1 Corinthians 9

¹Am I not free? am I not an Apostle? have I not seen Jesus our Lord? are you not my work in the Lord?

²If to others I am not an Apostle, at least I am one to you: for the fact that you are Christians is the sign that I am an Apostle.

³My answer to those who are judging me is this.

⁴Have we no right to take food and drink?

⁵Have we no right to take about with us a Christian wife, like the rest of the Apostles, and the brothers of the Lord, and Cephas?

⁶Or I only and Barnabas, have we no right to take a rest from work?

⁷Who ever goes to war without looking to someone to be responsible for his payment? who puts in vines and does not take the fruit of them? or who takes care of sheep without drinking of their milk?

⁸Am I talking as a man? does not the law say the same?

⁹For it says in the law of Moses, It is not right to keep the ox from taking the grain when he is crushing it. Is it for the oxen that God is giving orders?

¹⁰Or has he us in mind? Yes, it was said for us; because it is right for the ploughman to do his ploughing in hope, and for him who is crushing the grain to do his work hoping for a part in the fruits of it.

¹¹If we have been planting the things of the Spirit for you, does it seem a great thing for you to give us a part in your things of this world?

¹²If others have a part in this right over you, have we not even more? But we did not make use of our right, so that we might put nothing in the way of the good news of Christ.