2 Korintus 4:16-18

4:16 Therefore we do not despair, ¹  but even if our physical body ²  is wearing away, our inner person ³  is being renewed day by day. 4:17 For our momentary, light suffering ⁴  is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison 4:18 because we are not looking at what can be seen but at what cannot be seen. For what can be seen is temporary, but what cannot be seen is eternal.

2 Korintus 6:4-10

6:4 But as God’s servants, ⁵  we have commended ourselves in every way, ⁶  with great endurance, in persecutions, ⁷  in difficulties, in distresses, 6:5 in beatings, in imprisonments, in riots, ⁸  in troubles, ⁹  in sleepless nights, in hunger, 6:6 by purity, by knowledge, by patience, by benevolence, by the Holy Spirit, ¹⁰  by genuine ¹¹  love, 6:7 by truthful ¹²  teaching, ¹³  by the power of God, with weapons of righteousness both for the right hand and for the left, ¹⁴  6:8 through glory and dishonor, through slander and praise; regarded as impostors, ¹⁵  and yet true; 6:9 as unknown, and yet well-known; as dying and yet – see! – we continue to live; as those who are scourged ¹⁶  and yet not executed; 6:10 as sorrowful, but always rejoicing, as poor, but making many rich, as having nothing, and yet possessing everything.

2 Korintus 11:23-28

11:23 Are they servants of Christ? (I am talking like I am out of my mind!) I am even more so: with much greater labors, with far more imprisonments, with more severe beatings, facing death many times. 11:24 Five times I received from the Jews forty lashes less one. ¹⁷  11:25 Three times I was beaten with a rod. ¹⁸  Once I received a stoning. ¹⁹  Three times I suffered shipwreck. A night and a day I spent adrift in the open sea. 11:26 I have been on journeys many times, in dangers from rivers, in dangers from robbers, ²⁰  in dangers from my own countrymen, in dangers from Gentiles, in dangers in the city, in dangers in the wilderness, ²¹  in dangers at sea, in dangers from false brothers, 11:27 in hard work and toil, ²²  through many sleepless nights, in hunger and thirst, many times without food, in cold and without enough clothing. ²³  11:28 Apart from other things, ²⁴  there is the daily pressure on me of my anxious concern ²⁵  for all the churches.

[4:16]  ¹ tn Or “do not lose heart.”

[4:16]  ² tn Grk “our outer man.”

[4:16]  ³ tn Grk “our inner [man].”

[4:17]  ⁴ tn Grk “momentary lightness of affliction.”

[6:4]  ⁵ tn Or “ministers.”

[6:4]  ⁶ tn Or “we have commended ourselves by all things.”

[6:4]  ⁷ tn Or “in trouble and suffering.”

[6:5]  ⁸ tn Or “rebellions” (uprisings in open defiance of civil authority).

[6:5]  ⁹ tn Usually κόποις (kopois) has been translated as “labors” or “hard work,” but see Matt 26:10 where it means “trouble”; “distress” (L&N 22.7). In this context with so many other terms denoting suffering and difficulty, such a meaning is preferable.

[6:6]  ¹⁰ tn Or “by holiness of spirit.”

[6:6]  ¹¹ tn Or “sincere.”

[6:7]  ¹² tn Grk “by the word of truth”; understanding ἀληθείας (alhqeias) as an attributive genitive (“truthful word”).

[6:7]  ¹³ tn Or “speech.” In this context it is more likely that λόγος (logos) refers to Paul’s message (thus “teaching”) than to his speech in general.

[6:7]  ¹⁴ tn The phrase “for the right hand and for the left” possibly refers to a combination of an offensive weapon (a sword for the right hand) and a defensive weapon (a shield for the left).

[6:8]  ¹⁵ tn Or “regarded as deceivers.”

[6:9]  ¹⁶ tn Grk “disciplined,” but in this context probably a reference to scourging prior to execution (yet the execution is not carried out).

[11:24]  ¹⁷ tn Grk “forty less one”; this was a standard sentence. “Lashes” is supplied to clarify for the modern reader what is meant.

[11:25]  ¹⁸ sn Beaten with a rod refers to the Roman punishment of admonitio according to BDAG 902 s.v. ῥαβδίζω. Acts 16:22 describes one of these occasions in Philippi; in this case it was administered by the city magistrates, who had wide powers in a military colony.

[11:25]  ¹⁹ sn Received a stoning. See Acts 14:19, where this incident is described.

[11:26]  ²⁰ tn Or “bandits.” The word normally refers more to highwaymen (“robbers”) but can also refer to insurrectionists or revolutionaries (“bandits”).

[11:26]  ²¹ tn Or “desert.”

[11:27]  ²² tn The two different words for labor are translated “in hard work and toil” by L&N 42.48.

[11:27]  ²³ tn Grk “in cold and nakedness.” Paul does not mean complete nakedness, however, which would have been repugnant to a Jew; he refers instead to the lack of sufficient clothing, especially in cold weather. A related word is used to 1 Cor 4:11, also in combination with experiencing hunger and thirst.

[11:28]  ²⁴ sn Apart from other things. Paul refers here either (1) to the external sufferings just mentioned, or (2) he refers to other things he has left unmentioned.

[11:28]  ²⁵ tn “Anxious concern,” so translated in L&N 25.224.