unfoldingWord_en_tn/2co/11/23.md

# Are they Hebrews? ... Are they Israelites? ... Are they descendants of Abraham? ... 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 want you to think they are important and to believe what they say because they are Hebrews and Israelites and descendants of Abraham. Well, so am I. They say they are servants of Christ—I speak as though I were out of my mind—but I am more"

# 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/translate/figs-ellipsis]])

# in even more hard work

"I have worked harder"

# in far more prisons

"I have been in prisons more often"

# in beatings beyond measure

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" or "I have been beaten too many times to bother counting" (See: [[rc://en/ta/man/translate/figs-idiom]] and [[rc://en/ta/man/translate/figs-hyperbole]])

# in facing many dangers of death

"and I have almost died many times"