Add parallel Print Page Options

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?

Read full chapter

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.”

This is my defense to those who would examine me. Do we not have the right to our food and drink?(A) Do we not have the right to be accompanied by a believing wife,[a] as do the other apostles and the brothers of the Lord and Cephas?(B) Or is it only Barnabas and I who have no right to refrain from working for a living?(C) Who at any time pays the expenses for doing military service? Who plants a vineyard and does not eat any of its fruit? Or who tends a flock and does not get any of its milk?(D)

Read full chapter

Footnotes

  1. 9.5 Gk a sister as wife