The boasting of a reluctant fool

¹⁶ I’ll say it again: don’t let anyone think I’m a fool! But if they do—well, all right then, welcome me as a fool, so that I can do a little bit of boasting! ¹⁷ What I’m going to say now, I’m not saying as if it came from the Lord, but as if I was a fool, as if I really did want to indulge myself in this kind of boasting. ¹⁸ Plenty of people are boasting in human terms, after all, so why shouldn’t I boast as well?