12:1 It is necessary to go on boasting. 17 Though it is not profitable, I will go on to visions and revelations from the Lord. 12:2 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. 12:3 And I know that this man (whether in the body or apart from the body I do not know, God knows) 12:4 was caught up into paradise 18 and heard things too sacred to be put into words, 19 things that a person 20 is not permitted to speak. 12:5 On behalf of such an individual I will boast, but on my own behalf I will not boast, except about my weaknesses. 12:6 For even if I wish to boast, I will not be a fool, for I would be telling 21 the truth, but I refrain from this so that no one may regard 22 me beyond what he sees in me or what he hears from me, 12:7 even because of the extraordinary character of the revelations. Therefore, 23 so that I would not become arrogant, a thorn in the flesh was given to me, a messenger of Satan to trouble 24 me – so that I would not become arrogant. 25 12:8 I asked the Lord three times about this, that it would depart from me. 12:9 But 26 he said to me, “My grace is enough 27 for you, for my 28 power is made perfect 29 in weakness.” So then, I will boast most gladly 30 about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may reside in 31 me. 12:10 Therefore I am content with 32 weaknesses, with insults, with troubles, with persecutions and difficulties 33 for the sake of Christ, for whenever I am weak, then I am strong.
1 tn Grk “forty less one”; this was a standard sentence. “Lashes” is supplied to clarify for the modern reader what is meant.
2 sn 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.
3 sn Received a stoning. See Acts 14:19, where this incident is described.
4 tn Or “bandits.” The word normally refers more to highwaymen (“robbers”) but can also refer to insurrectionists or revolutionaries (“bandits”).
5 tn Or “desert.”
6 tn The two different words for labor are translated “in hard work and toil” by L&N 42.48.
7 tn 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.
8 sn Apart from other things. Paul refers here either (1) to the external sufferings just mentioned, or (2) he refers to other things he has left unmentioned.
9 tn “Anxious concern,” so translated in L&N 25.224.
10 tn Or “who is caused to stumble.”
11 tn Grk “If boasting is necessary.”
12 tn Or “about the things related to my weakness.”
13 tn Grk “ethnarch.”
sn The governor was an official called an ethnarch who was appointed to rule over a particular area or constituency on behalf of a king.
14 tn Grk “the city of the Damascenes.”
15 tn Or “to seize,” “to catch.”
16 tn In Acts 9:25 the same basket used in Paul’s escape is called a σπυρίς (spuri"), a basket larger than a κόφινος (kofinos). It was very likely made out of rope, so the translation “rope-basket” is used.
17 tn Grk “Boasting is necessary.”
18 sn In the NT, paradise is mentioned three times. In Luke 23:43 it refers to the abode of the righteous dead. In Rev 2:7 it refers to the restoration of Edenic paradise predicted in Isa 51:3 and Ezek 36:35. The reference here in 2 Cor 12:4 is probably to be translated as parallel to the mention of the “third heaven” in v. 2. Assuming that the “first heaven” would be atmospheric heaven (the sky) and “second heaven” the more distant stars and planets, “third heaven” would refer to the place where God dwells. This is much more likely than some variation on the seven heavens mentioned in the pseudepigraphic book 2 Enoch and in other nonbiblical and rabbinic works.
19 tn Or “things that cannot be put into words.”
20 tn Grk “a man.”
21 tn Or “speaking.”
22 tn Or “may think of.”
23 tc Most
24 tn Or “to harass.”
25 tn The phrase “so that I might not become arrogant” is repeated here because it occurs in the Greek text two times in the verse. Although redundant, it is repeated because of the emphatic nature of its affirmation.
26 tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “but” because of the contrast implicit in the context.
27 tn Or “is sufficient.”
28 tc The majority of later
tn The pronoun “my” was supplied in the translation to clarify the sense of Paul’s expression.
29 tn Or “my power comes to full strength.”
30 tn “Most gladly,” a comparative form used with superlative meaning and translated as such.
31 tn Or “may rest on.”
32 tn Or “I take delight in.”
33 tn Or “calamities.”