2 Corinthians 11:5

11:5 For I consider myself not at all inferior to those “super-apostles.”¹

2 Corinthians 11:23-27

11:23 Are they servants of Christ? (I am talking like I am out of my mind!) I am even more so: with much greater labors, with far more imprisonments, with more severe beatings, facing death many times. 11:24 Five times I received from the Jews forty lashes less one.² 11:25 Three times I was beaten with a rod.³ Once I received a stoning.⁴ Three times I suffered shipwreck. A night and a day I spent adrift in the open sea. 11:26 I have been on journeys many times, in dangers from rivers, in dangers from robbers,⁵ in dangers from my own countrymen, in dangers from Gentiles, in dangers in the city, in dangers in the wilderness,⁶ in dangers at sea, in dangers from false brothers, 11:27 in hard work and toil,⁷ through many sleepless nights, in hunger and thirst, many times without food, in cold and without enough clothing.⁸

¹tn The implicit irony in Paul’s remark is brought out well by the TEV: “I do not think that I am the least bit inferior to those very special so-called ‘apostles’ of yours!”

sn The ‘super-apostles’ refers either (1) to the original apostles (the older interpretation) or (2) more probably, to Paul’s opponents in Corinth, in which case the designation is ironic.

²tn Grk “forty less one”; this was a standard sentence. “Lashes” is supplied to clarify for the modern reader what is meant.

³sn Beaten with a rod refers to the Roman punishment of admonitio according to BDAG 902 s.v. ῥαβδίζω. Acts 16:22 describes one of these occasions in Philippi; in this case it was administered by the city magistrates, who had wide powers in a military colony.

⁴sn Received a stoning. See Acts 14:19, where this incident is described.

⁵tn Or “bandits.” The word normally refers more to highwaymen (“robbers”) but can also refer to insurrectionists or revolutionaries (“bandits”).

⁶tn Or “desert.”

⁷tn The two different words for labor are translated “in hard work and toil” by L&N 42.48.

⁸tn Grk “in cold and nakedness.” Paul does not mean complete nakedness, however, which would have been repugnant to a Jew; he refers instead to the lack of sufficient clothing, especially in cold weather. A related word is used to 1 Cor 4:11, also in combination with experiencing hunger and thirst.