# Connecting Statement:

As Paul continues to confirm his apostleship, he states specific things that have happened to him since he became a believer.

# Are they servants of Christ? (I speak as though I were out of my mind.) I am more

Paul is asking questions the Corinthians might be asking and then answering them to emphasize that he is as much a Jew as the super-apostles are. You should keep the question-and-answer form if possible. Alternate translation: "They say they are servants of Christ—I speak as though I were out of my mind—but I am more" (See: [[rc://en/ta/man/jit/figs-rquestion]])

# as though I were out of my mind

"as though I were unable to think well"

# I am more

You can make clear the understood information. Alternate translation: "I am more a servant of Christ than they are" (See: [[rc://en/ta/man/jit/figs-ellipsis]])

# in harder labor

"I have worked harder than they have"

# in more prisons

"I have been in prison more often"

# in beatings beyond measure, in facing

This is an idiom, and is exaggerated to emphasize that he had been beaten many, many times. Alternate translation: "I have been beaten very many times, and I have faced" or "I have been beaten too many times to bother counting, and I have faced" (See: [[rc://en/ta/man/jit/figs-idiom]] and [[rc://en/ta/man/jit/figs-hyperbole]])

# in facing many deadly dangers

"and I have almost died many times"