It will be noted that Good News Translation starts a new sentence at the beginning of this verse, and this may serve as a good model in other languages.

The words translated toil and hardship occur also in 1 Thes 2.9, where Revised Standard Version renders them as “labor and toil.” Paul is referring to his hard work as a craftsman. One language has translated these two words by the following sentence: “I saw [or, experienced] pain in hard work.” Another says “I did hard work, and difficult labor wore me out.”

Through many a sleepless night translates the same expression as found in 6.5, but here the word for many is added. Paul does not mean that he had difficulty falling asleep at night. Rather he would often work late into the night at his trade in order to be free to preach the gospel during the day.

Often without food: It is unlikely that this expression refers to fasting. It is more likely another way of talking about hunger just mentioned.

In cold: the term used here is found only twice elsewhere in the New Testament (John 18.18 and Acts 28.2). Here it is taken by Good News Translation as referring to a lack of shelter. This provides the reason for Paul’s feeling cold.

Exposure is literally “in nakedness.” Though some translations take this quite literally (“naked” New International Version, Parola Del Signore: La Bibbia in Lingua Corrente), the word occurs in Greek literature in reference to someone who has only one rough cloak. Knox translates this term “ill-clad,” while Translator’s New Testament has “without sufficient clothing.” A translation such as “without enough clothing to keep warm” is probably closer to the correct meaning than the word “naked” is. The Good News Translation translation “without enough … clothing” fails to preserve the idea that Paul suffered from the cold. Better is Contemporary English Version, which combines the last two items as follows: “I have been cold from not having enough clothes to keep me warm.”

Quoted with permission from Omanson, Roger L. and Ellingworth, Paul. A Handbook on Paul’s Second Letter to the Corinthians. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1993. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .