²³ Are they servants of Christ?^(A) (I am out of my mind to talk like this.) I am more. I have worked much harder,^(B) been in prison more frequently,^(C) been flogged more severely,^(D) and been exposed to death again and again.^(E)

⁴ Rather, as servants of God we commend ourselves in every way: in great endurance; in troubles, hardships and distresses; ⁵ in beatings, imprisonments^(A) and riots; in hard work, sleepless nights and hunger;^(B)

⁶ He has made us competent as ministers of a new covenant^(A)—not of the letter^(B) but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.^(C)

¹⁰ But by the grace^(A) of God I am what I am, and his grace to me^(B) was not without effect. No, I worked harder than all of them^(C)—yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me.^(D)

²⁴ Five times I received from the Jews the forty lashes^(A) minus one. ²⁵ Three times I was beaten with rods,^(B) once I was pelted with stones,^(C) three times I was shipwrecked,^(D) I spent a night and a day in the open sea,

⁹ known, yet regarded as unknown; dying,^(A) and yet we live on;^(B) beaten, and yet not killed;

⁹ Indeed, we felt we had received the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God,^(A) who raises the dead.^{(B) 10} He has delivered us from such a deadly peril,^(C) and he will deliver us again. On him we have set our hope^(D) that he will continue to deliver us,

¹⁶ I will show him how much he must suffer for my name.”^(A)

⁹ for which I am suffering^(A) even to the point of being chained^(B) like a criminal. But God’s word^(C) is not chained.