2 Corinthians 11
Bear with me in a little foolishness. I am zealous for you with God’s zeal — betrothed to one husband, a pure virgin for Christ; I fear your thoughts may be corrupted as the serpent beguiled Eve. Another Jesus, a different spirit, a different gospel — you bear with it well. I fall short of the super-apostles in nothing — ordinary in word, not in knowledge. I robbed other assemblies to bring you the gospel freely and was a burden to no one. False apostles reshape themselves into apostles of Christ — Satan reshapes himself into an angel of light. Receive me as a fool — Hebrews? So am I. Servants of Christ? I more — labours, prisons, blows, deaths, five times forty less one, stoned, three shipwrecks, dangers of rivers, robbers, my own race, the nations, hunger, cold, and the daily pressure of all the assemblies. If I must boast, I boast of weakness. In Damascus, lowered in a rope basket through the wall, I escaped.
Why this rendering
2Cor.11.2 Observation
Syntactic observation
ζηλῶ γὰρ ὑμᾶς θεοῦ ζήλῳ, ἡρμοσάμην γὰρ ὑμᾶς ἑνὶ ἀνδρὶ παρθένον ἁγνὴν παραστῆσαι τῷ Χριστῷ· φοβοῦμαι δὲ μή πως, ὡς ὁ ὄφις ἐξηπάτησεν Εὕαν ἐν τῇ πανουργίᾳ αὐτοῦ, φθαρῇ τὰ νοήματα ὑμῶν ἀπὸ τῆς ἁπλότητος καὶ τῆς ἁγνότητος τῆς εἰς τὸν Χριστόν — For I am zealous for you with God’s zeal; for I betrothed you to one husband, to present you as a pure virgin to Christ. But I fear lest somehow, as the serpent beguiled Eve in his craftiness … ζηλῶ … ζήλῳ repeats verb and noun — one word carries both zeal and jealousy (John 2:17 zeal; Acts 5:17 jealousy). ἁρμόζομαι (once in the New Testament) is the word of betrothal — Paul stands where a father gives his daughter. παρθένον ἁγνήν joins the ἁγνότης of v.3, and ἐξαπατάω the ‘sin beguiled me’ of Rom 7:11 — the serpent and Eve of Genesis 3. ⸂καὶ τῆς ἁγνότητος⸃ is a reading the Received Text does not carry.
Rendering options · 3
Basis Verb and noun stay on one root, joined to the ‘zeal’ of 7:7, 7:11, 9:2; the ‘jealousy’ reading is recorded as a loss.
Basis The familiar rendering, fitting the betrothal picture.
Rejected It cuts the word from both fixed renderings (‘zeal’ / ‘jealousy’) and adds ‘godly’ for a bare genitive.
Basis A ‘fit / join’ word used here of marriage; its one place takes that sense.
Lost in translation
ζηλόω / ζῆλος — one word for zeal and jealousy; ‘zeal’ closes it to one side.
ζηλῶ … ζήλῳ — verb and noun stand on one root, ‘zealous / zeal’.
ἁγνήν (v.2) ↔ ἁγνότης (v.3) — ‘pure / purity’ keep adjective and noun together.
Why this rendering
2Cor.11.4 Observation
Syntactic observation
εἰ μὲν γὰρ ὁ ἐρχόμενος ἄλλον Ἰησοῦν κηρύσσει ὃν οὐκ ἐκηρύξαμεν, ἢ πνεῦμα ἕτερον λαμβάνετε ὃ οὐκ ἐλάβετε, ἢ εὐαγγέλιον ἕτερον ὃ οὐκ ἐδέξασθε, καλῶς ἀνέχεσθε. λογίζομαι γὰρ μηδὲν ὑστερηκέναι τῶν ὑπερλίαν ἀποστόλων — For if the one who comes proclaims another Jesus whom we did not proclaim, or you receive a different spirit which you did not receive, or a different gospel which you did not accept, you bear with it well. For I reckon that I have fallen short in nothing of the super-apostles. ‘Other’ is two words — ἄλλον Ἰησοῦν (another of the same kind) · πνεῦμα ἕτερον · εὐαγγέλιον ἕτερον (of a different kind) — kept as ‘another / different’. Two verbs of receiving — λαμβάνω (the spirit) · δέχομαι (the gospel). ἀνέχομαι comes five times in this chapter (twice in v.1; vv.4, 19, 20), and in v.4 ἀνέχεσθε carries ⸀ (the other reading: ‘you would have borne’). ὑπερλίαν (here; 12:11) is ὑπέρ + λίαν, ‘beyond very’ — ‘super-apostles’. In v.1 ἀνέχεσθέ μου is one form for indicative (‘you do bear with me’) and imperative (‘bear with me’).
