¹⁷ Elders who do their work well should be respected and paid well,^[a] especially those who work hard at both preaching and teaching.

¹⁷ Obey your spiritual leaders, and do what they say. Their work is to watch over your souls, and they are accountable to God. Give them reason to do this with joy and not with sorrow. That would certainly not be for your benefit.

Paul’s Final Advice

¹² Dear brothers and sisters, honor those who are your leaders in the Lord’s work. They work hard among you and give you spiritual guidance. ¹³ Show them great respect and wholehearted love because of their work. And live peacefully with each other.

⁶ Those who are taught the word of God should provide for their teachers, sharing all good things with them.

⁷ Remember your leaders who taught you the word of God. Think of all the good that has come from their lives, and follow the example of their faith.

²⁹ Welcome him in the Lord’s love^[a] and with great joy, and give him the honor that people like him deserve.

⁸ If your gift is to encourage others, be encouraging. If it is giving, give generously. If God has given you leadership ability, take the responsibility seriously. And if you have a gift for showing kindness to others, do it gladly.

⁷ Don’t move around from home to home. Stay in one place, eating and drinking what they provide. Don’t hesitate to accept hospitality, because those who work deserve their pay.

⁶ And hardworking farmers should be the first to enjoy the fruit of their labor.

⁵ Don’t we have the right to bring a believing wife^[a] with us as the other apostles and the Lord’s brothers do, and as Peter^[b] does? ⁶ Or is it only Barnabas and I who have to work to support ourselves?

⁷ What soldier has to pay his own expenses? What farmer plants a vineyard and doesn’t have the right to eat some of its fruit? What shepherd cares for a flock of sheep and isn’t allowed to drink some of the milk? ⁸ Am I expressing merely a human opinion, or does the law say the same thing? ⁹ For the law of Moses says, “You must not muzzle an ox to keep it from eating as it treads out the grain.”^[c] Was God thinking only about oxen when he said this? ¹⁰ Wasn’t he actually speaking to us? Yes, it was written for us, so that the one who plows and the one who threshes the grain might both expect a share of the harvest.

¹¹ Since we have planted spiritual seed among you, aren’t we entitled to a harvest of physical food and drink? ¹² If you support others who preach to you, shouldn’t we have an even greater right to be supported? But we have never used this right. We would rather put up with anything than be an obstacle to the Good News about Christ.

¹³ Don’t you realize that those who work in the temple get their meals from the offerings brought to the temple? And those who serve at the altar get a share of the sacrificial offerings. ¹⁴ In the same way, the Lord ordered that those who preach the Good News should be supported by those who benefit from it.