1 Corinthians 9
New King James Version
A Pattern of Self-Denial
9 Am (A)I not an apostle? Am I not free? (B)Have I not seen Jesus Christ our Lord? (C)Are you not my work in the Lord? 2 If I am not an apostle to others, yet doubtless I am to you. For you are (D)the [a]seal of my apostleship in the Lord.
3 My defense to those who examine me is this: 4 (E)Do we have no [b]right to eat and drink? 5 Do we have no right to take along [c]a believing wife, as do also the other apostles, (F)the brothers of the Lord, and (G)Cephas? 6 Or is it only Barnabas and I (H)who have no right to refrain from working? 7 Who ever (I)goes to war at his own expense? Who (J)plants a vineyard and does not eat of its fruit? Or who (K)tends a flock and does not drink of the milk of the flock?
8 Do I say these things as a mere man? Or does not the law say the same also? 9 For it is written in the law of Moses, (L)“You shall not muzzle an ox while it treads out the grain.” Is it oxen God is concerned about? 10 Or does He say it altogether for our sakes? For our sakes, no doubt, this is written, that (M)he who plows should plow in hope, and he who threshes in hope should be partaker of his hope. 11 (N)If we have sown spiritual things for you, is it a great thing if we reap your material things? 12 If others are partakers of this right over you, are we not even more?
(O)Nevertheless we have not used this right, but endure all things (P)lest we hinder the gospel of Christ. 13 (Q)Do you not know that those who minister the holy things eat of the things of the (R)temple, and those who serve at the altar partake of the offerings of the altar? 14 Even so (S)the Lord has commanded (T)that those who preach the gospel should live from the gospel.
15 But (U)I have used none of these things, nor have I written these things that it should be done so to me; for (V)it would be better for me to die than that anyone should make my boasting void. 16 For if I preach the gospel, I have nothing to boast of, for (W)necessity is laid upon me; yes, woe is me if I do not preach the gospel! 17 For if I do this willingly, (X)I have a reward; but if against my will, (Y)I have been entrusted with a stewardship. 18 What is my reward then? That (Z)when I preach the gospel, I may present the gospel [d]of Christ without charge, that I (AA)may not abuse my authority in the gospel.
Serving All Men
19 For though I am (AB)free from all men, (AC)I have made myself a servant to all, (AD)that I might win the more; 20 and (AE)to the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might win Jews; to those who are under the law, as under the [e]law, that I might win those who are under the law; 21 (AF)to (AG)those who are without law, as without law (AH)(not being without [f]law toward God, but under [g]law toward Christ), that I might win those who are without law; 22 (AI)to the weak I became [h]as weak, that I might win the weak. (AJ)I have become all things to all men, (AK)that I might by all means save some. 23 Now this I do for the gospel’s sake, that I may be partaker of it with you.
Striving for a Crown
24 Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but one receives the prize? (AL)Run in such a way that you may [i]obtain it. 25 And everyone who competes for the prize [j]is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a perishable crown, but we for (AM)an imperishable crown. 26 Therefore I run thus: (AN)not with uncertainty. Thus I fight: not as one who beats the air. 27 (AO)But I discipline my body and (AP)bring it into subjection, lest, when I have preached to others, I myself should become (AQ)disqualified.
Notas al pie
- 1 Corinthians 9:2 certification
- 1 Corinthians 9:4 authority
- 1 Corinthians 9:5 Lit. a sister, a wife
- 1 Corinthians 9:18 NU omits of Christ
- 1 Corinthians 9:20 NU adds though not being myself under the law
- 1 Corinthians 9:21 NU God’s law
- 1 Corinthians 9:21 NU Christ’s law
- 1 Corinthians 9:22 NU omits as
- 1 Corinthians 9:24 win
- 1 Corinthians 9:25 exercises self-control
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.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
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