2 Corinthians 11:29

THE MESSAGE

Parallel Translations

Easy-to-Read Version
I feel weak every time another person is weak. I feel deeply upset every time another person is led into sin.

Revised Standard Version
Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is made to fall, and I am not indignant?

Tyndale New Testament (1525)
Who is sicke and I am not sicke? Who is hurte in the fayth and my hert burneth not?

Hebrew Names Version
Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is caused to stumble, and I don't burn?

New American Standard Bible
Who is weak without my being weak? Who is led into sin without my intense concern?

New Century Version
I feel weak every time someone is weak, and I feel upset every time someone is led into sin.

Update Bible Version
Who is weak, and I am not weak? who is caused to stumble, and I do not burn [with distress]?

Webster's Bible Translation
Who is weak, and I am not weak? who is made to fall into sin, and I burn not?

English Standard Version
Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is made to fall, and I am not indignant?

World English Bible
Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is caused to stumble, and I don't burn?

Wesley's New Testament (1755)
Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is offended, and I burn not?

Weymouth's New Testament
Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is led astray into sin, and I am not aflame with indignation?

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
Who is sijk, and Y am not sijk? who is sclaundrid, and Y am not brent?

English Revised Version
Who is weak, and I am not weak? who is made to stumble, and I burn not?

Berean Standard Bible
Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is led into sin, and I do not burn with grief?

Contemporary English Version
When others are weak, I am weak too. When others are tricked into sin, I get angry.

Amplified Bible
Who is weak, and I do not feel [his] weakness? Who is made to sin, and I am not on fire [with sorrow and concern]?

American Standard Version
Who is weak, and I am not weak? who is caused to stumble, and I burn not?

Bible in Basic English
Who is feeble and I am not feeble? who is in danger of falling, and I am not angry?

Complete Jewish Bible
Who is weak without my sharing his weakness? Who falls into sin without my burning inside?

Darby Translation
Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is stumbled, and I burn not?

International Standard Version
Who is weak without me being weak, too? Who is caused to stumble without me becoming indignant?1 Corinthians 8:13; 9:22;">[xr]

Etheridge Translation
Who is weak, and I am not weak ? Who is offended, and I burn not ?

Murdock Translation
Who becometh weak, and I become not weak? Who is stumbled, and I burn not?

King James Version (1611)
Who is weake, and I am not weake? who is offended, and I burne not?

New Living Translation
Who is weak without my feeling that weakness? Who is led astray, and I do not burn with anger?

New Life Bible
When someone is weak, I feel weak also. When someone is led into sin, I have a strong desire to help him.

New Revised Standard
Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is made to stumble, and I am not indignant?

Geneva Bible (1587)
Who is weake, and I am not weake? who is offended, and I burne not?

George Lamsa Translation
Who is sick that I do not feel the pain? Who stumbles that does not have my heartfelt sympathy?

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is caused to stumble, and, I, am not burning?

Douay-Rheims Bible
Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is scandalized, and I am not on fire?

Bishop's Bible (1568)
Who is weake, and I am not weake? who is offended, and I burne not?

Good News Translation
When someone is weak, then I feel weak too; when someone is led into sin, I am filled with distress.

Christian Standard Bible®
Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is made to stumble, and I do not burn with indignation?

King James Version
Who is weak, and I am not weak? who is offended, and I burn not?

Lexham English Bible
Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is caused to sin, and I do not burn with indignation?

Literal Translation
Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is caused to stumble, and I do not burn?

Young's Literal Translation
Who is infirm, and I am not infirm? who is stumbled, and I am not fired;

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
Who is weake, and I be not weake? Who is offended, & I burne not?

Mace New Testament (1729)
who is afflicted, and I not suffer? who is offended, and I not inflam'd?

New English Translation
Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is led into sin, and I do not burn with indignation?

New King James Version
Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is made to stumble, and I do not burn with indignation?

Simplified Cowboy Version
I feel the desperation when someone reaches the end of their rope. It kills me every time a cowboy rides back to a life of sin.

New American Standard Bible (1995)
Who is weak without my being weak? Who is led into sin without my intense concern?

Legacy Standard Bible
Who is weak without my being weak? Who is made to stumble without my burning concern?

