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1 Καυχᾶσθαι δεῖ, οὐ συμφέρον μέν, ἐλεύσομαι δὲ εἰς ὀπτασίας καὶ ἀποκαλύψεις κυρίου. 2 οἶδα ἄνθρωπον ἐν Χριστῷ πρὸ ἐτῶν δεκατεσσάρων εἴτε ἐν σώματι οὐκ οἶδα, εἴτε ἐκτὸς τοῦ σώματος οὐκ οἶδα, ὁ θεὸς οἶδεν ἁρπαγέντα τὸν τοιοῦτον ἕως τρίτου οὐρανοῦ. 3 καὶ οἶδα τὸν τοιοῦτον ἄνθρωπον εἴτε ἐν σώματι εἴτε χωρὶς τοῦ σώματος οὐκ οἶδα, ὁ θεὸς οἶδεν 4 ὅτι ἡρπάγη εἰς τὸν παράδεισον καὶ ἤκουσεν ἄρρητα ῥήματα ἃ οὐκ ἐξὸν ἀνθρώπῳ λαλῆσαι. 5 ὑπὲρ τοῦ τοιούτου καυχήσομαι, ὑπὲρ δὲ ἐμαυτοῦ οὐ καυχήσομαι εἰ μὴ ἐν ταῖς ἀσθενείαις. 6 ἐὰν γὰρ θελήσω καυχήσασθαι, οὐκ ἔσομαι ἄφρων, ἀλήθειαν γὰρ ἐρῶ: φείδομαι δέ, μή τις εἰς ἐμὲ λογίσηται ὑπὲρ ὃ βλέπει με ἢ ἀκούει [τι] ἐξ ἐμοῦ 7 καὶ τῇ ὑπερβολῇ τῶν ἀποκαλύψεων. διό ἵνα μὴ ὑπεραίρωμαι, ἐδόθη μοι σκόλοψ τῇ σαρκί, ἄγγελος Σατανᾶ, ἵνα με κολαφίζῃ, ἵνα μὴ ὑπεραίρωμαι. 8 ὑπὲρ τούτου τρὶς τὸν κύριον παρεκάλεσα ἵνα ἀποστῇ ἀπ' ἐμοῦ: 9 καὶ εἴρηκέν μοι, ἀρκεῖ σοι ἡ χάρις μου: ἡ γὰρ δύναμις ἐν ἀσθενείᾳ τελεῖται. ἥδιστα οὖν μᾶλλον καυχήσομαι ἐν ταῖς ἀσθενείαις μου, ἵνα ἐπισκηνώσῃ ἐπ' ἐμὲ ἡ δύναμις τοῦ Χριστοῦ. 10 διὸ εὐδοκῶ ἐν ἀσθενείαις, ἐν ὕβρεσιν, ἐν ἀνάγκαις, ἐν διωγμοῖς καὶ στενοχωρίαις, ὑπὲρ Χριστοῦ: ὅταν γὰρ ἀσθενῶ, τότε δυνατός εἰμι. | 1 If we are to boast (although boasting is out of place), I will go on to the visions and revelations the Lord has granted me. 2 There is a man I know who was carried out of himself in Christ, fourteen years since; was his spirit in his body? I cannot tell. Was it apart from his body? I cannot tell; God knows. This man, at least, was carried up into the third heaven.[1] 3 I can only tell you that this man, with his spirit in his body, or with his spirit apart from his body, God knows which, not I, 4 was carried up into Paradise, and heard mysteries which man is not allowed to utter. 5 That is the man about whom I will boast; I will not boast about myself, except to tell you of my humiliations. 6 It would not be vanity, if I had a mind to boast about such a man as that; I should only be telling the truth. But I will spare you the telling of it; I have no mind that anybody should think of me except as he sees me, as he hears me talking to him. 7 And indeed, for fear that these surpassing revelations should make me proud, I was given a sting to distress my outward nature, an angel of Satan sent to rebuff me. 8 Three times it made me entreat the Lord to rid me of it;[2] 9 but he told me, My grace is enough for thee; my strength finds its full scope in thy weakness. More than ever, then, I delight to boast of the weaknesses that humiliate me, so that the strength of Christ may enshrine itself in me. 10 I am well content with these humiliations of mine, with the insults, the hardships, the persecutions, the times of difficulty I undergo for Christ; when I am weakest, then I am strongest of all. | 1 Si gloriari oportet (non expedit quidem), veniam autem ad visiones et revelationes Domini. 2 Scio hominem in Christo ante annos quatuordecim, sive in corpore nescio, sive extra corpus nescio, Deus scit, raptum hujusmodi usque ad tertium cælum. 3 Et scio hujusmodi hominem sive in corpore, sive extra corpus nescio, Deus scit: 4 quoniam raptus est in paradisum: et audivit arcana verba, quæ non licet homini loqui. 