1Cor 9:4 Cross References

1 Corinthians 9:4

4: Don't we have the right to live in your homes and share your meals?

We never accepted food from anyone without paying for it. We worked hard day and night so that we would not be a burden to any of you.
It wasn't that we didn't have the right to ask you to feed us, but we wanted to give you an example to follow.

When you enter a town, don't move around from home to home. Stay in one place, eating and drinking what they provide you. Don't hesitate to accept hospitality, because those who work deserve their pay.

Don't carry a traveler's bag with an extra coat and sandals or even a walking stick. Don't hesitate to accept hospitality, because those who work deserve to be fed.

Don't you remember, dear brothers and sisters, how hard we worked among you? Night and day we toiled to earn a living so that our expenses would not be a burden to anyone there as we preached God's Good News among you.

What soldier has to pay his own expenses? And have you ever heard of a farmer who harvests his crop and doesn't have the right to eat some of it? What shepherd takes care of a flock of sheep and isn't allowed to drink some of the milk?
And this isn't merely human opinion. Doesn't God's law say the same thing?
For the law of Moses says, "Do not keep an ox from eating as it treads out the grain." Do you suppose God was thinking only about oxen when he said this?
Wasn't he also speaking to us? Of course he was. Just as farm workers who plow fields and thresh the grain expect a share of the harvest, Christian workers should be paid by those they serve.
We have planted good spiritual seed among you. Is it too much to ask, in return, for mere food and clothing?

Elders who do their work well should be paid well, especially those who work hard at both preaching and teaching.
For the Scripture says, "Do not keep an ox from eating as it treads out the grain." And in another place, "Those who work deserve their pay!"

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