20 You tolerate anyone who orders you around or takes advantage of you or traps you or looks down on you or slaps you in the face.
21 I am ashamed to admit that we were too timid to do those things!But if anyone dares to boast about something—I am talking like a fool—I will be just as daring.
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? I sound like a madman—but I am a better servant than they are! I have worked much harder, I have been in prison more times, I have been whipped much more, and I have been near death more often.
24 Five times I was given the thirty-nine lashes by the Jews;
25 three times I was whipped by the Romans; and once I was stoned. I have been in three shipwrecks, and once I spent twenty-four hours in the water.
26 In my many travels I have been in danger from floods and from robbers, in danger from my own people and from Gentiles; there have been dangers in the cities, dangers in the wilds, dangers on the high seas, and dangers from false friends.