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2 Corinthians 11:29

Who is weak, and I am not weak? who is offended, and I burn not?
2 Corinthians 11:29 · King James Version
Parallel translations
  • WEB Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is caused to stumble, and I don’t burn with indignation?
  • BSB Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is led into sin, and I do not burn with grief?
  • NKJV Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is made to stumble, and I do not burn with indignation?
  • NASB Who is weak without my being weak? Who is led into sin without my intense concern?
  • NLT Who is weak without my feeling that weakness? Who is led astray, and I do not burn with anger?

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 so identifies with believers that he feels their weakness and burns with concern when any are led into sin. It matters because godly leadership shares deeply in the struggles of the flock.

Overview

Paul's empathy is total: another's weakness becomes his own, and another's stumbling kindles his indignation, whether against the offender or in pained sympathy. This is the sensitivity of a true shepherd, contrasting with the self-serving 'super-apostles.' It echoes Christ's compassion for the weak and his anger at those who cause little ones to stumble.

Cross-references & the web

Cross-references · 34

  • 1 Cor 9:22To the weak became I as weak, that I might gain the weak: I am made all things to all men, that I might by all means save some.
  • 1 Cor 8:13Wherefore, if meat make my brother to offend, I will eat no flesh while the world standeth, lest I make my brother to offend.
  • Gal 4:8–20Howbeit then, when ye knew not God, ye did service unto them which by nature are no gods.
  • Neh 5:6–13And I was very angry when I heard their cry and these words.
  • Neh 13:15–20In those days saw I in Judah some treading wine presses on the sabbath, and bringing in sheaves, and lading asses; as also wine, grapes, and figs, and all manner of burdens, which they brought into Jerusalem on the sabbath day: and I testified against them in the day wherein they sold victuals.
  • 2 Cor 13:9For we are glad, when we are weak, and ye are strong: and this also we wish, even your perfection.
  • 2 Cor 2:4–5For out of much affliction and anguish of heart I wrote unto you with many tears; not that ye should be grieved, but that ye might know the love which I have more abundantly unto you.
  • 2 Cor 7:5–6For, when we were come into Macedonia, our flesh had no rest, but we were troubled on every side; without were fightings, within were fears.
  • 2 Cor 11:13–15For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ.
  • Gal 2:4–6And that because of false brethren unawares brought in, who came in privily to spy out our liberty which we have in Christ Jesus, that they might bring us into bondage:
  • Gal 3:1–3O foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you, that ye should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth, crucified among you?
  • Gal 1:7–10Which is not another; but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ.
  • Gal 6:2Bear ye one another’s burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ.
  • Gal 5:2–4Behold, I Paul say unto you, that if ye be circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing.
  • Gal 2:14But when I saw that they walked not uprightly according to the truth of the gospel, I said unto Peter before them all, If thou, being a Jew, livest after the manner of Gentiles, and not as do the Jews, why compellest thou the Gentiles to live as do the Jews?
  • 1 Th 3:5–8For this cause, when I could no longer forbear, I sent to know your faith, lest by some means the tempter have tempted you, and our labour be in vain.
  • 1 Cor 15:36Thou fool, that which thou sowest is not quickened, except it die:
  • 1 Cor 15:12–34Now if Christ be preached that he rose from the dead, how say some among you that there is no resurrection of the dead?
  • 1 Cor 5:1–5It is reported commonly that there is fornication among you, and such fornication as is not so much as named among the Gentiles, that one should have his father’s wife.
  • 1 Cor 11:22What? have ye not houses to eat and to drink in? or despise ye the church of God, and shame them that have not? What shall I say to you? shall I praise you in this? I praise you not.
  • 1 Cor 6:5–7I speak to your shame. Is it so, that there is not a wise man among you? no, not one that shall be able to judge between his brethren?
  • 1 Cor 12:26And whether one member suffer, all the members suffer with it; or one member be honoured, all the members rejoice with it.
  • 1 Cor 6:15–18Know ye not that your bodies are the members of Christ? shall I then take the members of Christ, and make them the members of an harlot? God forbid.
  • John 2:17And his disciples remembered that it was written, The zeal of thine house hath eaten me up.
  • Rom 15:1We then that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak, and not to please ourselves.
  • Rom 12:15Rejoice with them that do rejoice, and weep with them that weep.
  • 2 Jn 1:10–11If there come any unto you, and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into your house, neither bid him God speed:
  • Jude 1:3–4Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints.
  • Rev 2:2I know thy works, and thy labour, and thy patience, and how thou canst not bear them which are evil: and thou hast tried them which say they are apostles, and are not, and hast found them liars:
  • Rev 3:15–18I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot.
  • Num 25:6–11And, behold, one of the children of Israel came and brought unto his brethren a Midianitish woman in the sight of Moses, and in the sight of all the congregation of the children of Israel, who were weeping before the door of the tabernacle of the congregation.
  • Rev 2:20Notwithstanding I have a few things against thee, because thou sufferest that woman Jezebel, which calleth herself a prophetess, to teach and to seduce my servants to commit fornication, and to eat things sacrificed unto idols.
  • Ezra 9:1–3Now when these things were done, the princes came to me, saying, The people of Israel, and the priests, and the Levites, have not separated themselves from the people of the lands, doing according to their abominations, even of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Jebusites, the Ammonites, the Moabites, the Egyptians, and the Amorites.
  • Neh 13:23–25In those days also saw I Jews that had married wives of Ashdod, of Ammon, and of Moab:

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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 11:29 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.

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