.
[11:29] When someone is weak, then I feel weak too; when someone is led into sin, I am filled with distress.
[11:30] If I must boast, I will boast about things that show how weak I am.
[11:31] The God and Father of the Lord Jesus—blessed be his name forever!—knows that I am not lying.
[11:32] When I was in Damascus, the governor under King Aretas placed guards at the city gates to arrest me.
[11:33] But I was let down in a basket through an opening in the wall and escaped from him.