23. Are they serving Christ? I am serving him more. (I am crazy to talk like this.) I have worked much harder than they. I have been in prison more often. I have been hurt more in beatings. I have been near death many times.
24. Five times the Jews have given me their punishment of thirty-nine lashes with a whip.
25. Three different times I was beaten with rods. One time I was almost stoned to death. Three times I was in ships that wrecked, and one of those times I spent a night and a day in the sea.
26. I have gone on many travels and have been in danger from rivers, thieves, my own people, the Jews, and those who are not Jews. I have been in danger in cities, in places where no one lives, and on the sea. And I have been in danger with false Christians.
27. I have done hard and tiring work, and many times I did not sleep. I have been hungry and thirsty, and many times I have been without food. I have been cold and without clothes.
28. Besides all this, there is on me every day the load of my concern for all the churches.
29. I feel weak every time someone is weak, and I feel upset every time someone is led into sin.
30. If I must brag, I will brag about the things that show I am weak.
31. God knows I am not lying. He is the God and Father of the Lord Jesus Christ, and he is to be praised forever.
32. When I was in Damascus, the governor under King Aretas wanted to arrest me, so he put guards around the city.
33. But my friends lowered me in a basket through a hole in the city wall. So I escaped from the governor.