12 Doubtless, it is not profitable for me to boast. Yet, I will now come to visions and revelations of the Lord.
2 More than fourteen years ago I knew a man in Christ, (whether he was in the body, I cannot tell, or out of the body, I cannot tell; God knows.) who was taken up into the third heaven.
3 And I knew such a man (whether in the body, or out of the body, I cannot tell; God knows).
4 How that he was taken up into Paradise, and heard words which cannot be spoken, which are not possible for man to utter.
5 Of such a man I will boast. Of myself I will not boast, except that it be of my weakness.
6 For though I would desire to boast, I shall not be a fool; for I will say the truth. But I refrain, lest anyone should think me above that which he sees in me, or hears of me;
7 and lest I should be exalted out of measure through the abundance of revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, because I should not be exalted out of measure.
8 For this thing I implored the Lord three times, that it might depart from me.
9 And He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you. For My power is made perfect through weakness.” Therefore, rather, I will very gladly boast in my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me.
10 Therefore, I take pleasure in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in anguish for Christ’s sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
11 I have become a fool in boasting. You have compelled me. For I ought to have been commended by you. For in nothing was I inferior to the very chief Apostles, though I am nothing.
12 Indeed, the signs of an Apostle were worked out among you with all patience; with signs and wonders and great works.
13 For in what have you been inferior to other churches, except that I myself have not been burdensome to you? Forgive me this wrong.
14 Behold, I am ready to come to you this third time. And yet I will not be burdensome to you. For I seek not what is yours, but you. For the children ought not to lay up for the fathers, but the fathers for the children.
15 And I will most gladly spend, and will be spent, for your souls; though, the more I love you, the less I am loved.
16 But let it be that I do not burden you. Yet for as much as I was crafty, I took you with guile.
17 Did I defraud you by any of those whom I sent to you?
18 I have urged Titus to go. And with him I have sent a brother. Did Titus defraud you of anything? Have we not walked in the selfsame spirit, in the same steps?
19 Again, do you think that we defend ourselves to you? We speak before God, in Christ. But we do all things, dearly beloved, for your edifying.
20 For I fear that when I come, I shall not find you as I would like - and that I shall not be found by you as you would like - and that there is strife, envying, wrath, rivalry, slander, gossip, pride, and discord;
21 that when I come again, my God humbles me among you. And I shall lament many of those who have sinned already and have not repented of the uncleanness and fornication and lewdness which they have committed.