⁷Who at any time serves ^aas a soldier at his own expense? Who ^bplants a vineyard and does not eat the fruit of it? Or who tends a flock and does not ¹use the milk of the flock?

⁸I am not speaking these things ^aaccording to ¹human judgment, am I? Or does not the Law also say these things?

⁹For it is written in the Law of Moses, “^aYou shall not muzzle the ox while he is threshing.” God is not concerned about ^boxen, is He?

¹⁰Or is He speaking altogether for our sake? Yes, ^afor our sake it was written, because ^bthe plowman ought to plow in hope, and the thresher to thresh in hope of sharing the crops.

¹¹^aIf 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 ^adid not use this right, but we endure all things ^bso that we will cause no hindrance to the ^cgospel of Christ.

¹³^aDo you not know that those who ^bperform sacred services eat the food of the temple, and those who attend regularly to the altar have their share ¹from the altar?

¹⁴So also ^athe Lord directed those who proclaim the ^bgospel to ^cget their living from the gospel.

¹⁵But I have ^aused 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 ^bmy boast an empty one.

¹⁶For if I preach the gospel, I have nothing to boast of, for ^aI am under compulsion; for woe is me if I do not preach ^bthe gospel.

¹⁷For if I do this voluntarily, I have a ^areward; but if against my will, I have a ^bstewardship entrusted to me.

¹⁸What then is my ^areward? That, when I preach the gospel, I may offer the gospel ^bwithout charge, so as ^cnot to make full use of my right in the gospel.

Read in Logos

Footnotes

1Lit It is not that we have no right to eat and drink, is it?
1Lit It is not that we have no right to take along … Cephas, is it?
2Lit sister, as wife
1Lit I and Barnabas
1Lit eat of
1Lit man
1Lit with

Cross references

a 1 Cor 9:14; 1 Thess 2:6, 9; 2 Thess 3:8f
a 1 Cor 7:7f
b Matt 12:46
c Matt 8:14; John 1:42
a Acts 4:36
a 2 Cor 10:4; 1 Tim 1:18; 2 Tim 2:3f
b Deut 20:6; Prov 27:18; 1 Cor 3:6, 8
a Rom 3:5
a Deut 25:4; 1 Tim 5:18
b Deut 22:1–4; Prov 12:10
a Rom 4:23f
b 2 Tim 2:6
a Rom 15:27; 1 Cor 9:14
a Acts 18:3; 20:33; 1 Cor 9:15, 18
b 2 Cor 6:3; 11:12
c 1 Cor 4:15; 9:14, 16, 18, 23; 2 Cor 2:12
a Rom 6:16
b Lev 6:16, 26; 7:6, 31ff; Num 5:9f; 18:8–20, 31; Deut 18:1
a Matt 10:10; Luke 10:7; 1 Tim 5:18
b 1 Cor 4:15; 9:12, 16, 18, 23; 2 Cor 2:12
c Luke 10:8; 1 Cor 9:4
a Acts 18:3; 20:33; 1 Cor 9:12, 18
b 2 Cor 11:10
a Acts 9:15; Rom 1:14
b 1 Cor 4:15; 9:12, 14, 18, 23; 2 Cor 2:12
a John 4:36; 1 Cor 3:8; 9:18
b 1 Cor 4:1; Gal 2:7; Eph 3:2; Phil 1:16; Col 1:25
a John 4:36; 1 Cor 3:8; 9:17
b Acts 18:3; 2 Cor 11:7; 12:13
c 1 Cor 7:31; 9:12