New American Standard Bible 1995

1 Corinthians 9:4-18

4 1 2Do we not have a right to eat and drink? 5 3 4Do we not have a right to take along a 5believing wife, even as the rest of the apostles and the 6brothers of the Lord and 7Cephas? 6Or do only 8 9Barnabas and I not have a right to refrain from working? 7Who at any time serves 10as a soldier at his own expense? Who 11plants a vineyard and does not eat the fruit of it? Or who tends a flock and does not 12use the milk of the flock?

8I am not speaking these things 13according to 14human judgment, am I? Or does not the Law also say these things? 9For it is written in the Law of Moses, “15You shall not muzzle the ox while he is threshing.” God is not concerned about 16oxen, is He? 10Or is He speaking altogether for our sake? Yes, 17for our sake it was written, because 18the plowman ought to plow in hope, and the thresher to thresh in hope of sharing the crops. 11 19If we sowed spiritual things in you, is it too much if we reap material things from you? 12If others share the right over you, do we not more? Nevertheless, we 20did not use this right, but we endure all things 21so that we will cause no hindrance to the 22gospel of Christ. 13 23Do you not know that those who 24perform sacred services eat the food of the temple, and those who attend regularly to the altar have their share 25from the altar? 14So also 26the Lord directed those who proclaim the 27gospel to 28get their living from the gospel.

15But I have 29used none of these things. And I am not writing these things so that it will be done so in my case; for it would be better for me to die than have any man make 30my boast an empty one. 16For if I preach the gospel, I have nothing to boast of, for 31I am under compulsion; for woe is me if I do not preach 32the gospel. 17For if I do this voluntarily, I have a 33reward; but if against my will, I have a 34stewardship entrusted to me. 18What then is my 35reward? That, when I preach the gospel, I may offer the gospel 36without charge, so as 37not to make full use of my right in the gospel.

Read all of 1 Corinthians 9

Notes

1. 1 Corinthians 9:4 Lit It is not that we have no right to eat and drink, is it? ↩
2. 1 Corinthians 9:4 1 Cor 9:14; 1 Thess 2:6, 9; 2 Thess 3:8f ↩
3. 1 Corinthians 9:5 Lit It is not that we have no right to take along...Cephas, is it? ↩
4. 1 Corinthians 9:5 1 Cor 7:7f ↩
5. 1 Corinthians 9:5 Lit sister, as wife ↩
6. 1 Corinthians 9:5 Matt 12:46 ↩
7. 1 Corinthians 9:5 Matt 8:14; John 1:42 ↩
8. 1 Corinthians 9:6 Lit I and Barnabas ↩
9. 1 Corinthians 9:6 Acts 4:36 ↩
10. 1 Corinthians 9:7 2 Cor 10:4; 1 Tim 1:18; 2 Tim 2:3f ↩
11. 1 Corinthians 9:7 Deut 20:6; Prov 27:18; 1 Cor 3:6, 8 ↩
12. 1 Corinthians 9:7 Lit eat of ↩
13. 1 Corinthians 9:8 Rom 3:5 ↩
14. 1 Corinthians 9:8 Lit man ↩
15. 1 Corinthians 9:9 Deut 25:4; 1 Tim 5:18 ↩
16. 1 Corinthians 9:9 Deut 22:1-4; Prov 12:10 ↩
17. 1 Corinthians 9:10 Rom 4:23f ↩
18. 1 Corinthians 9:10 2 Tim 2:6 ↩
19. 1 Corinthians 9:11 Rom 15:27; 1 Cor 9:14 ↩
20. 1 Corinthians 9:12 Acts 18:3; 20:33; 1 Cor 9:15, 18 ↩
21. 1 Corinthians 9:12 2 Cor 6:3; 11:12 ↩
22. 1 Corinthians 9:12 1 Cor 4:15; 9:14, 16, 18, 23; 2 Cor 2:12 ↩
23. 1 Corinthians 9:13 Rom 6:16 ↩
24. 1 Corinthians 9:13 Lev 6:16, 26; 7:6, 31ff; Num 5:9f; 18:8-20, 31; Deut 18:1 ↩
25. 1 Corinthians 9:13 Lit with ↩
26. 1 Corinthians 9:14 Matt 10:10; Luke 10:7; 1 Tim 5:18 ↩
27. 1 Corinthians 9:14 1 Cor 4:15; 9:12, 16, 18, 23; 2 Cor 2:12 ↩
28. 1 Corinthians 9:14 Luke 10:8; 1 Cor 9:4 ↩
29. 1 Corinthians 9:15 Acts 18:3; 20:33; 1 Cor 9:12, 18 ↩
30. 1 Corinthians 9:15 2 Cor 11:10 ↩
31. 1 Corinthians 9:16 Acts 9:15; Rom 1:14 ↩
32. 1 Corinthians 9:16 1 Cor 4:15; 9:12, 14, 18, 23; 2 Cor 2:12 ↩
33. 1 Corinthians 9:17 John 4:36; 1 Cor 3:8; 9:18 ↩
34. 1 Corinthians 9:17 1 Cor 4:1; Gal 2:7; Eph 3:2; Phil 1:16; Col 1:25 ↩
35. 1 Corinthians 9:18 John 4:36; 1 Cor 3:8; 9:17 ↩
36. 1 Corinthians 9:18 Acts 18:3; 2 Cor 11:7; 12:13 ↩
37. 1 Corinthians 9:18 1 Cor 7:31; 9:12 ↩

Notes

Commentaries on 1 Corinthians 9