¹Would that ye would bear with me [in] a little folly; but indeed bear with me.

¹Laiti mngenivumilia kidogo, hata kama mimi ni mjinga kiasi fulani! Naam, nivumilieni kidogo.

²For I am jealous as to you with a jealousy [which is] of God; for I have espoused you unto one man, to present [you] a chaste virgin to Christ.

²Ninawaoneeni wivu lakini ni wivu wa Mungu; maana ninyi ni kama bikira safi niliyemposa kwa mwanamume mmoja tu ambaye ndiye Kristo.

³But I fear lest by any means, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craft, [so] your thoughts should be corrupted from simplicity as to the Christ.

³Lakini naogopa kwamba, kama vile yule nyoka kwa hila zake za uongo alimdanganya Hawa, fikira zenu zaweza kupotoshwa, mkauacha uaminifu wenu wa kweli kwa Kristo.

⁴For if indeed he that comes preaches another Jesus, whom we have not preached, or ye get a different Spirit, which ye have not got, or a different glad tidings, which ye have not received, ye might well bear with [it].

⁴Maana mtu yeyote ajaye na kumhubiri Yesu aliye tofauti na yule tuliyemhubiri, ninyi mwampokea kwa mikono miwili; au mnakubali roho au habari njema tofauti kabisa na ile mliyopokea kutoka kwetu!

⁵For I reckon that in nothing I am behind those who are in surpassing degree apostles.

⁵Sidhani kwamba mimi ni mdogo kuliko hao "mitume wakuu."

⁶But if [I am] a simple person in speech, yet not in knowledge, but in everything making [the truth] manifest in all things to you.

⁶Labda sina ufasaha wa lugha, lakini elimu ninayo; jambo hili tumelionyesha wazi kwenu, kila mahali na kila wakati.

⁷Have I committed sin, abasing myself in order that *ye* might be exalted, because I gratuitously announced to you the glad tidings of God?

⁷Mimi niliihubiri kwenu Habari Njema ya Mungu bila kudai mshahara; nilijinyenyekeza ili nipate kuwakweza ninyi. Je, nilifanya vibaya?

⁸I spoiled other assemblies, receiving hire for ministry towards you.

⁸Nilipofanya kazi kati yenu, mahitaji yangu yaligharimiwa na makanisa mengine. Kwa namna moja au nyingine niliwapokonya wao mali yao nipate kuwatumikia ninyi.

⁹And being present with you and lacking, I did not lazily burden any one, (for the brethren who came from Macedonia supplied what I lacked,) and in everything I kept myself from being a burden to you, and will keep myself.

⁹Nilipokuwa nanyi sikumsumbua mtu yeyote nilipohitaji fedha; ndugu waliotoka Makedonia waliniletea kila kitu nilichohitaji. Nilikuwa mwangalifu sana nisiwe mzigo kwa namna yoyote ile, na nitaendelea kufanya hivyo.

¹⁰[The] truth of Christ is in me that this boasting shall not be stopped as to me in the regions of Achaia.

¹⁰Naahidi kwa ule ukweli wa Kristo ulio ndani yangu, kwamba hakuna kitakachoweza kunizuia kujivunia jambo hilo popote katika Akaya.

¹¹Why? because I do not love you? God knows.

¹¹Kwa nini nasema hivyo? Kwa sababu eti siwapendi ninyi? Mungu anajua kwamba nawapenda!

¹²But what I do, I will also do, that I may cut off the opportunity of those wishing [for] an opportunity, that wherein they boast they may be found even as we.

¹²Nitaendelea kufanya kama ninavyofanya sasa, ili nisiwape nafasi wale wanaotafuta nafasi, nafasi ya kujivuna kwamba eti wanafanya kazi kama sisi.

¹³For such [are] false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into apostles of Christ.

¹³Maana, hao ni mitume wa uongo, wafanyakazi wadanganyifu wanojisingizia kuwa mitume wa Kristo.

¹⁴And [it is] not wonderful, for Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light.

¹⁴Wala si ajabu, maana hata Shetani mwenyewe hujisingizia kuwa malaika wa mwanga!

¹⁵It is no great thing therefore if his ministers also transform themselves as ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works.

¹⁵Kwa hiyo si jambo la kushangaza ikiwa na hao watumishi wake wanajisingizia kuwa watumishi wa haki. Mwisho wao watapata kile wanachostahili kufuatana na matendo yao.

¹⁶Again I say, Let not any one think me to be a fool; but if otherwise, receive me then even as a fool, that *I* also may boast myself some little.

¹⁶Tena nasema: Mtu asinifikirie kuwa mpumbavu. Lakini kama mkifikiri hivyo, basi, nichukueni kama mpumbavu ili nami nipate kuwa na cha kujivunia angaa kidogo.

