You are already full! (A)You are already rich! You have reigned as kings without us—and indeed I could wish you did reign, that we also might reign with you! For I think that God has displayed us, the apostles, last, as men condemned to death; for we have been made a (B)spectacle [a]to the world, both to angels and to men. 10 We are (C)fools for Christ’s sake, but you are wise in Christ! (D)We are weak, but you are strong! You are distinguished, but we are dishonored! 11 To the present hour we both hunger and thirst, and we are poorly clothed, and beaten, and homeless. 12 (E)And we labor, working with our own hands. (F)Being reviled, we bless; being persecuted, we endure; 13 being defamed, we [b]entreat. (G)We have been made as the filth of the world, the offscouring of all things until now.

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Footnotes

  1. 1 Corinthians 4:9 Lit. theater
  2. 1 Corinthians 4:13 exhort, encourage

Already you have all you want! Already you have become rich!(A) You have begun to reign—and that without us! How I wish that you really had begun to reign so that we also might reign with you! For it seems to me that God has put us apostles on display at the end of the procession, like those condemned to die(B) in the arena. We have been made a spectacle(C) to the whole universe, to angels as well as to human beings. 10 We are fools for Christ,(D) but you are so wise in Christ!(E) We are weak, but you are strong!(F) You are honored, we are dishonored! 11 To this very hour we go hungry and thirsty, we are in rags, we are brutally treated, we are homeless.(G) 12 We work hard with our own hands.(H) When we are cursed, we bless;(I) when we are persecuted,(J) we endure it; 13 when we are slandered, we answer kindly. We have become the scum of the earth, the garbage(K) of the world—right up to this moment.

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