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This is my defense to those who examine me. Do we not have the right to financial support?[a] Do we not have the right to the company of a believing wife, like the other apostles and the Lord’s brothers and Cephas?[b] Or do only Barnabas and I lack the right not to work? Who ever serves in the army at his own expense? Who plants a vineyard and does not eat its fruit? Who tends a flock and does not consume its milk?

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Footnotes

  1. 1 Corinthians 9:4 tn Grk “the right to eat and drink.” In the context this is a figurative reference to financial support.
  2. 1 Corinthians 9:5 sn Cephas. This individual is generally identified with the Apostle Peter (L&N 93.211). Both the Aramaic name “Cephas” and the Greek name “Peter” are related to words in each language which mean “rock.”

My defense to those who examine me is this: Don’t we have the right to eat and drink?(A) Don’t we have the right to be accompanied by a believing wife[a] like the other apostles,(B) the Lord’s brothers, and Cephas?(C) Or do only Barnabas(D) and I have no right to refrain from working? Who serves as a soldier at his own expense?(E) Who plants a vineyard and does not eat its fruit? Or who shepherds a flock and does not drink the milk from the flock?

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Footnotes

  1. 9:5 Lit a sister as a wife