In what were you less favored: the apostle Paul is the implicit agent of the verb were less favored, that is, “In what way did I treat you any worse than the other churches?” This will be a good way to avoid the passive construction of Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation. Another possibility is “What did I do for the other churches that I have not done for you?”

The rest of the churches refers to other churches in other cities where Paul had been and from which he had received financial support.

I … did not burden you: the pronoun is emphatic in Greek as in Revised Standard Version, I myself. Perhaps Paul has in mind the false apostles, who did burden the Corinthian church. In this context the clear meaning is that he did not accept any “financial help” (Good News Translation) from the Corinthians. The verb used here is the same as in 11.9, and it is repeated in the following verse.

Paul is using sarcasm in this verse. His plea that they Forgive me this wrong! is not really a plea for forgiveness but is sarcasm. Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation attempt to communicate this sarcasm by the use of an exclamation mark. Languages that do not use sarcasm in this way may need to restructure and find some way to indicate that Paul is saying just the opposite of what he really means. Williams has a note which states that Paul’s words here are sarcastic. Though the Greek does not state explicitly against whom the wrong was done, Contemporary English Version correctly says “Forgive me for doing you wrong.”

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 .