¹² I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry,^(A) whether living in plenty or in want.^(B)

²⁹ Take my yoke upon you and learn from me,^(A) for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.^(B)

⁷ or because of these surpassingly great revelations.^(A) Therefore, in order to keep me from becoming conceited, I was given a thorn in my flesh,^(B) a messenger of Satan,^(C) to torment me. ⁸ Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me.^{(D) 9} But he said to me, “My grace^(E) is sufficient for you, for my power^(F) is made perfect in weakness.^(G)”^(H) Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. ¹⁰ That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight^(I) in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships,^(J) in persecutions,^(K) in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.^(L)

²⁷ I have labored and toiled^(A) and have often gone without sleep; I have known hunger and thirst and have often gone without food;^(B) I have been cold and naked.

⁹ And when I was with you and needed something, I was not a burden to anyone, for the brothers who came from Macedonia supplied what I needed.^(A) I have kept myself from being a burden to you^(B) in any way, and will continue to do so.