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The Blue Letter Bible

1 Corinthians 9 :: English Standard Version (ESV)

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Paul Surrenders His Rights

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Unchecked Copy Box 1Co 9:1

Unchecked Copy Box1Co 9:1 - Am I not free? Am I not an apostle? Have I not seen Jesus our Lord? Are not you my workmanship in the Lord?

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Unchecked Copy Box 1Co 9:2

Unchecked Copy Box1Co 9:2 - If to others I am not an apostle, at least I am to you, for you are the seal of my apostleship in the Lord.

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Unchecked Copy Box 1Co 9:3

Unchecked Copy Box1Co 9:3 - This is my defense to those who would examine me.

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Unchecked Copy Box 1Co 9:4

Unchecked Copy Box1Co 9:4 - Do we not have the right to eat and drink?

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Unchecked Copy Box 1Co 9:5

Unchecked Copy Box1Co 9:5 - Do we not have the right to take along a believing wife,[fn] as do the other apostles and the brothers of the Lord and Cephas?

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Unchecked Copy Box 1Co 9:6

Unchecked Copy Box1Co 9:6 - Or is it only Barnabas and I who have no right to refrain from working for a living?

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Unchecked Copy Box 1Co 9:7

Unchecked Copy Box1Co 9:7 - Who serves as a soldier at his own expense? Who plants a vineyard without eating any of its fruit? Or who tends a flock without getting some of the milk?

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Unchecked Copy Box 1Co 9:8

Unchecked Copy Box1Co 9:8 - Do I say these things on human authority? Does not the Law say the same?

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Unchecked Copy Box 1Co 9:9

Unchecked Copy Box1Co 9:9 - For it is written in the Law of Moses, “You shall not muzzle an ox when it treads out the grain.” Is it for oxen that God is concerned?

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Unchecked Copy Box 1Co 9:10

Unchecked Copy Box1Co 9:10 - Does he not certainly speak for our sake? It was written for our sake, because the plowman should plow in hope and the thresher thresh in hope of sharing in the crop.

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Unchecked Copy Box 1Co 9:11

Unchecked Copy Box1Co 9:11 - If we have sown spiritual things among you, is it too much if we reap material things from you?

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Unchecked Copy Box 1Co 9:12

Unchecked Copy Box1Co 9:12 - If others share this rightful claim on you, do not we even more? Nevertheless, we have not made use of this right, but we endure anything rather than put an obstacle in the way of the gospel of Christ.

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Unchecked Copy Box 1Co 9:13

Unchecked Copy Box1Co 9:13 - Do you not know that 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?

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Unchecked Copy Box 1Co 9:14

Unchecked Copy Box1Co 9:14 - In the same way, the Lord commanded that those who proclaim the gospel should get their living by the gospel.

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Unchecked Copy Box 1Co 9:15

Unchecked Copy Box1Co 9:15 - But 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 deprive me of my ground for boasting.

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Unchecked Copy Box 1Co 9:16

Unchecked Copy Box1Co 9:16 - For if I preach the gospel, that gives me no ground for boasting. For necessity is laid upon me. Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel!

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Unchecked Copy Box 1Co 9:17

Unchecked Copy Box1Co 9:17 - For if I do this of my own will, I have a reward, but if not of my own will, I am still entrusted with a stewardship.

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Unchecked Copy Box 1Co 9:18

Unchecked Copy Box1Co 9:18 - What then is my reward? That in my preaching I may present the gospel free of charge, so as not to make full use of my right in the gospel.

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Unchecked Copy Box 1Co 9:19

Unchecked Copy Box1Co 9:19 - For though I am free from all, I have made myself a servant to all, that I might win more of them.

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Unchecked Copy Box 1Co 9:20

Unchecked Copy Box1Co 9:20 - To the Jews I became as a Jew, in order to win Jews. To those under the law I became as one under the law (though not being myself under the law) that I might win those under the law.

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Unchecked Copy Box 1Co 9:21

Unchecked Copy Box1Co 9:21 - To those outside the law I became as one outside the law (not being outside the law of God but under the law of Christ) that I might win those outside the law.

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Unchecked Copy Box 1Co 9:22

Unchecked Copy Box1Co 9:22 - To the weak I became weak, that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all people, that by all means I might save some.

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Unchecked Copy Box 1Co 9:23

Unchecked Copy Box1Co 9:23 - I do it all for the sake of the gospel, that I may share with them in its blessings.

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Unchecked Copy Box 1Co 9:24

Unchecked Copy Box1Co 9:24 - Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it.

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Unchecked Copy Box 1Co 9:25

Unchecked Copy Box1Co 9:25 - Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable.

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Unchecked Copy Box 1Co 9:26

Unchecked Copy Box1Co 9:26 - So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air.

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Unchecked Copy Box 1Co 9:27

Unchecked Copy Box1Co 9:27 - But I discipline my body and keep it under control,[fn] lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified.
See the ESV Preface (Especially for Parenthesis, Brackets, & Asterisks).
ESV Footnotes
Greek a sister as wife
Greek I pummel my body and make it a slave
ESV

The Holy Bible, English Standard Version copyright © 2001, 2007, 2011, 2016 by Crossway Books and Bibles, a Publishing Ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

See detailed copyright information.

For more information on this translation, see the ESV Preface.

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1 Corinthians Chapter 9 — Additional Translations:

King James Version New King James Version New Living Translation New International Version Christian Standard Bible New American Standard Bible 2020 New American Standard Bible 1995 Legacy Standard Bible Amplified Bible New English Translation Revised Standard Version American Standard Version Young's Literal Translation Darby Translation Webster's Bible Hebrew Names Version Latin Vulgate Morphological Greek New Testament Textus Receptus Smith Van Dyck Arabic Bible Open New Arabic Version Reina Valera 1909 Reina-Valera 1960 Bible in Basic English Chinese Traditional Union Espanol Moderno Korean Holy Bible Louis Segond German Luther Russian Synodal Translation Sagradas Escrituras