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1Cr 9:1 |
Am I not an apostle? Am I not free? Have I not seen Jesus Christ our Lord? Are you not my work in the Lord?
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1Cr 9:2 |
If I am not an apostle to others, yet doubtless I am to you. For you are the seal of my apostleship in the Lord.
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1Cr 9:3 |
My defense to those who examine me is this:
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1Cr 9:4 |
Do we have no right to eat and drink?
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1Cr 9:5 |
Do we have no right to take along a believing wife, as [do] also the other apostles, the brothers of the Lord, and Cephas?
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1Cr 9:6 |
Or [is it] only Barnabas and I [who] have no right to refrain from working?
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1Cr 9:7 |
Who ever goes to war at his own expense? Who plants a vineyard and does not eat of its fruit? Or who tends a flock and does not drink of the milk of the flock?
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1Cr 9:8 |
Do I say these things as a [mere] man? Or does not the law say the same also?
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1Cr 9:9 |
For it is written in the law of Moses, "You shall not muzzle an ox while it treads out the grain." [fn] Is it oxen God is concerned about?
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1Cr 9:10 |
Or does He say [it] altogether for our sakes? For our sakes, no doubt, [this] is written, that he who plows should plow in hope, and he who threshes in hope should be partaker of his hope.
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1Cr 9:11 |
If we have sown spiritual things for you, [is it] a great thing if we reap your material things?
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1Cr 9:12 |
If others are partakers of [this] right over you, [are] we not even more? Nevertheless we have not used this right, but endure all things lest we hinder the gospel of Christ.
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1Cr 9:13 |
Do you not know that those who minister the holy things eat [of the things] of the temple, and those who serve at the altar partake of [the offerings of] the altar?
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1Cr 9:14 |
Even so the Lord has commanded that those who preach the gospel should live from the gospel.
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1Cr 9:15 |
But I have used none of these things, nor have I written these things that it should be done so to me; for it [would be] better for me to die than that anyone should make my boasting void.
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1Cr 9:16 |
For if I preach the gospel, I have nothing to boast of, for necessity is laid upon me; yes, woe is me if I do not preach the gospel!
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1Cr 9:17 |
For if I do this willingly, I have a reward; but if against my will, I have been entrusted with a stewardship.
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1Cr 9:18 |
What is my reward then? That when I preach the gospel, I may present the gospel of Christ [fn] without charge, that I may not abuse my authority in the gospel.
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1Cr 9:19 |
For though I am free from all [men], I have made myself a servant to all, that I might win the more;
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1Cr 9:20 |
and to the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might win Jews; to those [who are] under the law, as under the law, [fn] that I might win those [who are] under the law;
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1Cr 9:21 |
to those [who are] without law, as without law (not being without law toward God, [fn] but under law toward Christ [fn]), that I might win those [who are] without law;
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1Cr 9:22 |
to the weak I became as [fn] weak, that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all [men], that I might by all means save some.
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1Cr 9:23 |
Now this I do for the gospel's sake, that I may be partaker of it with [you].
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1Cr 9:24 |
Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may obtain [it].
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1Cr 9:25 |
And everyone who competes [for the prize] is temperate in all things. Now they [do it] to obtain a perishable crown, but we [for] an imperishable [crown].
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1Cr 9:26 |
Therefore I run thus: not with uncertainty. Thus I fight: not as [one who] beats the air.
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1Cr 9:27 |
But I discipline my body and bring [it] into subjection, lest, when I have preached to others, I myself should become disqualified.
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