1 Corinthians 9

1 Am I not free? Am I not an apostle? Have I not seen Jesus our Lord? Are you yourselves not my workmanship in the Lord?

Am I not an apostle? Have I not seen Jesus our Lord? Are not ye my work in the Lord?

2 Even if I am not an apostle to others, surely I am to you. For you are the seal of my apostleship in the Lord.

If I am not an apostle to others, yet surely I am to you; for the seal of my apostleship are ye in the Lord.

3 This is my defense to those who scrutinize me:

This is my answer to those who question my authority.

4 Have we no right to food and to drink?

Have we not a right to eat and drink?

5 Have we no right to take along a believing wife, as do the other apostles and the Lord’s brothers and Cephas?

Have we not a right to carry about with us a sister as a wife, as well as the other apostles, and the brothers of the Lord, and Cephas?

6 Or are Barnabas and I the only apostles who must work for a living?

Or am I alone and Barnabas bound to labor with our own hands?

7 Who serves as a soldier at his own expense? Who plants a vineyard and does not eat of its fruit? Who tends a flock and does not drink of its milk?

Who ever serveth as a soldier at his own charges? Who planteth a vineyard without eating its fruit? Or who tendeth a flock and doth not eat of the milk of the flock?

8 Do I say this from a human perspective? Doesn’t the Law say the same thing?

Is it on man's authority that I am saying these things, or doth not the Law too say the same?

9 For it is written in the Law of Moses: “Do not muzzle an ox while it is treading out the grain.” Is it about oxen that God is concerned?

For it is written in the law of Moses: “Thou shalt not muzzle an ox while treading out grain.” Is it for oxen that God careth?

10 Isn’t He actually speaking on our behalf? Indeed, this was written for us, because when the plowman plows and the thresher threshes, they should also expect to share in the harvest.

Or doth he say it altogether on our account? On our account, no doubt, it was written, that he who plougheth ought to plough in hope, and that he who thrasheth should do it in the hope of partaking.

11 If we have sown spiritual seed among you, is it too much for us to reap a material harvest from you?

If we have sown to you spiritual things, is it a great thing if we reap from you things for the body?

12 If others have this right to your support, shouldn’t we have it all the more? But we did not exercise this right. Instead, we put up with anything rather than hinder the gospel of Christ.

If others possess this right in relation to you, do not we still more? But we have not used this right; but we submit to all things, that we may occasion no hindrance to the gospel of Christ.

13 Do you not know that those who work in the temple eat of its food, and those who serve at the altar partake of its offerings?

Do ye not know, that they who minister in the offerings of the temple live from the temple? that they who serve at the altar share with the altar?

14 In the same way, the Lord has prescribed that those who preach the gospel should receive their living from the gospel.

In like manner also did the Lord ordain that they who preach the gospel should live from the gospel.

15 But I have not used any of these rights. And I am not writing this to suggest that something be done for me. Indeed, I would rather die than let anyone nullify my boast.

But I have used no right of this kind; nor have I written thus that anything of this kind should be done for me; for it were better for me to die, than that any one should take from me what I glory in.

16 Yet when I preach the gospel, I have no reason to boast, because I am obligated to preach. Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel!

For in preaching the gospel, I have nothing to glory in; for I am under a necessity to do so; yea, woe is to me, if I preach not the gospel!

17 If my preaching is voluntary, I have a reward. But if it is not voluntary, I am still entrusted with a responsibility.

For if I do this willingly, I have a reward; but if unwillingly, still I have been intrusted with a stewardship.

18 What then is my reward? That in preaching the gospel I may offer it free of charge, and so not use up my rights in preaching it.

What then is my reward? It is that, when I preach the gospel, I may make the gospel free of charge, that I use not to the full my right as a preacher of the gospel.

19 Though I am free of obligation to anyone, I make myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible.

For being free from all men, yet I made myself a servant to all, that I might gain the more;

20 To the Jews I became like a Jew, to win the Jews. To those under the law I became like one under the law (though I myself am not under the law), to win those under the law.

and to the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might gain Jews; to those under the Law, as under the Law, not being myself under the Law, that I might gain those under the Law;

21 To those without the law I became like one without the law (though I am not outside the law of God but am under the law of Christ), to win those without the law.

to those without the Law, as without the Law, being not without a law before God, but under the law of Christ, that I might gain those without the Law;

22 To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all people so that by all possible means I might save some.

to the weak I became weak, that I might gain the weak; I have become all things to all, that I might by all means save some.

23 I do all this for the sake of the gospel, so that I may share in its blessings.

And I do all for the sake of the gospel, that I may with others partake of it.

24 Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? Run in such a way as to take the prize.

Know ye not, that of those who run in the race-course all run, but one receiveth the prize? Thus run, that ye may obtain.

25 Everyone who competes in the games trains with strict discipline. They do it for a crown that is perishable, but we do it for a crown that is imperishable.

And every one who contendeth in the games is temperate in all things; they, however, to obtain a perishable crown, but we, an imperishable.

26 Therefore I do not run aimlessly; I do not fight like I am beating the air.

I therefore so run, not as one uncertain; I so fight, not as one striking the air;

27 No, I discipline my body and make it my slave, so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified.

but I beat down my body, and bring it into subjection, lest perhaps, when I have been a herald to others, I should myself be rejected as unworthy.