³¹ Do not listen to Hezekiah; for thus says the king of Assyria: ‘Make peace with me ^[a]by a present and come out to me; and every one of you eat from his own ^(A)vine and every one from his own fig tree, and every one of you drink the waters of his own cistern;

(To Solomon)

¹⁶ Do not listen to Hezekiah; for thus says the king of Assyria: ‘Make peace with me by a present and come out to me; ^(A)and every one of you eat from his own vine and every one from his own fig tree, and every one of you drink the waters of his own cistern;

⁸ Now he who plants and he who waters are one, ^(A)and each one will receive his own reward according to his own labor.

⁷ Who ever ^(A)goes to war at his own expense? Who ^(B)plants a vineyard and does not eat of its fruit? Or who ^(C)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, ^(D)“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 ^(E)he who plows should plow in hope, and he who threshes in hope should be partaker of his hope. ^11 (F)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?

^(G)Nevertheless we have not used this right, but endure all things ^(H)lest we hinder the gospel of Christ. ^13 (I)Do you not know that those who minister the holy things eat of the things of the ^(J)temple, and those who serve at the altar partake of the offerings of the altar?

⁶ The hardworking farmer must be first to partake of the crops.