2 Corinthians 11:23

American Standard Version with Strong's Numbers

Are 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.

📖 Grammatical Analysis

Original Text

Διάκονοι Χριστοῦ εἰσιν; (παραφρονῶν λαλῶ) ὑπὲρ ἐγώ· ἐν κόποις περισσοτέρως, ἐν πληγαῖς ὑπερβαλλόντως, ἐν φυλακαῖς περισσοτέρως, ἐν θανάτοις πολλάκις.

Transliteration

Diakonoi Christou eisin? (paraphronōn lalō) above I [am]; in kopois perissoterōs, in plēgais hyperballontōs, in phylakais perissoterōs, in thanatois pollakis.

Grammar Details

• *Diakonoi*: nominative, masculine, plural - servants/ministers
• *Christou*: genitive, masculine, singular - of Christ
• *eisin*: present active indicative, 3rd plural - are/they are
• *paraphronōn*: present active participle, nominative, masculine, singular - being insane/out of mind
• *lalō*: present active indicative, 1st singular - speak/talk
• *kopois*: dative, masculine, plural - labors/hardships
• *perissoterōs*: adverb comparative - more abundantly/more extensively
• *plēgais*: dative, feminine, plural - blows/wounds/stripes
• *hyperballontōs*: adverb - exceedingly/beyond measure
• *phylakais*: dative, feminine, plural - imprisonments/prisons
• *thanatois*: dative, masculine, plural - deaths/deadly perils
• *pollakis*: adverb - often/frequently

Word Meanings

• *Diakonoi*: servants/ministers/attendants
• *paraphronōn*: being insane/out of mind/speaking as a madman
• *lalō*: speak/talk/say
• *kopois*: labors/hardships/troubles
• *perissoterōs*: more abundantly/more extensively/far more
• *plēgais*: blows/wounds/stripes/beatings
• *hyperballontōs*: exceedingly/beyond measure/surpassingly
• *phylakais*: imprisonments/prisons
• *thanatois*: deaths/deadly perils/near-death experiences
• *pollakis*: often/frequently/many times

