19 You’re wise, so you’ll gladly put up with fools.
20 When someone makes you slaves, consumes your wealth, seizes your property, orders you around, or slaps your faces, you put up with it.
21 I’m ashamed to admit it, but Timothy and I don’t have the strength to do those things to you.Whatever other people dare to brag about, I, like a fool, can also brag about.
22 Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they Abraham’s descendants? So am I.
23 Are they Christ’s servants? It’s insane to say it, but I’m a far better one. I’ve done much more work, been in prison many more times, been beaten more severely, and have faced death more often.
24 Five times the Jewish leaders had me beaten with 39 lashes;
25 three times Roman officials had me beaten with clubs. Once people tried to stone me to death; three times I was shipwrecked, and I drifted on the sea for a night and a day.