| 16 Πάλιν λέγω, μή τίς με δόξῃ ἄφρονα εἶναι: εἰ δὲ μή γε, κἂν ὡς ἄφρονα δέξασθέ με, ἵνα κἀγὼ μικρόν τι καυχήσωμαι. 17 ὃ λαλῶ οὐ κατὰ κύριον λαλῶ, ἀλλ' ὡς ἐν ἀφροσύνῃ, ἐν ταύτῃ τῇ ὑποστάσει τῆς καυχήσεως. 18 ἐπεὶ πολλοὶ καυχῶνται κατὰ σάρκα, κἀγὼ καυχήσομαι. 19 ἡδέως γὰρ ἀνέχεσθε τῶν ἀφρόνων φρόνιμοι ὄντες: 20 ἀνέχεσθε γὰρ εἴ τις ὑμᾶς καταδουλοῖ, εἴ τις κατεσθίει, εἴ τις λαμβάνει, εἴ τις ἐπαίρεται, εἴ τις εἰς πρόσωπον ὑμᾶς δέρει. 21 κατὰ ἀτιμίαν λέγω, ὡς ὅτι ἡμεῖς ἠσθενήκαμεν: ἐν ᾧ δ' ἄν τις τολμᾷ, ἐν ἀφροσύνῃ λέγω, τολμῶ κἀγώ. 22 Ἑβραῖοί εἰσιν; κἀγώ. Ἰσραηλῖταί εἰσιν; κἀγώ. σπέρμα Ἀβραάμ εἰσιν; κἀγώ. 23 διάκονοι Χριστοῦ εἰσιν; παραφρονῶν λαλῶ, ὑπὲρ ἐγώ: ἐν κόποις περισσοτέρως, ἐν φυλακαῖς περισσοτέρως, ἐν πληγαῖς ὑπερβαλλόντως, ἐν θανάτοις πολλάκις: 24 ὑπὸ Ἰουδαίων πεντάκις τεσσεράκοντα παρὰ μίαν ἔλαβον, 25 τρὶς ἐραβδίσθην, ἅπαξ ἐλιθάσθην, τρὶς ἐναυάγησα, νυχθήμερον ἐν τῷ βυθῷ πεποίηκα: 26 ὁδοιπορίαις πολλάκις, κινδύνοις ποταμῶν, κινδύνοις λῃστῶν, κινδύνοις ἐκ γένους, κινδύνοις ἐξ ἐθνῶν, κινδύνοις ἐν πόλει, κινδύνοις ἐν ἐρημίᾳ, κινδύνοις ἐν θαλάσσῃ, κινδύνοις ἐν ψευδαδέλφοις, 27 κόπῳ καὶ μόχθῳ, ἐν ἀγρυπνίαις πολλάκις, ἐν λιμῷ καὶ δίψει, ἐν νηστείαις πολλάκις, ἐν ψύχει καὶ γυμνότητι: 28 χωρὶς τῶν παρεκτὸς ἡ ἐπίστασίς μοι ἡ καθ' ἡμέραν, ἡ μέριμνα πασῶν τῶν ἐκκλησιῶν. 29 τίς ἀσθενεῖ, καὶ οὐκ ἀσθενῶ; τίς σκανδαλίζεται, καὶ οὐκ ἐγὼ πυροῦμαι; 30 εἰ καυχᾶσθαι δεῖ, τὰ τῆς ἀσθενείας μου καυχήσομαι. 31 ὁ θεὸς καὶ πατὴρ τοῦ κυρίου Ἰησοῦ οἶδεν, ὁ ὢν εὐλογητὸς εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας, ὅτι οὐ ψεύδομαι. 32 ἐν Δαμασκῷ ὁ ἐθνάρχης Ἁρέτα τοῦ βασιλέως ἐφρούρει τὴν πόλιν Δαμασκηνῶν πιάσαι με, 33 καὶ διὰ θυρίδος ἐν σαργάνῃ ἐχαλάσθην διὰ τοῦ τείχους καὶ ἐξέφυγον τὰς χεῖρας αὐτοῦ. |
16 Once more I appeal to you, let none of you think me vain; or, if it must be so, give me a hearing in spite of my vanity, and let me boast a little in my turn. 17 When I boast with such confidence, I am not delivering a message to you from God; it is part of my vanity if you will. 18 If so many others boast of their natural advantages, I must be allowed to boast too. 19 You find it easy to be patient with the vanity of others, you who are so full of good sense. 20 Why, you let other people tyrannize over you, prey upon you, take advantage of you, vaunt their power over you, browbeat you![2] 21 I say this without taking credit to myself, I say it as if we had had no power to play such a part; yet in fact—here my vanity speaks—I can claim all that others claim. 22 Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they descended from Abraham? So am I. 23 Are they Christ’s servants? These are wild words; I am something more. I have toiled harder, spent longer days in prison, been beaten so cruelly, so often looked death in the face. 24 Five times the Jews scourged me, and spared me but one lash in the forty; 25 three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned; I have been shipwrecked three times, I have spent a night and a day as a castaway at sea. 26 What journeys I have undertaken, in danger from rivers, in danger from robbers, in danger from my own people, in danger from the Gentiles; danger in cities; danger in the wilderness, danger in the sea, danger among false brethren! 