5 Pro hujusmodi gloriabor: pro me autem nihil gloriabor nisi in infirmitatibus meis. 6 Nam etsi voluero gloriari, non ero insipiens: veritatem enim dicam: parco autem, ne quis me existimet supra id quod videt in me, aut aliquid audit ex me. 7 Et ne magnitudo revelationum extollat me, datus est mihi stimulus carnis meæ angelus Satanæ, qui me colaphizet. 8 Propter quod ter Dominum rogavi ut discederet a me: 9 et dixit mihi: Sufficit tibi gratia mea: nam virtus in infirmitate perficitur. Libenter igitur gloriabor in infirmitatibus meis, ut inhabitet in me virtus Christi. 10 Propter quod placeo mihi in infirmitatibus meis, in contumeliis, in necessitatibus, in persecutionibus, in angustiis pro Christo: cum enim infirmor, tunc potens sum. |
11 Γέγονα ἄφρων: ὑμεῖς με ἠναγκάσατε. ἐγὼ γὰρ ὤφειλον ὑφ' ὑμῶν συνίστασθαι: οὐδὲν γὰρ ὑστέρησα τῶν ὑπερλίαν ἀποστόλων, εἰ καὶ οὐδέν εἰμι. 12 τὰ μὲν σημεῖα τοῦ ἀποστόλου κατειργάσθη ἐν ὑμῖν ἐν πάσῃ ὑπομονῇ, σημείοις τε καὶ τέρασιν καὶ δυνάμεσιν. 13 τί γάρ ἐστιν ὃ ἡσσώθητε ὑπὲρ τὰς λοιπὰς ἐκκλησίας, εἰ μὴ ὅτι αὐτὸς ἐγὼ οὐ κατενάρκησα ὑμῶν; χαρίσασθέ μοι τὴν ἀδικίαν ταύτην. 14 ἰδοὺ τρίτον τοῦτο ἑτοίμως ἔχω ἐλθεῖν πρὸς ὑμᾶς, καὶ οὐ καταναρκήσω: οὐ γὰρ ζητῶ τὰ ὑμῶν ἀλλὰ ὑμᾶς, οὐ γὰρ ὀφείλει τὰ τέκνα τοῖς γονεῦσιν θησαυρίζειν, ἀλλὰ οἱ γονεῖς τοῖς τέκνοις. 15 ἐγὼ δὲ ἥδιστα δαπανήσω καὶ ἐκδαπανηθήσομαι ὑπὲρ τῶν ψυχῶν ὑμῶν. εἰ περισσοτέρως ὑμᾶς ἀγαπῶν, ἧσσον ἀγαπῶμαι; 16 Ἔστω δέ, ἐγὼ οὐ κατεβάρησα ὑμᾶς: ἀλλὰ ὑπάρχων πανοῦργος δόλῳ ὑμᾶς ἔλαβον. 17 μή τινα ὧν ἀπέσταλκα πρὸς ὑμᾶς, δι' αὐτοῦ ἐπλεονέκτησα ὑμᾶς; 18 παρεκάλεσα Τίτον καὶ συναπέστειλα τὸν ἀδελφόν: μήτι ἐπλεονέκτησεν ὑμᾶς Τίτος; οὐ τῷ αὐτῷ πνεύματι περιεπατήσαμεν; οὐ τοῖς αὐτοῖς ἴχνεσιν; | 11 I have given way to vanity; it was you that drove me to it; you ought to have given me credentials, instead of asking for them. No, I have done no less than the very greatest of the apostles, worthless as I am; 12 I have earned the character of apostleship among you, by all the trials I have undergone, by signs and wonders and deeds of miracle. 13 What injustice did I do you, as compared with the other churches, except that to you, of my own choice, I refused to make myself a burden? Forgive me, if I wronged you there. 14 This is the third time I have made preparations for visiting you,[3] and I do not intend to cripple you with expenses: what I claim is yourselves, not anything you can give; it is the parents that should save for their children, not the children for their parents. 15 For my own part, I will gladly spend and be spent on your souls’ behalf, though you should love me too little for loving you too well. 16 Ah, you say, that may be; I did not lay any charge on you myself, but I preyed upon you by roundabout means, like the knave I am. 17 What, those envoys I sent you, did I take advantage of you through any of them? 18 I asked Titus to visit you, and there was the brother I sent with him; did Titus take any advantage of you? Did we not all follow the same course, and in the same spirit? | 11 Factus sum insipiens, vos me coëgistis. Ego enim a vobis debui commendari: nihil enim minus fui ab iis, qui sunt supra modum Apostoli: tametsi nihil sum: 12 signa tamen apostolatus mei facta sunt super vos in omni patientia, in signis, et prodigiis, et virtutibus. 13 Quid est enim, quod minus habuistis præ ceteris ecclesiis, nisi quod ego ipse non gravavi vos? donate mihi hanc injuriam. 