2 Corinthians 11:23

²¹ To my shame I concede that we were too weak for that! Speaking as a fool, however, I can match what anyone else dares to boast about.

²² Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they descendants of Abraham? So am I.

Are they servants of Christ? I am speaking like I am out of my mind, but I am so much more: in harder labor, in more imprisonments, in worse beatings, in frequent danger of death.

²⁴ Five times I received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one.

²⁵ Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked. I spent a night and a day in the open sea.

Here the Bible tells a story about someone else. Ask yourself what it can say to us today. Do read the surrounding verses too, because the context often says more than a single verse.

Compare

BSB: Are they servants of Christ? I am speaking like I am out of my mind, but I am so much more: in harder labor, in more imprisonments, in worse beatings, in frequent danger of death.
KJV: Are they ministers of Christ? (I speak as a fool) I am more; in labours more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequent, in deaths oft.
WEB: Are they servants of Christ? (I speak as one beside himself.) I am more so: in labors more abundantly, in prisons more abundantly, in stripes above measure, and in deaths often.
ASV: Are they ministers of Christ? (I speak as one beside himself) I more; in labors more abundantly, in prisons more abundantly, in stripes above measure, in deaths oft.
DARBY: Are they ministers of Christ? (I speak as being beside myself) *I* above measure [so]; in labours exceedingly abundant, in stripes to excess, in prisons exceedingly abundant, in deaths oft.
BLB: Are they servants of Christ? I speak as being beside myself—I [too] above measure: in labors more abundantly, in imprisonments more abundantly, in beatings surpassingly, in deaths often.

ÅB: Er de Kristi tjenere? Jeg taler i vanvidd: Jeg er det mere; jeg har arbeidet mere, fått flere slag, vært flere ganger i fengsel, ofte i dødsfare.
OTB: Er de Kristi tjenere?—Jeg taler som om jeg er fra forstanden—jeg enda mer: i langt flere arbeider, i langt flere fengslinger, slått utallige ganger, ofte i fare for livet.
B1930: Er de Kristi tjenere? Jeg taler i vanvidd: Jeg er det mere; jeg har arbeidet mere, fått flere slag, vært flere ganger i fengsel, ofte i dødsfare.

Study notes (Tyndale)

Original text and word study

Cross references

2 Corinthians 6:4–5
Rather, as servants of God we commend ourselves in every way: in great endurance; in troubles, hardships, and calamities;
Read in context
Colossians 1:24
Now I rejoice in my sufferings for you, and I fill up in my flesh what is lacking in regard to Christ’s afflictions for the sake of His body, which is the church.
Read in context
2 Corinthians 6:9
as unknown, yet well-known; dying, and yet we live on; punished, yet not killed;
Read in context
2 Corinthians 1:9–10
Indeed, we felt we were under the sentence of death, in order that we would not trust in ourselves, but in God, who raises the dead.
Read in context
2 Corinthians 11:24–25
Five times I received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one.
Read in context
1 Corinthians 15:10
But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace to me was not in vain. No, I worked harder than all of them—yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me.
Read in context
Acts 9:16
I will show him how much he must suffer for My name.”
Read in context
2 Corinthians 3:6
And He has qualified us as ministers of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.
Read in context