Contextual Overview

²²Pseudo-Servants of God Will you put up with a little foolish aside from me? Please, just for a moment. The thing that has me so upset is that I care about you so much—this is the passion of God burning inside me! I promised your hand in marriage to Christ, presented you as a pure virgin to her husband. And now I'm afraid that exactly as the Snake seduced Eve with his smooth patter, you are being lured away from the simple purity of your love for Christ. It seems that if someone shows up preaching quite another Jesus than we preached—different spirit, different message—you put up with him quite nicely. But if you put up with these big-shot "apostles," why can't you put up with simple me? I'm as good as they are. It's true that I don't have their voice, haven't mastered that smooth eloquence that impresses you so much. But when I do open my mouth, I at least know what I'm talking about. We haven't kept anything back. We let you in on everything. I wonder, did I make a bad mistake in proclaiming God's Message to you without asking for something in return, serving you free of charge so that you wouldn't be inconvenienced by me? It turns out that the other churches paid my way so that you could have a free ride. Not once during the time I lived among you did anyone have to lift a finger to help me out. My needs were always supplied by the believers from Macedonia province. I was careful never to be a burden to you, and I never will be, you can count on it. With Christ as my witness, it's a point of honor with me, and I'm not going to keep it quiet just to protect you from what the neighbors will think. It's not that I don't love you; God knows I do. I'm just trying to keep things open and honest between us. And I'm not changing my position on this. I'd die before taking your money. I'm giving nobody grounds for lumping me in with those money-grubbing "preachers," vaunting themselves as something special. They're a sorry bunch—pseudo-apostles, lying preachers, crooked workers—posing as Christ's agents but sham to the core. And no wonder! Satan does it all the time, dressing up as a beautiful angel of light. So it shouldn't surprise us when his servants masquerade as servants of God. But they're not getting by with anything. They'll pay for it in the end. Let me come back to where I started—and don't hold it against me if I continue to sound a little foolish. Or if you'd rather, just accept that I am a fool and let me rant on a little. I didn't learn this kind of talk from Christ. Oh, no, it's a bad habit I picked up from the three-ring preachers that are so popular these days. Since you sit there in the judgment seat observing all these shenanigans, you can afford to humor an occasional fool who happens along. You have such admirable tolerance for impostors who rob your freedom, rip you off, steal you blind, put you down—even slap your face! I shouldn't admit it to you, but our stomachs aren't strong enough to tolerate that kind of stuff. Since you admire the egomaniacs of the pulpit so much (remember, this is your old friend, the fool, talking), let me try my hand at it. Do they brag of being Hebrews, Israelites, the pure race of Abraham? I'm their match. Are they servants of Christ? I can go them one better. (I can't believe I'm saying these things. It's crazy to talk this way! But I started, and I'm going to finish.) ²³I've worked much harder, been jailed more often, beaten up more times than I can count, and at death's door time after time. I've been flogged five times with the Jews' thirty-nine lashes, beaten by Roman rods three times, pummeled with rocks once. I've been shipwrecked three times, and immersed in the open sea for a night and a day. In hard traveling year in and year out, I've had to ford rivers, fend off robbers, struggle with friends, struggle with foes. I've been at risk in the city, at risk in the country, endangered by desert sun and sea storm, and betrayed by those I thought were my brothers. I've known drudgery and hard labor, many a long and lonely night without sleep, many a missed meal, blasted by the cold, naked to the weather. ²⁸And that's not the half of it, when you throw in the daily pressures and anxieties of all the churches. When someone gets to the end of his rope, I feel the desperation in my bones. When someone is duped into sin, an angry fire burns in my gut. ³⁰If I have to "brag" about myself, I'll brag about the humiliations that make me like Jesus. The eternal and blessed God and Father of our Master Jesus knows I'm not lying. Remember the time I was in Damascus and the governor of King Aretas posted guards at the city gates to arrest me? I crawled through a window in the wall, was let down in a basket, and had to run for my life.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

is weak: 2 Corinthians 2:4, 2 Corinthians 2:5, 2 Corinthians 7:5, 2 Corinthians 7:6, 2 Corinthians 13:9, Ezra 9:1-3, Romans 12:15, Romans 15:1, 1 Corinthians 8:13, 1 Corinthians 9:22, 1 Corinthians 12:26, Galatians 6:2, 1 Thessalonians 3:5-8

and I burn: 2 Corinthians 11:13-15, Numbers 25:6-11, Nehemiah 5:6-13, Nehemiah 13:15-20, Nehemiah 13:23-25, John 2:17, 1 Corinthians 5:1-5, 1 Corinthians 6:5-7, 1 Corinthians 6:15-18, 1 Corinthians 11:22, 1 Corinthians 15:12-34, 1 Corinthians 15:36, Galatians 1:7-10, Galatians 2:4-6, Galatians 2:14, Galatians 3:1-3, Galatians 4:8-20, Galatians 5:2-4, 2 John 1:10, 2 John 1:11, Jude 1:3, Jude 1:4, Revelation 2:2, Revelation 2:20, Revelation 3:15-18

Reciprocal: 2 Samuel 1:12 - General Job 6:14 - To him Psalms 51:18 - Do 1 Corinthians 2:3 - General 1 Corinthians 4:10 - we are weak 1 Corinthians 10:33 - General 2 Corinthians 2:2 - General 2 Corinthians 11:3 - I fear Philippians 2:4 - General Philippians 3:18 - even 1 Thessalonians 3:1 - when

Cross-References

Genesis 17:15
God continued speaking to Abraham, "And Sarai your wife: Don't call her Sarai any longer; call her Sarah. I'll bless her—yes! I'll give you a son by her! Oh, how I'll bless her! Nations will come from her; kings of nations will come from her."