¹⁷What I speak I do not speak according to [the] Lord, but as in folly, in this confidence of boasting.

¹⁷Ninachosema sasa si kile alichoniagiza Bwana; kuhusu jambo hili la kujivuna, nasema tu kama mtu mpumbavu.

¹⁸Since many boast according to flesh, *I* also will boast.

¹⁸Maadam wengi hujivuna kwa sababu za kidunia, nami pia nitajivuna.

¹⁹For ye bear fools readily, being wise.

¹⁹Ninyi ni wenye busara, ndiyo maana hata mnawavumilia wapumbavu!

²⁰For ye bear if any one bring you into bondage, if any one devour [you], if any one get [your money], if any one exalt himself, if any one beat you on the face.

²⁰Mnamvumilia hata mtu anayewafanya ninyi watumwa, mtu mwenye kuwanyonya, mwenye kuwakandamiza, mwenye kuwadharau na kuwapiga usoni!

²¹I speak as to dishonour, as though *we* had been weak; but wherein any one is daring, (I speak in folly,) *I* also am daring.

²¹Kwa aibu nakubali kwamba sisi tulikuwa dhaifu. Iwe iwavyo, lakini kama kuna mtu yeyote anayethubutu kujivunia kitu--nasema kama mtu mpumbavu--mimi nathubutu pia.

²²Are they Hebrews? *I* also. Are they Israelites? *I* also. Are they seed of Abraham? *I* also.

²²Je, wao ni Waebrania? Hata mimi. Je, wao ni Waisraeli? Hata mimi. Wao ni wazawa wa Abrahamu? Hata mimi.

²³Are they ministers of Christ? (I speak as being beside myself) *I* above measure [so]; in labours exceedingly abundant, in stripes to excess, in prisons exceedingly abundant, in deaths oft.

²³Wao ni watumishi wa Kristo? Hata mimi--nanena hayo kiwazimu--ni mtumishi wa Kristo zaidi kuliko wao. Mimi nimefanya kazi ngumu zaidi, nimekaa gerezani mara nyingi zaidi, nimepigwa mara nyingi zaidi na nimekaribia kifo mara nyingi.

²⁴From the Jews five times have I received forty [stripes], save one.

²⁴Mara tano nilichapwa vile viboko thelathini na tisa vya Wayahudi.

²⁵Thrice have I been scourged, once I have been stoned, three times I have suffered shipwreck, a night and day I passed in the deep:

²⁵Nilipigwa viboko mara tatu, nilipigwa mawe mara moja; mara tatu nilivunjikiwa meli baharini, na humo nikakesha usiku kucha na kushinda mchana kutwa.

²⁶in journeyings often, in perils of rivers, in perils of robbers, in perils from [my own] race, in perils from [the] nations, in perils in [the] city, in perils in [the] desert, in perils on [the] sea, in perils among false brethren;

²⁶Kila mara safarini nimekabiliwa na hatari za mafuriko ya mito, na hatari za wanyama; hatari kutoka kwa wananchi wenzangu na kutoka kwa watu wa mataifa mengine; hatari za mjini, hatari za porini, hatari za baharini, hatari kutoka kwa ndugu wa uongo

²⁷in labour and toil, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness.

²⁷Nimefanya kazi na kutaabika, nimekesha bila usingizi mara nyingi; nimekuwa na njaa na kiu; mara nyingi nimefunga na kukaa katika baridi bila nguo.

²⁸Besides those things that are without, the crowd [of cares] pressing on me daily, the burden of all the assemblies.

²⁸Na, licha ya mengine mengi, kila siku nakabiliwa na shughuli za makanisa yote.

²⁹Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is stumbled, and I burn not?

²⁹Kama mtu yeyote ni dhaifu, nami pia ni dhaifu; mtu yeyote akikwazwa, nami pia huwa na wasiwasi.

³⁰If it is needful to boast, I will boast in the things which concern my infirmity.

³⁰Ikinilazimu kujivuna, basi, nitajivunia udhaifu wangu.

³¹The God and Father of the Lord Jesus knows -- he who is blessed for ever -- that I do not lie.

³¹Mungu na Baba wa Bwana Yesu--jina lake litukuzwe milele--yeye anajua kwamba sisemi uongo.

³²In Damascus the ethnarch of Aretas the king kept the city of the Damascenes shut up, wishing to take me;

³²Nilipokuwa Damasko, mkuu wa mkoa, aliyekuwa chini ya mfalme Areta, alikuwa akiulinda mji wa Damasko ili apate kunikamata.

³³and through a window in a basket I was let down by the wall, and escaped his hands.

³³Lakini, ndani ya kapu kubwa, niliteremshwa nje kupitia katika nafasi ukutani, nikachopoka mikononi mwake.