22. Are they Hebrews? So am
I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they Abraham's descendants? So am
I.
23. Are they servants of Christ? (I am out of my mind to talk like this.)
I am more. I have worked much harder, been in prison more frequently,
been flogged more severely, and been exposed to death again and again.
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,
26. I have been constantly on the move. I have been in danger from rivers,
in danger from bandits, in danger from my own countrymen, in danger from
Gentiles; in danger in the city, in danger in the country, in danger at
sea; and in danger from false brothers.
27. I have labored and toiled and have often gone without sleep; I have
known hunger and thirst and have often gone without food; I have been
cold and naked.
28. Besides everything else, I face daily the pressure of my concern for
all the churches.
29. Who is weak, and I do not feel weak? Who is led into sin, and I do
not inwardly burn?
30. If I must boast, I will boast of the things that show my weakness.
31. The God and Father of the Lord Jesus, who is to be praised forever,
knows that I am not lying.
32. In Damascus the governor under King Aretas had the city of the Damascenes
guarded in order to arrest me.
33. But I was lowered in a basket from a window in the wall and slipped
through his hands.