For ye suffer, if a man bring you into bondage, if a man devour you, if a man take of you, if a man exalt himself, if a man smite you on the face.
For - ye may well "bear with" fools; for ye even "bear with" oppressors. 'Ye bear with them.'
If a man - as the false apostles do.
Bring you into bondage - to himself. Translate, 'brings,' for the case is not a supposed case, but a case actually then occurring. Also 'devours,'-namely, by exactions (Matthew 23:14) - 'takes,' 'exalts,' 'smites,' take of you. So the Greek х lambanei (G2983)] for "take" is used for 'take away from' (Revelation 6:4). Billroth translates, as 2 Corinthians 12:16, 'catches you.'
Exalt himself - above you, under the pretext of apostolic dignity.
Smite you on the face - under the pretext of divine zeal. The height of insolence on their part, and of servile endurance on yours (1 Kin. 31:24; Nehemiah 13:25; Luke 22:64; Acts 23:2; 1 Timothy 3:3).