2 Corinthians 12:7-10

Paul's Visions and His Thorn

⁷ So _f to keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, _{1 g} a thorn was given me in the flesh, _h a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited. ⁸ _i Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me. ⁹ But he said to me, _j "My grace is sufficient for you, for _k my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that _l the power of Christ may rest upon me. ¹⁰ _m For the sake of Christ, then, _n I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For _o when I am weak, then I am strong.

1. Cross References
   2 Corinthians 10:10
   For they say, "His letters are weighty and strong, but his bodily presence is weak, and his speech of no account.
   
2. Cross References
   Numbers 33:55
   But if you do not drive out the inhabitants of the land from before you, then those of them whom you let remain shall be as barbs in your eyes and thorns in your sides, and they shall trouble you in the land where you dwell.
   Ezekiel 28:24
   And for the house of Israel there shall be no more a brier to prick or a thorn to hurt them among all their neighbors who have treated them with contempt. Then they will know that I am the Lord God.
   
3. Cross References
   Luke 13:16
   And ought not this woman, a daughter of Abraham whom Satan bound for eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the Sabbath day?
   1 Corinthians 5:5
   You are to deliver this man to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord.
   
4. Cross References
   Matthew 26:44
   So, leaving them again, he went away and prayed for the third time, saying the same words again.
   
5. Cross References
   Isaiah 43:2
   When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you.
   
6. Cross References
   Isaiah 40:29 - 31
   He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might he increases strength.
   Philippians 4:13
   I can do all things through him who strengthens me.
   
7. Cross References
   1 Corinthians 2:5
   That your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.
   
8. Cross References
   2 Corinthians 5:15
   And he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised.
   Matthew 5:11 - 12
   Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account.
   
9. Cross References
   Romans 5:3
   More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance.
   
10. Cross References
    2 Corinthians 13:4
    For he was crucified in weakness, but lives by the power of God. For we also are weak in him, but in dealing with you we will live with him by the power of God.