Rendering options · 3
Basis Two different verbs; English separates them here as ‘receive / accept’ (both are fixed as ‘receive’ elsewhere — recorded as a rendering that differs by place).
Basis English has two words; Korean has one, and the loss is recorded there.
Basis Reading ὑπερλίαν as an honorific.
Rejected The ‘beyond very’ in ὑπέρ + λίαν is lost; Paul’s edge becomes a title.
Lost in translation
ἄλλος / ἕτερος — ‘another / different’ keep the two apart.
λαμβάνω / δέχομαι — ‘receive / accept’ keep the two verbs apart here.
v.1 ἀνέχεσθέ μου — indicative and imperative are one form; ‘do bear with me’ closes it.
ὑπερλίαν — ‘super-’ shows ὑπέρ but not λίαν, ‘very’.
Why this rendering
2Cor.11.9 Observation
Syntactic observation
ἄλλας ἐκκλησίας ἐσύλησα λαβὼν ὀψώνιον πρὸς τὴν ὑμῶν διακονίαν, καὶ παρὼν πρὸς ὑμᾶς καὶ ὑστερηθεὶς οὐ κατενάρκησα οὐθενός· τὸ γὰρ ὑστέρημά μου προσανεπλήρωσαν οἱ ἀδελφοὶ ἐλθόντες ἀπὸ Μακεδονίας· καὶ ἐν παντὶ ἀβαρῆ ἐμαυτὸν ὑμῖν ἐτήρησα καὶ τηρήσω — I robbed other assemblies, taking pay for your service, and when present with you and in lack, I was a burden to no one … in everything I kept myself unburdensome to you, and will keep so. συλάω (once in the New Testament) is a word of plunder — ‘rob’. ὀψώνιον is the soldier’s ‘pay’ of Luke 3:14. καταναρκάω (here, 12:13, 12:14 — three places, all in this letter) pictures ‘lying numb upon’ someone — ‘be a burden’. ἀβαρής (once) negates βάρος, ‘burden’ (Acts 15:28). ὑστερηθείς · ὑστέρημα are verb and noun in one verse. In v.10 φραγήσεται is the verb of Rom 3:19, ‘every mouth stopped’; in v.12 ἐκκόπτω is the ‘cut off’ of Matt 5:30.
Rendering options · 3
Basis συλάω is a plunder word; Paul’s hyperbole is not softened.
Basis The familiar softening.
Rejected The plunder word vanishes, and ‘church’ replaces ‘assembly’.
Basis Two different words; ‘unburdensome’ stands on ‘burden’ (Acts 15:28), and ‘be a burden’ for καταναρκάω loses its picture of numbness — recorded.
Lost in translation
καταναρκάω — the picture of ‘lying numb upon’ is not in ‘be a burden’.
ἀβαρής ↔ βάρος (Acts 15:28) — ‘unburdensome / burden’ keep the root.
ὑστερηθείς / ὑστέρημα — ‘in lack / lack’ keep verb and noun together.
ὀψώνιον — one word ‘pay’ with the soldiers’ pay of Luke 3:14.
