¹⁸ Then he became very thirsty; so he cried out to the Lord and said, ^(A)“You have given this great deliverance by the hand of Your servant; and now shall I die of thirst and fall into the hand of the uncircumcised?”

The Thorn in the Flesh

⁷ And lest I should be exalted above measure by the abundance of the revelations, a ^(A)thorn in the flesh was given to me, ^(B)a messenger of Satan to ^[a]buffet me, lest I be exalted above measure. ^8 (C)Concerning this thing I pleaded with the Lord three times that it might depart from me.

³² And what more shall I say? For the time would fail me to tell of ^(A)Gideon and ^(B)Barak and ^(C)Samson and ^(D)Jephthah, also of ^(E)David and ^(F)Samuel and the prophets:

⁸ We are ^(A)hard-pressed on every side, yet not crushed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; ⁹ persecuted, but not ^(B)forsaken; ^(C)struck down, but not destroyed—

Delivered from Suffering

⁸ For we do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, of ^(A)our ^[a]trouble which came to us in Asia: that we were burdened beyond measure, above strength, so that we despaired even of life. ⁹ Yes, we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should ^(B)not trust in ourselves but in God who raises the dead,