| [an error occurred while processing this directive] | New International Version |
| 1[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 1Am I not free? Am I not an apostle? Have I not seen Jesus our Lord? Are you not the result of my work in the Lord? |
| 2[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 2Even though I may not be an apostle to others, surely I am to you! For you are the seal of my apostleship in the Lord. |
| 3[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 3This is my defense to those who sit in judgment on me. |
| 4[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 4Don't we have the right to food and drink? |
| 5[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 5Don't we have the right to take a believing wife along with us, as do the other apostles and the Lord's brothers and Cephas? |
| 6[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 6Or is it only I and Barnabas who lack the right to not work for a living? |
| 7[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 7Who serves as a soldier at his own expense? Who plants a vineyard and does not eat its grapes? Who tends a flock and does not drink the milk? |
| 8[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 8Do I say this merely on human authority? Doesn't the Law say the same thing? |
| 9[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 9For it is written in the Law of Moses: "Do not muzzle an ox while it is treading out the grain." Is it about oxen that God is concerned? |
| 10[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 10Surely he says this for us, doesn't he? Yes, this was written for us, because whoever plows and threshes should be able to do so in the hope of sharing in the harvest. |
| 11[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 11If we have sown spiritual seed among you, is it too much if we reap a material harvest from you? |
| 12[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 12If others have this right of support from you, shouldn't we have it all the more? But we did not use this right. On the contrary, we put up with anything rather than hinder the gospel of Christ. |
| 13[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 13Don't you know that those who serve in the temple get their food from the temple, and that those who serve at the altar share in what is offered on the altar? |
| 14[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 14In the same way, the Lord has commanded that those who preach the gospel should receive their living from the gospel. |
| 15[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 15But I have not used any of these rights. And I am not writing this in the hope that you will do such things for me, for I would rather die than allow anyone to deprive me of this boast. |
| 16[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 16For when I preach the gospel, I cannot boast, since I am compelled to preach. Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel! |
| 17[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 17If I preach voluntarily, I have a reward; if not voluntarily, I am simply discharging the trust committed to me. |
| 18[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 18What then is my reward? Just this: that in preaching the gospel I may offer it free of charge, and so not make full use of my rights as a preacher of the gospel. |
| 19[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 19Though I am free and belong to no one, I have made myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible. |
| 20[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 20To the Jews I became like a Jew, to win the Jews. To those under the law I became like one under the law (though I myself am not under the law), so as to win those under the law. |
| 21[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 21To those not having the law I became like one not having the law (though I am not free from God's law but am under Christ's law), so as to win those not having the law. |
| 22[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 22To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all people so that by all possible means I might save some. |
| 23[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 23I do all this for the sake of the gospel, that I may share in its blessings. |
| 24[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 24Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. |
| 25[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 25Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last, but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. |
| 26[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 26Therefore I do not run like someone running aimlessly; I do not fight like a boxer beating the air. |
| 27[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 27No, I strike a blow to my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize. |
| [an error occurred while processing this directive] | New International Version (NIV) Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. |
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