1 Corinthians 9
English Standard Version
Paul Surrenders His Rights
9 (A)Am I not free? (B)Am I not an apostle? (C)Have I not seen Jesus our Lord? (D)Are not you my workmanship in the Lord? 2 If to others I am not an apostle, at least I am to you, for you are (E)the seal of my apostleship in the Lord.
3 This is my defense to those who would examine me. 4 (F)Do we not have the right to eat and drink? 5 (G)Do we not have the right to take along a believing wife,[a] as do the other apostles and (H)the brothers of the Lord and (I)Cephas? 6 Or is it only Barnabas and I who have no right to refrain from working for a living? 7 (J)Who serves as a soldier at his own expense? (K)Who plants a vineyard without eating any of its fruit? Or who tends a flock without getting some of the milk?
8 Do I say these things on human authority? Does not the Law say the same? 9 For it is written in the Law of Moses, (L)“You shall not muzzle an ox when it treads out the grain.” Is it for oxen that God is concerned? 10 Does he not certainly speak for our sake? It was written (M)for our sake, because (N)the plowman should plow in hope and the thresher thresh in hope of sharing in the crop. 11 (O)If we have sown spiritual things among you, is it too much if we reap material things from you? 12 If others share this rightful claim on you, do not we even more?
Nevertheless, (P)we have not made use of this right, but we endure anything (Q)rather than put an obstacle in the way of the gospel of Christ. 13 Do you not know that (R)those who are employed in the temple service get their food from the temple, and those who serve at the altar share in the sacrificial offerings? 14 In the same way, the Lord commanded that (S)those who proclaim the gospel should get their living by the gospel.
15 But (T)I have made no use of any of these rights, nor am I writing these things to secure any such provision. For I would rather die than have anyone (U)deprive me of my ground for boasting. 16 For if I preach the gospel, that gives me no ground for boasting. For (V)necessity is laid upon me. Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel! 17 For if I do this of my own will, I have a reward, but if not of my own will, I am still entrusted with (W)a stewardship. 18 What then is my reward? That in my preaching (X)I may present the gospel free of charge, so as not to make full use of my right in the gospel.
19 For (Y)though I am free from all, (Z)I have made myself a servant to all, that I might (AA)win more of them. 20 (AB)To the Jews I became as a Jew, in order to win Jews. To those under the law I became as one under the law (though not being myself under the law) that I might win those under the law. 21 To (AC)those outside the law I became (AD)as one outside the law (not being outside the law of God but (AE)under the law of Christ) that I might win those outside the law. 22 (AF)To the weak I became weak, that I might win the weak. (AG)I have become all things to all people, that (AH)by all means I might save some. 23 I do it all for the sake of the gospel, (AI)that I may share with them in its blessings.
24 Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives (AJ)the prize? So (AK)run that you may obtain it. 25 Every (AL)athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we (AM)an imperishable. 26 So I do not run aimlessly; I (AN)do not box as one (AO)beating the air. 27 But I discipline my body and (AP)keep it under control,[b] lest after preaching to others (AQ)I myself should be (AR)disqualified.
Footnotes
- 1 Corinthians 9:5 Greek a sister as wife
- 1 Corinthians 9:27 Greek I pummel my body and make it a slave
Kehillah in Corinth I 9
Orthodox Jewish Bible
9 Do I not have cherut [in Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiach]? Am I not a Shliach? Have I not seen Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiach Adoneinu? Are you not my po’al (work) in Adoneinu?
2 If to others I am not a Shliach, surely I am to you, for you are the chotam (seal) of my shlichus (Ga 2:10), in Hashem.
3 My apologetic to the ones cross-examining me is this:
4 Do I not have the privilege of eating and drinking?
5 Is the privilege not mine to take an achot b’Moshiach as isha in my travels for Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiach’s avodas kodesh, just as the rest of his Shlichim do and the Achim [see p.848] of Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiach Adoneinu and Kefa?
6 Or is it only Bar-Nabba and I who are denied the privilege of not working at a parnasah?
7 Whoever heard of someone serving as a chaiyal (soldier) but having to pay his own wages for doing so? Who plants a kerem (vineyard) but does not eat the p’ri hakerem? And who serves as a ro’eh (shepherd) over a flock and of the cholov (milk) of the flock does not partake? [Devarim 20:6; Mishle 27:18]
8 Do I say this according to the dvar haBnei Adam? Or does not the Torah say these things?
9 For, in the Torah of Moshe [Rabbenu] it has been written, LO TACHSOM SHOR BEDISHO ("You shall not muzzle an ox treading grain" DEVARIM 25:4). Surely it is not for oxen that Hashem is concerned.
10 Or does he not speak altogether for our sake, and is it not for us that Hashem says this? Ken, for us, because it was written that the one plowing ought to plow on in tikvah, and the one threshing ought to partake with tikvah.
11 If we sowed spiritual things to you, is it too much if we reap in material things from you? [Ro 15:27]
12 If others over you can claim this privilege, can we not even more? But we did not make use of this privilege; we endure all things, lest any hindrance we should give to Moshiach’s Besuras HaGeulah.
13 Do you not have da’as that the kohanim serving in the Beis Hamikdash sherut (service in the Temple) eat the things of the Beis Hamikdash; the kohanim attending the Mizbe’ach (altar) have their share with the Mizbe’ach (altar)?
14 So also Moshiach Adoneinu appointed the ones proclaiming the Besuras HaGeulah to get their parnasah from the Besuras HaGeulah.
15 But I have not used any of these privileges; I did not write these things that it might be so with me; for it’s better for me rather to die than that someone deprive me of my kavod [in Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiach Pp 1:21].
16 For if I preach the Besuras HaGeulah there is nothing for me to boast about, als (since) necessity is laid on me, for Oy Li ("Woe to me!") if I do not preach the Besuras HaGeulah [YIRMEYAH 20:9].
17 For, if I do this willingly, I have a sachar (reward), but if unwillingly, then a ne’emanut (trusteeship), a kehunah for the Besuras HaGeulah [Ro 15:16] has been entrusted to me.
18 What then is my sachar (reward)? That in preaching as a maggid of the Besuras HaGeulah, I may make the Besuras HaGeulah free of charge, so as not to make full use of my right in the Besuras HaGeulah.
19 For being no indentured servant to any one of the Bnei Adam, I made myself a servant [working for nothing] to kol Bnei Adam, that I might win the more.
20 And I became to the Yehudim as a Yehudi, that I might win Yehudim; to the ones under Torah, I became as under Torah—not being myself under [the epoch of] Torah—that the ones under Torah I might win;
21 To the ones without Torah, as without Torah, though not being without the Torah of Hashem but being under Moshiach’s Torah [YESHAYAH 42:4], that I might win the ones without Torah.
22 I became weak to the weak ones that I might win the weak ones. I have become all things to kol Bnei Adam, that by all means I might save some.
23 And all things I do because of the Besuras HaGeulah that a fellow partaker and deveykus sharer in it I may become.
24 Do you not have da’as that the ones running on a race course all indeed run, but it is only one who receives the prize? So run that you may obtain the prize.
25 And everyone competing in the [Olympic] games in all things exercises shlitah atzmi: those ones, therefore, that they may obtain a perishable wreath; but we, an imperishable.
26 Therefore, I run not as one without a goal that is kovua (fixed, set). I box as not beating the air.
27 But I do more than merely spar with my basar; I pommel it and keep it under strict subjection, so that after I am the maggid to others, I myself will not become declared ineligible.
The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.
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