Referenced Verses

• 1 Cor 15:10 : 10 But by the grace of God I am what I am: and his grace which was bestowed upon me was not found vain; but I labored more abundantly than they all: yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.
• 2 Cor 6:4-5 : 4 but in everything commending ourselves, as ministers of God, in much patience, in afflictions, in necessities, in distresses, 5 in stripes, in imprisonments, in tumults, in labors, in watchings, in fastings;
• Acts 9:16 : 16 for I will show him how many things he must suffer for my name's sake.
• 2 Cor 3:6 : 6 who also made us sufficient as ministers of a new covenant; not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life.
• 2 Cor 6:9 : 9 as unknown, and [yet] well known; as dying, and behold, we live; as chastened, and not killed;
• 1 Cor 15:30-32 : 30 {G2532} Why do we also stand in jeopardy every hour? 31 I protest by that glorifying in you, brethren, which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die {G2596} daily. 32 If after the manner of men I fought with beasts at Ephesus, what doth it profit me? If the dead are not raised, let us eat and drink, for to-morrow we die.
• 2 Cor 1:9-9 : 9 yea, we ourselves have had the sentence of death within ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God who raiseth the dead: 10 who delivered us out of so great a death, and will deliver: on whom we have set our hope that he will also still deliver us;
• 1 Cor 3:5 : 5 What then is Apollos? and what is Paul? {G235} {G2228} Ministers through whom ye believed; and each as the Lord gave to him.
• 2 Cor 11:24-25 : 24 Of the Jews five times received I forty [stripes] save one. 25 Thrice was I beaten with rods, once was I stoned, thrice I suffered shipwreck, a night and a day have I been in the deep;
• 2 Cor 12:11-12 : 11 I am become foolish: {G2744} ye compelled me; for I ought to have been commended of you: for in nothing was I behind the very chiefest apostles, though {G2532} I am nothing. 12 Truly the signs of an apostle were wrought among you in all patience, by signs and wonders and mighty works.
• Eph 3:1 : 1 For this cause I Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus in behalf of you Gentiles,—
• Eph 4:1 : 1 I therefore, the prisoner in the Lord, beseech you to walk worthily of the calling wherewith ye were called,
• Eph 6:20 : 20 for which I am an ambassador in chains; that in it I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak.
• Phil 1:13 : 13 so that my bonds became manifest in Christ throughout the whole praetorian guard, and to all the rest;
• Phil 2:17 : 17 Yea, and if I am offered upon the sacrifice and service of your faith, I joy, and rejoice with you all:
• Col 1:24 : 24 Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and fill up on my part that which is lacking of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body's sake, which is the church;
• Col 1:29 : 29 whereunto I labor also, striving according to his working, which worketh in me mightily.
• 1 Thess 3:2 : 2 and sent Timothy, our brother and God's minister in the gospel of Christ, to establish you, and to comfort [you] concerning your faith;
• 1 Tim 4:6 : 6 If thou put the brethren in mind of these things, thou shalt be a good minister of Christ Jesus, nourished in the words of the faith, and of the good doctrine which thou hast followed [until now]:
• 2 Tim 1:8 : 8 Be not ashamed therefore of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me his prisoner: but suffer hardship with the gospel according to the power of God;
• 2 Tim 1:16 : 16 The Lord grant mercy unto the house of Onesiphorus: for he oft refreshed me, and was not ashamed of my chain;
• 2 Tim 2:9 : 9 wherein {G1722} I suffer hardship unto bonds, as a malefactor; but the word of God is not bound.
• Phlm 1:9 : 9 yet for love's sake I rather beseech, being such a one as Paul the aged, and now a prisoner also of Christ Jesus:
• Heb 10:34 : 34 For ye both had compassion on them that were in bonds, and took {G3326} joyfully the spoiling of your possessions, knowing that ye have for yourselves {G1722} {G3772} a better possession and an abiding one.
• 2 Cor 10:7 : 7 Ye look at the things that are before your face. If any man trusteth in himself that he is Christ's, let him consider this again with himself, that, even as he is Christ's, so also are we.
• 2 Cor 11:5 : 5 For I reckon that I am not a whit behind the very chiefest apostles.
• Acts 14:19 : 19 But there came Jews thither from Antioch and Iconium: and having persuaded the multitudes, {G2532} they stoned Paul, and dragged him out of the city, supposing that he was dead.
• Acts 16:23-24 : 23 And when they had laid many stripes upon them, they cast them into prison, charging the jailor to keep them safely: 24 who, having received such a charge, cast them into the inner prison, and made their feet fast in the stocks.
• Acts 20:23 : 23 save that the Holy Spirit testifieth unto me in every city, saying that bonds and afflictions abide me.
• Acts 21:11 : 11 And coming to us, and taking Paul's girdle, he bound his own feet and hands, and said, Thus saith the Holy Spirit, So shall the Jews at Jerusalem bind the man that owneth this girdle, and shall deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles.
• Acts 24:26-27 : 26 He hoped withal that money would be given him of Paul: wherefore also he sent for him the oftener, and communed with him. 27 But when two years were fulfilled, Felix was succeeded by Porcius Festus; and desiring to gain favor with the Jews, Felix left Paul in bonds.
• Acts 25:14 : 14 And as they tarried there many days, Festus laid Paul's case before the King, saying, There is a certain man left a prisoner by Felix;
• Acts 27:1 : 1 And when it was determined that we should sail for Italy, they delivered {G5037} Paul and certain other prisoners to a centurion named Julius, of the Augustan band.
• Acts 28:16 : 16 And when we entered into Rome, Paul was suffered to abide by himself with the soldier that guarded him.
• Acts 28:30 : 30 And he abode two whole years in his own hired dwelling, and received all that went in unto him,
• Rom 8:36 : 36 Even as it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; We were accounted as sheep for the slaughter.
• 2 Cor 4:11 : 11 For we who live are always delivered unto death for Jesus' sake, that the life also of Jesus may be manifested in our mortal flesh.
• 1 Cor 4:1 : 1 Let a man so account of us, as of ministers of Christ, and stewards of the mysteries of God.