{"meta":{"source":"Prime Bible","sourceUrl":"https://primebible.com","license":"Public domain (translation text); see citation policy at /citation-policy","organization":"501(c)(3) nonprofit — EIN 41-2531951","canonicalUrl":"https://primebible.com/wbt/1-corinthians/9","llmTxt":"https://primebible.com/llms.txt","generatedAt":"2026-06-02T19:44:53.747Z"},"reference":{"translation":"WBT","book":"1 Corinthians","bookSlug":"1-corinthians","chapter":9,"testament":"NEW"},"navigation":{"previousChapter":8,"nextChapter":10,"totalChapters":16,"totalVerses":27},"verses":[{"verseNumber":1,"text":"Am I not an apostle? am I not free? have I not seen Jesus Christ our Lord? are ye not my work in the Lord?"},{"verseNumber":2,"text":"If I am not an apostle to others, yet doubtless I am to you: for ye are the seal of my apostleship in the Lord."},{"verseNumber":3,"text":"My answer to them that examine me is this,"},{"verseNumber":4,"text":"Have we not power to eat and to drink?"},{"verseNumber":5,"text":"Have we not power to lead about a sister, a wife, as well as other apostles, and as the brethren of the Lord, and Cephas?"},{"verseNumber":6,"text":"Or I only and Barnabas, have we not power to forbear working?"},{"verseNumber":7,"text":"Who goeth a warfare at any time at his own charges? who planteth a vineyard, and eateth not of its fruit? or who feedeth a flock, and eateth not of the milk of the flock?"},{"verseNumber":8,"text":"Do I say these things as a man? or saith not the law the same also?"},{"verseNumber":9,"text":"For it is written in the law of Moses, Thou shalt not muzzle the mouth of the ox that treadeth out the corn. Doth God take care for oxen?"},{"verseNumber":10,"text":"Or saith he this altogether for our sakes? for our sakes, no doubt, this is written: that he that ploweth should plow in hope; and that he that thresheth in hope should be partaker of his hope."},{"verseNumber":11,"text":"If we have sown to you spiritual things, is it a great thing if we shall reap your carnal things?"},{"verseNumber":12,"text":"If others are partakers of this power over you, are not we rather? Nevertheless we have not used this power; but suffer all things, lest we should hinder the gospel of Christ."},{"verseNumber":13,"text":"Do ye not know that they who minister about holy things live from the things of the temple, and they who wait at the altar are partakers with the altar?"},{"verseNumber":14,"text":"Even so hath the Lord ordained that they who preach the gospel should live by the gospel."},{"verseNumber":15,"text":"But I have used none of these things: neither have I written these things, that it should be so done to me: for it were better for me to die, than that any man should make my glorying void."},{"verseNumber":16,"text":"For though I preach the gospel, I have nothing to boast of: for necessity is laid upon me; and woe is to me, if I preach not the gospel!"},{"verseNumber":17,"text":"For if I do this thing willingly, I have a reward: but if against my will, a dispensation of the gospel is committed to me."},{"verseNumber":18,"text":"What is my reward then? Verily that, when I preach the gospel, I may make the gospel of Christ without charge, that I may not abuse my power in the gospel."},{"verseNumber":19,"text":"For though I am free from all men, yet I have made myself servant to all, that I might gain the more."},{"verseNumber":20,"text":"And to the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might gain the Jews; to them that are under the law, as under the law, that I might gain them that are under the law;"},{"verseNumber":21,"text":"To them that are without law, as without law, (being not without law to God, but under the law to Christ,) that I might gain them that are without law."},{"verseNumber":22,"text":"To the weak I became as weak, that I might gain the weak: I have become all things to all men, that I might by all means save some."},{"verseNumber":23,"text":"And this I do for the gospel's sake, that I may be partaker of it with you."},{"verseNumber":24,"text":"Know ye not, that they who run in a race, all run, but one receiveth the prize? So run, that ye may obtain."},{"verseNumber":25,"text":"And every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible."},{"verseNumber":26,"text":"I therefore so run, not as uncertainly; so I fight, not as one that beateth the air:"},{"verseNumber":27,"text":"But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest by any means when I have preached to others, I myself should be a cast-away."}],"citation":{"inline":"1 Corinthians 9 (WBT)","markdown":"[1 Corinthians 9](https://primebible.com/wbt/1-corinthians/9)","sbl":"Prime Bible. *The Bible.* WBT. https://primebible.com/wbt/1-corinthians/9 (accessed 2026-06-02)."}}