Testing of Your Faith

^2 (A)Count it all joy, my brothers,^[a] when you meet trials ^(B)of various kinds, ³ for you know that ^(C)the testing of your faith ^(D)produces steadfastness. ⁴ And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be ^(E)perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.

²⁴ Five times I received at the hands of the Jews the ^(A)forty lashes less one. ²⁵ Three times I was ^(B)beaten with rods. ^(C)Once I was stoned. Three times I ^(D)was shipwrecked; a night and a day I was adrift at sea; ²⁶ on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from robbers, ^(E)danger from my own people, ^(F)danger from Gentiles, ^(G)danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers; ^27 (H)in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, ^(I)in hunger and thirst, often without food,^[a] in cold and exposure. ²⁸ And, apart from other things, there is the daily pressure on me of my anxiety for ^(J)all the churches. ^29 (K)Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is made to fall, and I am not indignant?

^30 (L)If I must boast, I will boast of the things that show my weakness. ^31 (M)The God and Father of the Lord Jesus, ^(N)he who is blessed forever, ^(O)knows that I am not lying. ³² At Damascus, the governor under King Aretas ^(P)was guarding the city of Damascus in order to seize me, ^33 (Q)but I was let down in a basket through a window in the wall and escaped his hands.