Limitless Word

2 Corinthians 11:23

Are they servants of Christ? (I speak as one beside himself) I am more so; in labors more abundantly, in prisons more abundantly, in stripes above measure, in deaths often.
2 Corinthians 11:23 · World English Bible
Parallel translations
  • KJV Are they ministers of Christ? (I speak as a fool) I am more; in labours more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequent, in deaths oft.
  • BSB Are they servants of Christ? I am speaking like I am out of my mind, but I am so much more: in harder labor, in more imprisonments, in worse beatings, in frequent danger of death.
  • NKJV Are they ministers of Christ?—I speak as a fool—I am more: in labors more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequently, in deaths often.
  • NASB Are they servants of Christ?—I am speaking as if insane—I more so; in far more labors, in far more imprisonments, beaten times without number, often in danger of death.
  • NLT Are they servants of Christ? I know I sound like a madman, but I have served him far more! I have worked harder, been put in prison more often, been whipped times without number, and faced death again and again.

Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org

Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Cross-references & the web

Cross-references · 38

  • 2 Cor 6:4–5but in everything commending ourselves, as servants of God, in great endurance, in afflictions, in hardships, in distresses,
  • Col 1:24Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and fill up on my part that which is lacking of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body’s sake, which is the assembly;
  • 2 Cor 1:9–10Yes, we ourselves have had the sentence of death within ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God who raises the dead,
  • 2 Cor 6:9as unknown, and yet well known; as dying, and behold, we live; as punished, and not killed;
  • 1 Cor 15:10But by the grace of God I am what I am. His grace which was given to me was not futile, but I worked more than all of them; yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.
  • 2 Cor 11:24–25Five times from the Jews I received forty stripes minus one.
  • Acts 9:16For I will show him how many things he must suffer for my name’s sake.”
  • 2 Cor 3:6who also made us sufficient as servants of a new covenant; not of the letter, but of the Spirit. For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.
  • 2 Tim 2:9in which I suffer hardship to the point of chains as a criminal. But God’s word isn’t chained.
  • Col 1:29for which I also labor, striving according to his working, which works in me mightily.
  • Eph 6:20for which I am an ambassador in chains; that in it I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak.
  • 1 Cor 3:5Who then is Apollos, and who is Paul, but servants through whom you believed; and each as the Lord gave to him?
  • Phlm 1:9yet for love’s sake I rather beg, being such a one as Paul, the aged, but also a prisoner of Jesus Christ.
  • 1 Cor 15:30–32Why do we also stand in jeopardy every hour?
  • Phil 1:13so that it became evident to the whole palace guard, and to all the rest, that my bonds are in Christ;
  • Acts 20:23except that the Holy Spirit testifies in every city, saying that bonds and afflictions wait for me.
  • Acts 24:26–27Meanwhile, he also hoped that money would be given to him by Paul, that he might release him. Therefore also he sent for him more often, and talked with him.
  • 1 Tim 4:6If you instruct the brothers of these things, you will be a good servant of Christ Jesus, nourished in the words of the faith, and of the good doctrine which you have followed.
  • 2 Tim 1:16May the Lord grant mercy to the house of Onesiphorus, for he often refreshed me, and was not ashamed of my chain,
  • 1 Th 3:2and sent Timothy, our brother and God’s servant in the Good News of Christ, to establish you, and to comfort you concerning your faith;
  • Acts 25:14As he stayed there many days, Festus laid Paul’s case before the king, saying, “There is a certain man left a prisoner by Felix;
  • 2 Cor 4:11For we who live are always delivered to death for Jesus’ sake, that the life also of Jesus may be revealed in our mortal flesh.
  • Acts 21:11Coming to us, and taking Paul’s belt, he bound his own feet and hands, and said, “Thus says the Holy Spirit: ‘So will the Jews at Jerusalem bind the man who owns this belt, and will deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles.’”
  • Acts 28:16When we entered into Rome, the centurion delivered the prisoners to the captain of the guard, but Paul was allowed to stay by himself with the soldier who guarded him.
  • 2 Cor 12:11–12I have become foolish in boasting. You compelled me, for I ought to have been commended by you, for in nothing was I inferior to the very best apostles, though I am nothing.
  • Acts 28:30Paul stayed two whole years in his own rented house, and received all who were coming to him,
  • Phil 2:17Yes, and if I am poured out on the sacrifice and service of your faith, I rejoice, and rejoice with you all.
  • Heb 10:34For you both had compassion on me in my chains, and joyfully accepted the plundering of your possessions, knowing that you have for yourselves a better possession and an enduring one in the heavens.
  • 2 Cor 11:5For I reckon that I am not at all behind the very best apostles.
  • 2 Cor 10:7Do you look at things only as they appear in front of your face? If anyone trusts in himself that he is Christ’s, let him consider this again with himself, that, even as he is Christ’s, so also we are Christ’s.
  • 2 Tim 1:8Therefore don’t be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me his prisoner; but endure hardship for the Good News according to the power of God,
  • Acts 16:23–24When they had laid many stripes on them, they threw them into prison, charging the jailer to keep them safely,
  • Acts 14:19But some Jews from Antioch and Iconium came there, and having persuaded the multitudes, they stoned Paul, and dragged him out of the city, supposing that he was dead.
  • Eph 3:1For this cause I, Paul, am the prisoner of Christ Jesus on behalf of you Gentiles,
  • Acts 27:1When it was determined that we should sail for Italy, they delivered Paul and certain other prisoners to a centurion named Julius, of the Augustan band.
  • Eph 4:1I therefore, the prisoner in the Lord, beg you to walk worthily of the calling with which you were called,
  • Rom 8:36Even as it is written, “For your sake we are killed all day long. We were accounted as sheep for the slaughter.”
  • 1 Cor 4:1So let a man think of us as Christ’s servants, and stewards of God’s mysteries.

Themes, concepts, people & topics

Topics (2)

Resources, by level

Commentaries & study tools

Christ at the center

In Christ all God's promises are 'Yes and Amen'; though rich, he became poor to make us rich, and in him God reconciles the world, making us new creations.

How 2 Corinthians 11:23 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.

Original language

Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Greek word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.