1 Corinthians 9:4-12

4Don’t we have the right to live in your homes and share your meals?

5Don’t we have the right to bring a believing wife with us as the other apostles and the Lord’s brothers do, and as Peter does?

6Or is it only Barnabas and I who have to work to support ourselves?

7What soldier has to pay his own expenses? What farmer plants a vineyard and doesn’t have the right to eat some of its fruit? What shepherd cares for a flock of sheep and isn’t allowed to drink some of the milk?

8Am I expressing merely a human opinion, or does the law say the same thing?

9For the law of Moses says, “You must not muzzle an ox to keep it from eating as it treads out the grain.” Was God thinking only about oxen when he said this?

10Wasn’t he actually speaking to us? Yes, it was written for us, so that the one who plows and the one who threshes the grain might both expect a share of the harvest.

11Since we have planted spiritual seed among you, aren’t we entitled to a harvest of physical food and drink?

12If you support others who preach to you, shouldn’t we have an even greater right to be supported? But we have never used this right. We would rather put up with anything than be an obstacle to the Good News about Christ.