Genesis 22:20
After all this, Abraham got the news: "Your brother Nahor is a father! Milcah has given him children: Uz, his firstborn, his brother Buz, Kemuel (he was the father of Aram), Kesed, Hazo, Pildash, Jidlaph, and Bethuel." (Bethuel was the father of Rebekah.) Milcah gave these eight sons to Nahor, Abraham's brother.

Genesis 24:15
It so happened that the words were barely out of his mouth when Rebekah, the daughter of Bethuel whose mother was Milcah the wife of Nahor, Abraham's brother, came out with a water jug on her shoulder. The girl was stunningly beautiful, a pure virgin. She went down to the spring, filled her jug, and came back up. The servant ran to meet her and said, "Please, can I have a sip of water from your jug?"

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Who is weak, and I am not weak?.... What church is so? or what particular believer is so? for he had not only the care of all the churches, but of all believers upon him; whoever was weak in the faith he was concerned for them, to instruct, establish, and strengthen them; and suited his discourses, reasonings, and language, to their capacity, that they might understand him, and take in right notions of things: or whoever was of a weak and scrupulous conscience about things indifferent, and fearful of using them lest they should sin in so doing, he was cautious of offending them, or doing anything by which their consciences should be defiled, and their peace be broken: or whoever was afflicted, either in body or mind, he sympathized and bore a part with them: "who is offended, and I burn not?" whoever was stumbled and made to fall by anything he said or did, or by the words and actions of others, it gave him sensible pain, it made him very uneasy; he was as one in a flame, all on fire, full of grief and trouble till the cause of the offence was removed, and the person offended made easy and restored; the word here used answers to the Hebrew word עגם, used in

Job 30:25 where it is said, "was not my soul grieved for the poor?" which Mr. Broughton renders, "did not my soul burn for the poor?" Now by all this which the apostle did and suffered, by all actions and sufferings, care and sympathy, he fully appeared to be a true and faithful minister of Christ, and abundantly more than the false apostles, who could produce none of these things as testimonies in their favour.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Who is weak ... - I sympathize with all. I feel where others feel, and their sorrows excite deep sympathetic emotions in my bosom. Like a tender and compassionate friend I am affected when I see others in circumstances of distress. The word “weak” here may refer to any lack of strength, any infirmity or feebleness arising either from body or mind. It may include all who were feeble by persecution or by disease; or it may refer to the weak in faith and doubtful about their duty (see 1 Corinthians 9:22), and to those who were burdened with mental sorrows. The idea is, that Paul had a deep sympathy in all who needed such sympathy from any cause. And the statement here shows the depth of feeling of this great apostle; and shows what should be the feeling of every pastor; see the note on Romans 12:15.

And I am not weak? - I share his feelings and sympathize with him. If he suffers, I suffer. Bloomfield supposes that Paul means that in the case of those who were weak in the faith he accommodated himself to their weakness and thus became all things to all people; see my note on 1 Corinthians 9:22. But it seems to me probable that he uses the phrase here in a more general sense, as denoting that he sympathized with those who were weak and feeble in all their circumstances.

Who is offended - (σκανδαλίζεται skandalizetai). Who is “scandalized.” The word means properly to cause to stumble and fall; hence, to be a stumbling-block to any one; to give or cause offence to anyone. The idea here seems to be, “who is liable to be led astray; who has temptations and trials that are likely to lead him to sin or to cause him to fall, and I do not burn with impatience to restore him, or with indignation against the tempter?” In all such cases Paul deeply sympathized with them, and was prompt to aid them.

And I burn not? - That is, with anger or with great agitation of mind at learning that anyone had fallen into sin. This may either mean that he would burn with indignation against those who had led them into sin, or be deeply excited in view of the disgrace which would be thus brought on the Christian cause. In either case it means that his mind would be in a glow of emotion; he would feel deeply; he could not look upon such things with indifference or without being deeply agitated. With all he sympathized; and the condition of all, whether in a state of feeble faith, or feeble body, or falling into sin, excited the deepest emotions in his mind. The truth here taught is, that Paul felt a deep sympathy for all others who bore the Christian name, and this sympathy for others greatly increased the cares and toils of the apostolic office which he sustained. But having given this exposition, candor compels me to acknowledge that the whole verse may mean, “Who is feeble in the faith in regard to certain observances and rites and customs 1 Corinthians 9:22, and I do not also evince the same? I do not rouse their prejudices, or wound their feelings, or alarm them. On the other hand, who is scandalized, or led into sin by the example of others in regard to such custom; who is led by the example of others into transgression, and I do not burn with indignation?” In either case, however, the general sense is, that he sympathized with all others.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse 29. Who is weak — What Church is there under persecution, with which I do not immediately sympathize? or who, from his weakness in the faith, and scrupulousness of conscience, is likely to be stumbled, or turned out of the way, to whom I do not condescend, and whose burden I do not bear?

Who is offended — Or likely to be turned out of the way, and I burn not with zeal to restore and confirm him? This seems to be the sense of these different questions.