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

¹Would that ye could bear with me in a little foolishness: but indeed ye do bear with me.

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

²For I am jealous over you with a godly jealousy: for I espoused you to one husband, that I might present you [as] a pure virgin to 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.

³But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve in his craftiness, your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity and the purity that is toward Christ.

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!

⁴For if he that cometh preacheth another Jesus, whom we did not preach, or [if] ye receive a different spirit, which ye did not receive, or a different gospel, which ye did not accept, ye do well to bear with [him].

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

⁵For I reckon that I am not a whit behind the very chiefest apostles.

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

⁶But though [I be] rude in speech, yet [am I] not in knowledge; nay, in every way have we made [this] manifest unto you in all things.

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

⁷Or did I commit a sin in abasing myself that ye might be exalted, because I preached to you the gospel of God for nought?

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

⁸I robbed other churches, taking wages [of them] that I might minister unto you;

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.

⁹and when I was present with you and was in want, I was not a burden on any man; for the brethren, when they came from Macedonia, supplied the measure of my want; and in everything I kept myself from being burdensome unto you, and [so] will I keep [myself].

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

¹⁰As the truth of Christ is in me, no man shall stop me of this glorying in the regions of Achaia.

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

¹¹Wherefore? because I love you not? God knoweth.

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

¹²But what I do, that I will do, that I may cut off occasion from them that desire an occasion; that wherein they glory, they may be found even as we.

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

¹³For such men are false apostles, deceitful workers, fashioning themselves into apostles of Christ.

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

¹⁴And no marvel; for even Satan fashioneth himself into an angel of light.

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.

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

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

¹⁶I say again, let no man think me foolish; but if [ye do], yet as foolish receive me, that I also may glory a little.

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

¹⁷That which I speak, I speak not after the Lord, but as in foolishness, in this confidence of glorying.

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

¹⁸Seeing that many glory after the flesh, I will glory also.

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

¹⁹For ye bear with the foolish gladly, being wise [yourselves].

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

²⁰For ye bear with a man, if he bringeth you into bondage, if he devoureth you, if he taketh you [captive], if he exalteth himself, if he smiteth you on the face.

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

²¹I speak by way of disparagement, as though we had been weak. Yet whereinsoever any is bold (I speak in foolishness), I am bold also.

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

²²Are they Hebrews? so am I. Are they Israelites? so am I. Are they the seed of Abraham? so am I.

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.

²³Are they ministers of Christ? (I speak as one beside himself) I more; in labors more abundantly, in prisons more abundantly, in stripes above measure, in deaths oft.

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

²⁴Of the Jews five times received I forty [stripes] save one.

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

²⁵Thrice was I beaten with rods, once was I stoned, thrice I suffered shipwreck, a night and a day have I been in the deep;

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

²⁶[in] journeyings often, [in] perils of rivers, [in] perils of robbers, [in] perils from [my] countrymen, [in] perils from the Gentiles, [in] perils in the city, [in] perils in the wilderness, [in] perils in the sea, [in] perils among false brethren;

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

²⁷[in] labor and travail, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness.

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

²⁸Besides those things that are without, there is that which presseth upon me daily, anxiety for all the churches.

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

²⁹Who is weak, and I am not weak? who is caused to stumble, and I burn not?

³⁰Ikinilazimu kujivuna, basi, nitajivunia udhaifu wangu.

³⁰If I must needs glory, I will glory of the things that concern my weakness.

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

³¹The God and Father of the Lord Jesus, he who is blessed for evermore knoweth that I lie not.

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

³²In Damascus the governor under Aretas the king guarded the city of the Damascenes in order to take me:

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

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