14 Ecce tertio hoc paratus sum venire ad vos: et non ero gravis vobis. Non enim quæro quæ vestra sunt, sed vos. Nec enim debent filii parentibus thesaurizare, sed parentes filiis. 15 Ego autem libentissime impendam, et super impendar ipse pro animabus vestris: licet plus vos diligens, minus diligar. 16 Sed esto: ego vos non gravavi: sed cum essem astutus, dolo vos cepi. 17 Numquid per aliquem eorum, quod misi ad vos, circumveni vos? 18 Rogavi Titum, et misi cum illo fratrem. Numquid Titus vos circumvenit? nonne eodem spiritu ambulavimus? nonne iisdem vestigiis? |
19 Πάλαι δοκεῖτε ὅτι ὑμῖν ἀπολογούμεθα; κατέναντι θεοῦ ἐν Χριστῷ λαλοῦμεν: τὰ δὲ πάντα, ἀγαπητοί, ὑπὲρ τῆς ὑμῶν οἰκοδομῆς. 20 φοβοῦμαι γὰρ μή 21 μὴ πάλιν ἐλθόντος μου ταπεινώσῃ με ὁ θεός μου πρὸς ὑμᾶς, καὶ πενθήσω πολλοὺς τῶν προημαρτηκότων καὶ μὴ μετανοησάντων ἐπὶ τῇ ἀκαθαρσίᾳ καὶ πορνείᾳ καὶ ἀσελγείᾳ ᾗ ἔπραξαν. | 19 You have been telling one another, all this while, that we are defending our conduct to you. Rather, we have been uttering our thoughts as in God’s presence, in Christ; yet always, beloved, so as to build up your faith. 20 I have the fear that perhaps, when I reach you, I shall find in you unwelcome hosts, and you in me an unwelcome visitor; that there will be dissension, rivalry, ill humour, factiousness, backbiting, gossip, self-conceit, disharmony. 21 I have the fear that on this new visit God has humiliation in store for me when we meet; that I shall have tears to shed over many of you, sinners of old and still unrepentant, with a tale of impure, adulterous, and wanton living. | 19 Olim putatis quod excusemus nos apud vos? coram Deo in Christo loquimur: omnia autem, carissimi, propter ædificationem vestram. 20 Timeo enim ne forte cum venero, non quales volo, inveniam vos: et ego inveniar a vobis, qualem non vultis: ne forte contentiones, æmulationes, animositates, dissensiones, detractiones, susurrationes, inflationes, seditiones sint inter vos: 21 ne iterum cum venero, humiliet me Deus apud vos, et lugeam multos ex iis qui ante peccaverunt, et non egerunt pœnitentiam super immunditia, et fornicatione, et impudicitia, quam gesserunt. |
[1] We have no other record of this ecstasy, unless it be that mentioned in Ac. 22.17.
[2] ‘A sting to distress my outward nature’; this is often understood as referring to temptations against purity, but some of the earliest Fathers would interpret it rather of those persecutions which were stirred up against the Apostle by his fellow countrymen. Other commentators have supposed that St Paul is speaking of some bodily disease or deficiency. If we see here a reference to Num. 33.55, the second of the explanations given above is to be preferred.
[3] This may mean that the Apostle had already visited Corinth twice (in which case we have no record in the Acts of his second visit), or it may mean this is the third time the idea of revisiting it has occurred to him during his absence. The language of 13.1, below, is somewhat in favour of the former view. See also p. 182, note 2.
Knox Translation Copyright © 2013 Westminster Diocese
Nihil Obstat. Father Anton Cowan, Censor.
Imprimatur. +Most Rev. Vincent Nichols, Archbishop of Westminster. 8th January 2012.
Re-typeset and published in 2012 by Baronius Press Ltd