⁷ And remain in the same house, eating and drinking what they provide, for ^(A)the laborer deserves his wages. Do not go from house to house.

¹⁷ Let the elders ^(A)who rule well be considered worthy of ^(B)double honor, especially those who labor in preaching and teaching. ¹⁸ For the Scripture says, ^(C)“You shall not muzzle an ox when it treads out the grain,” and, ^(D)“The laborer deserves his wages.”

¹⁰ no bag for your journey, or two tunics^[a] or sandals or a staff, for ^(A)the laborer deserves his food. ¹¹ And whatever town or village you enter, find out who is worthy in it and stay there until you depart.

Support and Opposition

⁵ Beloved, it is a faithful thing you do in all your efforts for ^(A)these brothers, ^(B)strangers as they are, ⁶ who testified to your love before the church. You will do well to send them on their journey in a manner ^(C)worthy of God. ⁷ For they have gone out for the sake of ^(D)the name, ^(E)accepting nothing from the Gentiles. ⁸ Therefore we ought to support people like these, that we may be fellow workers for the truth.

⁶ It is ^(A)the hard-working farmer who ought to have the first share of the crops.

^6 (A)Let the one who is taught the word share all good things with the one who teaches.

^4 (A)Do we not have the right to eat and drink? ^5 (B)Do we not have the right to take along a believing wife,^[a] as do the other apostles and ^(C)the brothers of the Lord and ^(D)Cephas? ⁶ Or is it only Barnabas and I who have no right to refrain from working for a living? ^7 (E)Who serves as a soldier at his own expense? ^(F)Who plants a vineyard without eating any of its fruit? Or who tends a flock without getting some of the milk?

⁸ Do I say these things on human authority? Does not the Law say the same? ⁹ For it is written in the Law of Moses, ^(G)“You shall not muzzle an ox when it treads out the grain.” Is it for oxen that God is concerned? ¹⁰ Does he not certainly speak for our sake? It was written ^(H)for our sake, because ^(I)the plowman should plow in hope and the thresher thresh in hope of sharing in the crop. ^11 (J)If we have sown spiritual things among you, is it too much if we reap material things from you? ¹² If others share this rightful claim on you, do not we even more?

Nevertheless, ^(K)we have not made use of this right, but we endure anything ^(L)rather than put an obstacle in the way of the gospel of Christ. ¹³ Do you not know that ^(M)those who are employed in the temple service get their food from the temple, and those who serve at the altar share in the sacrificial offerings? ¹⁴ In the same way, the Lord commanded that ^(N)those who proclaim the gospel should get their living by the gospel.

¹⁵ But ^(O)I have made no use of any of these rights, nor am I writing these things to secure any such provision. For I would rather die than have anyone ^(P)deprive me of my ground for boasting.

¹⁸ but ^(A)you shall eat them before the Lord your God in ^(B)the place that the Lord your God will choose, you and your son and your daughter, your male servant and your female servant, and the Levite who is within your towns. And ^(C)you shall rejoice before the Lord your God in all that you undertake. ^19 (D)Take care that you do not neglect the Levite as long as you live in your land.

⁴ And whatever house you enter, stay there, and from there depart.