27 I have met with toil and weariness, so often been sleepless, hungry and thirsty; so often denied myself food, gone cold and naked. 28 And all this, over and above something else which I do not count; I mean the burden I carry every day, my anxious care for all the churches; 29 does anyone feel a scruple? I share it; is anyone’s conscience hurt? I am ablaze with indignation. 30 If I must needs boast, I will boast of the things which humiliate me; 31 the God who is Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, blessed be his name for ever, knows that I am telling the truth. 32 When I was at Damascus, the agent of king Aretas was keeping guard over the city of the Damascenes, intent on seizing me,[3] 33 and to escape from his hands I had to be let down through a window along the wall, in a hamper. |
16 Iterum dico (ne quis me putet insipientem esse, alioquin velut insipientem accipite me, ut et ego modicum quid glorier), 17 quod loquor, non loquor secundum Deum, sed quasi in insipientia, in hac substantia gloriæ. 18 Quoniam multi gloriantur secundum carnem: et ego gloriabor. 19 Libenter enim suffertis insipientes, cum sitis ipsi sapientes. 20 Sustinetis enim si quis vos in servitutem redigit, si quis devorat, si quis accipit, si quis extollitur, si quis in faciem vos cædit. 21 Secundum ignobilitatem dico, quasi nos infirmi fuerimus in hac parte. In quo quis audet (in insipientia dico) audeo et ego: 22 Hebræi sunt, et ego: Israëlitæ sunt, et ego: semen Abrahæ sunt, et ego. 23 Ministri Christi sunt (ut minus sapiens dico), plus ego: in laboribus plurimis, in carceribus abundantius, in plagis supra modum, in mortibus frequenter. 24 A Judæis quinquies, quadragenas, una minus, accepi. 25 Ter virgis cæsus sum, semel lapidatus sum: ter naufragium feci, nocte et die in profundo maris fui, 26 in itineribus sæpe, periculis fluminum, periculis latronum, periculis ex genere, periculis ex gentibus, periculis in civitate, periculis in solitudine, periculis in mari, periculis in falsis fratribus: 27 in labore et ærumna, in vigiliis multis, in fame et siti, in jejuniis multis, in frigore et nuditate, 28 præter illa quæ extrinsecus sunt, instantia mea quotidiana, sollicitudo omnium ecclesiarum. 29 Quis infirmatur, et ego non infirmor? quis scandalizatur, et ego non uror? 30 Si gloriari oportet, quæ infirmitatis meæ sunt, gloriabor. 31 Deus et Pater Domini nostri Jesu Christi, qui est benedictus in sæcula, scit quod non mentior. 32 Damasci præpositus gentis Aretæ regis custodiebat civitatem Damascenorum ut me comprehenderet: 33 et per fenestram in sporta dimissus sum per murum, et sic effugi manus ejus. |