哥林多前書 9
1 不是自自由的嗎？我不是宗徒嗎？我不是見過我們的主耶穌嗎？你們不是我在主內所建的工程嗎？
Am I not free? Am I not an Apostle? Can it be denied that I have seen Jesus, our Lord? Are not you yourselves my work in the Lord?
2 縱然我為別人不是宗徒，為你們我總是，你們在主內正是我任宗徒職份的印證。
If to other men I am not an Apostle, yet at any rate I am one to you; for your very existence as a Christian Church is the seal of my Apostleship.
3 這也就是我對那些質問我的人的答辨。
That is how I vindicate myself to those who criticize me.
4 難道我們沒有取取得飲食的權利嗎？
Have we not a right to claim food and drink?
5 難道我們沒有權利攜帶一位為姐妹的人，如其他的宗徒主的弟兄並刻法一樣嗎？
Have we not a right to take with us on our journeys a Christian sister as our wife, as the rest of the Apostles do--and the Lord's brothers and Peter?
6 或者惟有我和巴爾納伯沒有不勞作的權利嗎？
Or again, is it only Barnabas and myself who are not at liberty to give up working with our hands?
7 誰當兵而自備糧餉呢？誰種葡萄園而不吃它的出產呢？或者誰不牧放羊群而不吃羊群的奶呢？
What soldier ever serves at his own cost? Who plants a vineyard and yet does not eat any of the grapes? Or who tends a herd of cattle and yet does not taste their milk?
8 我說這話，難道是按人之常情？法律不是也這樣說嗎？
Am I making use of merely worldly illustrations? Does not the Law speak in the same tone?
9 原來梅瑟法律上記載說：『牛在打埸的時候，不可籠住它的嘴。』難道天主關心的是牛嗎？
For in the Law of Moses it is written, "Thou shalt not muzzle an ox while it is treading out the grain."
10 豈不是完全為我們說的嗎？的確是為我們記載的，因為犁地的當懷著希望去犁，打埸的也當懷著有份的希望去打埸。
Is God simply thinking about the oxen? Or is it really in our interest that He speaks? Of course, it was written in our interest, because it is His will that when a plough-man ploughs, and a thresher threshes, it should be in the hope of sharing that which comes as the result.
11 若是我們給你們散播神聖恩的恩惠，而收割你們那屬物質的東西，還算什麼大事？
If it is we who sowed the spiritual grain in you, is it a great thing that we should reap a temporal harvest from you?
12 如別人在你們身上尚且分享權利，我們豈不更該嗎？可是我們沒有用過這權利，反倒忍受了一切，免得基督的福音受到妨礙。
If other teachers possess that right over you, do not we possess it much more? Yet we have not availed ourselves of the right, but we patiently endure all things rather than hinder in the least degree the progress of the Good News of the Christ.
13 你們豈不知道為聖事服務的，就靠聖殿生活；供職於祭壇的， 1分享祭壇上的物品嗎？
Do you not know that those who perform the sacred rites have their food from the sacred place, and that those who serve at the altar all alike share with the altar?
14 主也這樣規定了，傳福音的人，應靠福音而生活。
In the same way the Lord also directed those who proclaim the Good News to maintain themselves by the Good News.
15 可是，這些權利我一樣也沒有用過；我寫這話，並非要人這樣對待我，因為我寧願死，也不願讓人使我這誇耀落了空。
But I, for my part, have not used, and do not use, my full rights in any of these things. Nor do I now write with that object so far as I myself am concerned, for I would rather die than have anybody make this boast of mine an empty one.
16 我若傳福音，原沒有什麼可誇耀的，因為這是我不得已的事；我若不傳福音，我就有禍了。
If I go on preaching the Good News, that is nothing for me to boast of; for the necessity is imposed upon me; and alas for me, if I fail to preach it!
17 假使我自願作這事，便有酬報；若不自願，可是責任已委托給我。
And if I preach willingly, I receive my wages; but if against my will, a stewardship has nevertheless been entrusted to me.
18 這樣看來，我的酬是什麼呢？就是傳福音時白白地去傳，不享用我在傳福音上所有的權利。
What are my wages then? The very fact that the Good News which I preach will cost my hearers nothing, so that I cannot be charged with abuse of my privileges as a Christian preacher.
19 我原是自由的，不屬於任何人；但我卻使自己成了眾人的奴僕，為贏得更多的人。
Though free from all human control, I have made myself the slave of all in the hope of winning as many converts as possible.
20 對猶太人，我就成為猶太人，為贏得猶太人；對於法律下的人，我雖不在法律下，仍成為在法律下的人，為贏得那在法律下的人；
To the Jews I have become like a Jew in order to win Jews; to men under the Law as if I were under the Law--although I am not--in order to win those who are under the Law;
21 對那些法律以外的人，我就成為法律以外的人，為贏得那些法律以外的人；其實，我並不在天主的法律以外，而是在基督的法律之下。
to men without Law as if I were without Law--although I am not without Law in relation to God but am abiding in Christ's Law--in order to win those who are without Law.
22 對軟弱的人，我就成為軟弱的，為贏得那軟弱的人；對一切人，我就成為一切，為的是總要救些人。
To the weak I have become weak, so as to gain the weak. To all men I have become all things, in the hope that in every one of these ways I may save some.
23 我所行的一切，都是為了福音，為能與人共沾福音的恩許。
And I do everything for the sake of the Good News, that I may share with my hearers in its benefits.
24 你們豈不知在運動埸上賽跑的，固然都跑，但只有一個得獎賞嗎？你們也應該這樣跑，好能得到獎賞。
Do you not know that in the foot-race the runners all run, but that only one gets the prize? You must run like him, in order to win with certainty.
25 凡比武競賽的，在一切事上都有節制；他們只是為得到可朽壞的花冠，而我們卻是為得到不朽壞的花冠。
But every competitor in an athletic contest practices abstemiousness in all directions. They indeed do this for the sake of securing a perishable wreath, but we for the sake of securing one that will not perish.
26 所以，我總是這樣跑，不是如同無定向的；我這樣打拳，不是如同打空氣的；
That is how I run, not being in any doubt as to my goal. I am a boxer who does not inflict blows on the air,
27 我痛繫我身，使它為奴，免得我給別人報捷，自己反而落選。
but I hit hard and straight at my own body and lead it off into slavery, lest possibly, after I have been a herald to others, I should myself be rejected.
