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Psalm 120

A song of ascents.

 ² Save me, O LORD, from lying lips
       and from deceitful tongues.

 ³ What will he do to you,
       and what more besides, O deceitful tongue?

 ⁴ He will punish you with a warrior's sharp arrows,
       with burning coals of the broom tree.

 ⁵ Woe to me that I dwell in Meshech,
       that I live among the tents of Kedar!

 ⁶ Too long have I lived
       among those who hate peace.

 ⁷ I am a man of peace;
       but when I speak, they are for war.

Psalm 121

A song of ascents.

 ² My help comes from the LORD,
       the Maker of heaven and earth.

 ³ He will not let your foot slip—
       he who watches over you will not slumber;

 ⁴ indeed, he who watches over Israel
       will neither slumber nor sleep.

 ⁵ The LORD watches over you—
       the LORD is your shade at your right hand;

 ⁶ the sun will not harm you by day,
       nor the moon by night.

 ⁷ The LORD will keep you from all harm—
       he will watch over your life;

 ⁸ the LORD will watch over your coming and going
       both now and forevermore.

Psalm 122

A song of ascents. Of David.

 ² Our feet are standing
       in your gates, O Jerusalem.

 ³ Jerusalem is built like a city
       that is closely compacted together.

 ⁴ That is where the tribes go up,
       the tribes of the LORD,
       to praise the name of the LORD
       according to the statute given to Israel.

 ⁵ There the thrones for judgment stand,
       the thrones of the house of David.

 ⁶ Pray for the peace of Jerusalem:
       "May those who love you be secure.

 ⁷ May there be peace within your walls
       and security within your citadels."

 ⁸ For the sake of my brothers and friends,
       I will say, "Peace be within you."

 ⁹ For the sake of the house of the LORD our God,
       I will seek your prosperity.

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1 Corinthians 9

The Rights of an Apostle

 ³This is my defense to those who sit in judgment on me. ⁴Don't we have the right to food and drink? ⁵Don't we have the right to take a believing wife along with us, as do the other apostles and the Lord's brothers and Cephas^[a]? ⁶Or is it only I and Barnabas who must work for a living?

 ⁷Who serves as a soldier at his own expense? Who plants a vineyard and does not eat of its grapes? Who tends a flock and does not drink of the milk? ⁸Do I say this merely from a human point of view? Doesn't the Law say the same thing? ⁹For it is written in the Law of Moses: "Do not muzzle an ox while it is treading out the grain."^[b] Is it about oxen that God is concerned? ¹⁰Surely he says this for us, doesn't he? Yes, this was written for us, because when the plowman plows and the thresher threshes, they ought to do so in the hope of sharing in the harvest. ¹¹If we have sown spiritual seed among you, is it too much if we reap a material harvest from you? ¹²If others have this right of support from you, shouldn't we have it all the more?

   But we did not use this right. On the contrary, we put up with anything rather than hinder the gospel of Christ. ¹³Don't you know that those who work in the temple get their food from the temple, and those who serve at the altar share in what is offered on the altar? ¹⁴In the same way, the Lord has commanded that those who preach the gospel should receive their living from the gospel.

 ¹⁵But I have not used any of these rights. And I am not writing this in the hope that you will do such things for me. I would rather die than have anyone deprive me of this boast. ¹⁶Yet when I preach the gospel, I cannot boast, for I am compelled to preach. Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel! ¹⁷If I preach voluntarily, I have a reward; if not voluntarily, I am simply discharging the trust committed to me. ¹⁸What then is my reward? Just this: that in preaching the gospel I may offer it free of charge, and so not make use of my rights in preaching it.

 ¹⁹Though I am free and belong to no man, I make myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible. ²⁰To 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), so as to win those under the law. ²¹To those not having the law I became like one not having the law (though I am not free from God's law but am under Christ's law), so as to win those not having the law. ²²To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all men so that by all possible means I might save some. ²³I do all this for the sake of the gospel, that I may share in its blessings.

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

 ²⁵Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. ²⁶Therefore I do not run like a man running aimlessly; I do not fight like a man beating the air. ²⁷No, I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.