Why this rendering
2Cor.11.14 Observation
Syntactic observation
οἱ γὰρ τοιοῦτοι ψευδαπόστολοι, ἐργάται δόλιοι, μετασχηματιζόμενοι εἰς ἀποστόλους Χριστοῦ· καὶ οὐ θαῦμα, αὐτὸς γὰρ ὁ Σατανᾶς μετασχηματίζεται εἰς ἄγγελον φωτός· οὐ μέγα οὖν εἰ καὶ οἱ διάκονοι αὐτοῦ μετασχηματίζονται ὡς διάκονοι δικαιοσύνης — For such men are false apostles, deceitful workers, reshaping themselves into apostles of Christ; and no wonder, for Satan himself reshapes himself into an angel of light; so it is no great thing if his servants also reshape themselves as servants of righteousness. μετασχηματίζω three times in three verses — the ‘reshape’ of 1 Cor 4:6, one root with συσχηματίζομαι, ‘be conformed’, of Rom 12:2 (σχῆμα, ‘shape’). ψευδαπόστολος (once in the New Testament) is built like ψευδοπροφήτης, ‘false prophet’ (Matt 7:15). δόλιος (once) is the adjective of δόλος, ‘deceit’ (Mark 7:22). θαῦμα (here; once in Revelation) is the noun of ‘marvel’. Verses 13 and 14 have no verb (‘such men are …’ · ‘no wonder’).
Rendering options · 3
Basis One rendering, three times, on σχῆμα ‘shape’; the same ‘shape’ as in Rom 12:2 ‘be conformed’.
Basis The familiar rendering.
Rejected It loses the root ‘shape’ and the thread to 1 Cor 4:6 and Rom 12:2.
Basis δόλιος on δόλος, ‘deceit’ (Mark 7:22).
Lost in translation
μετασχηματίζω ×3 ↔ συσχηματίζομαι (Rom 12:2) — ‘reshape / be conformed’ do not share a visible piece.
ψευδαπόστολος ↔ ψευδοπροφήτης (Matt 7:15) — ‘false apostle / false prophet’ share the build.
δόλιος ↔ δόλος (Mark 7:22) — ‘deceitful / deceit’ keep the root.
Why this rendering
2Cor.11.23 Observation
Syntactic observation
διάκονοι Χριστοῦ εἰσιν; παραφρονῶν λαλῶ, ὑπὲρ ἐγώ· ἐν κόποις περισσοτέρως, ἐν φυλακαῖς περισσοτέρως, ἐν πληγαῖς ὑπερβαλλόντως, ἐν θανάτοις πολλάκις … κινδύνοις ποταμῶν, κινδύνοις λῃστῶν … ἡ ἐπίστασίς μοι ἡ καθ’ ἡμέραν, ἡ μέριμνα πασῶν τῶν ἐκκλησιῶν — Are they servants of Christ? — I speak as one out of his mind — I more: in labours more abundantly, in prisons more abundantly, in blows surpassingly, in deaths many times … dangers of rivers, dangers of robbers … the daily pressure upon me, the worry for all the assemblies. ὑπὲρ ἐγώ uses the preposition as an adverb — ‘I more’. The chapter is woven from φρήν-words — ἀφροσύνη (vv.1, 17, 21) · ἄφρων (vv.16, 19) · φρόνιμος (v.19) · παραφρονέω (v.23; once in the New Testament). Verses 23-27 have almost no verbs — the counting is the structure: περισσοτέρως twice · ὑπερβαλλόντως (once) · πολλάκις four times · κίνδυνος eight times · five times · three times · once · three times. ⸂φυλακαῖς … ὑπερβαλλόντως⸃ is where the Received Text changes the order. In v.25 πεποίηκα is the perfect of ‘do’ — ‘I have spent’. In v.28 ἐπίστασις is one word with Acts 24:12, the ‘rising’ of a crowd, here ‘pressure’. Verses 32-33 are the event of Acts 9:24-25 — there σπυρίς (basket), here σαργάνη (rope basket; once in the New Testament).
Rendering options · 3
Basis The bare preposition-adverb kept as two words; ‘more abundantly’ is reserved for περισσοτέρως.
Basis The familiar rendering.
Rejected It supplies ‘better’ and ‘they’, neither of which the text has.
Basis Two books tell one event with two words; the renderings stay two.
Lost in translation
Four φρήν-words (ἀφροσύνη · ἄφρων · φρόνιμος · παραφρονέω) — ‘foolishness · fool · prudent · out of his mind’: one root scattered.
κίνδυνος ×8 — ‘dangers’ eight times, verbless.
σαργάνη (11:33) ↔ σπυρίς (Acts 9:25) — ‘rope basket / basket’ keep the two words apart.
ἐπίστασις — one word with Acts 24:12 ‘rising’; here ‘pressure’ (differs by place).