in labor and toil and often without sleep, in hunger and thirst and often without food, in cold and exposure.
Parallel translations
- WEB in labor and travail, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, and in cold and nakedness.
- KJV In weariness and painfulness, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness.
- NKJV in weariness and toil, in sleeplessness often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness—
- NASB I have been in labor and hardship, through many sleepless nights, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure.
- NLT I have worked hard and long, enduring many sleepless nights. I have been hungry and thirsty and have often gone without food. I have shivered in the cold, without enough clothing to keep me warm.
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.
Quick answer
Paul adds hardships of exhausting labor, sleeplessness, hunger, thirst, and exposure to cold. It matters because his ministry meant ongoing physical deprivation, not comfort or gain.
Overview
Beyond dramatic dangers, Paul bore the daily grind of toil and want, sometimes self-imposed through fasting and sometimes forced by circumstance. Often he worked with his own hands to avoid burdening the churches (cf. 1 Thessalonians 2:9). Such voluntary hardship for the sake of others mirrors the self-emptying love of Christ.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 16
- 2 Cor 6:5in beatings, imprisonments, and riots; in labor, sleepless nights, and hunger;
- Phil 4:12I know how to live humbly, and I know how to abound. I am accustomed to any and every situation—to being filled and being hungry, to having plenty and having need.
- 1 Th 2:9Surely you recall, brothers, our labor and toil. We worked night and day so that we would not be a burden to anyone while we proclaimed to you the gospel of God.
- 2 Th 3:8nor did we eat anyone’s food without paying for it. Instead, in labor and toil, we worked night and day so that we would not be a burden to any of you.
- 1 Cor 4:11–12To this very hour we are hungry and thirsty, we are poorly clothed, we are brutally treated, we are homeless.
- Rom 8:35–36Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?
- Acts 14:23Paul and Barnabas appointed elders for them in each church, praying and fasting as they entrusted them to the Lord, in whom they had believed.
- Acts 13:2–3While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for Me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.”
- Acts 20:34–35You yourselves know that these hands of mine have ministered to my own needs and those of my companions.
- 2 Cor 11:23Are 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.
- Jas 2:15–16Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food.
- Jer 38:9“My lord the king, these men have acted wickedly in all that they have done to Jeremiah the prophet. They have dropped him into the cistern, where he will starve to death, for there is no more bread in the city.”
- Heb 11:37They were stoned, they were sawed in two, they were put to death by the sword. They went around in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, oppressed, and mistreated.
- 1 Cor 7:5Do not deprive each other, except by mutual consent and for a time, so you may devote yourselves to prayer. Then come together again, so that Satan will not tempt you through your lack of self-control.
- Acts 20:31Therefore be alert and remember that for three years I never stopped warning each of you night and day with tears.
- Acts 20:5–11These men went on ahead and waited for us in Troas.
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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 11:27 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.