^4 [a](A)Do we not have a right to eat and drink? ^5 [b](B)Do we not have a right to take along a ^[c]believing wife, even as the rest of the apostles and the ^(C)brothers of the Lord, and ^[d](D)Cephas? ⁶ Or do only ^[e](E)Barnabas and I have no right to refrain from ^[f]working? ⁷ Who at any time serves ^(F)as a soldier at his own expense? Who ^(G)plants a vineyard and does not eat its fruit? Or who tends a flock and does not ^[g]consume some of the milk of the flock?

⁸ I am not just asserting these things ^(H)according to human judgment, am I? Or does the Law not say these things as well? ⁹ For it is written in the Law of Moses: “^(I)You shall not muzzle the ox while it is threshing.” God is not concerned about ^(J)oxen, is He? ¹⁰ Or is He speaking entirely for our sake? Yes, it was written ^(K)for our sake, because ^(L)the plowman ought to plow in hope, and the thresher to thresh in hope of sharing in the crops. ^11 (M)If we sowed spiritual things in you, is it too much if we reap material things from you? ¹² If others share the right over you, do we not more? Nevertheless, we ^(N)did not use this right, but we endure all things ^(O)so that we will cause no hindrance to the ^(P)gospel of Christ. ^13 (Q)Do you not know that those who ^(R)perform sacred services eat the food of the temple, and those who attend regularly to the altar have their share ^[h]from the altar? ¹⁴ So also ^(S)the Lord directed those who proclaim the ^(T)gospel to ^(U)get their living from the gospel.

¹⁵ But I have ^(V)used none of these things. And I have not written these things so that it will be done so in my case; for it would be better for me to die than that. No one shall make ^(W)my boast an empty one! ¹⁶ For if I preach the gospel, I have nothing to boast about, for ^(X)I am under compulsion; for woe to me if I do not preach ^(Y)the gospel. ¹⁷ For if I do this voluntarily, I have a ^(Z)reward; but if against my will, I have been entrusted with a ^(AA)commission nonetheless. ¹⁸ What, then, is my ^(AB)reward? That, when I preach the gospel, I may offer the gospel ^(AC)without charge, so as ^(AD)not to make full use of my right in the gospel.

⁷ Or ^(A)did I commit a sin by humbling myself so that you might be exalted, because I preached the ^(B)gospel of God to you ^(C)without charge? ⁸ I robbed other churches by ^(D)taking wages from them to serve you; ⁹ and when I was present with you and was in need, I was ^(E)not a burden to anyone; for when ^(F)the brothers came from ^(G)Macedonia they fully supplied my need, and in everything I kept myself from ^(H)being a burden to you, ^[a]and will continue to do so. ^10 (I)As the truth of Christ is in me, ^(J)this boasting of mine will not be stopped in the regions of ^(K)Achaia. ¹¹ Why? ^(L)Because I do not love you? ^(M)God knows that I do!

¹² But what I am doing I will also continue to do, ^(N)so that I may eliminate the opportunity from those who want an opportunity to be ^[b]regarded just as we are in the matter about which they are boasting.

¹⁴ Here ^(A)for this third time I am ready to come to you, and I ^(B)will not be a burden to you; for I ^(C)do not seek what is yours, but ^(D)you; for ^(E)children are not responsible to save up for their parents, but ^(F)parents for their children. ¹⁵ I will ^(G)most gladly spend and be expended for your souls. If ^(H)I love you more, am I to be loved less? ¹⁶ But be that as it may, I ^(I)did not burden you myself; nevertheless, devious person that I am, I ^(J)took you in by deceit. ^17 (K)Certainly I have not taken advantage of you through any of those whom I have sent to you, have I? ¹⁸ I ^(L)urged ^(M)Titus to go, and I sent ^(N)the brother with him. Titus did not take any advantage of you, did he? Did we not ^[a]conduct ourselves ^[b]in the same ^(O)spirit and walk ^(P)in the same steps?

⁵ For we never came ^[a]with flattering speech, as you know, nor with ^(A)a pretext ^[b]for greed—^(B)God is our witness— ⁶ nor did we ^(C)seek honor from people, either from you or from others, though ^[c]we could have ^[d]asserted our authority as ^(D)apostles of Christ. ⁷ But we ^[e]proved to be ^[f](E)gentle ^[g]among you. ^(F)As a nursing mother ^[h]tenderly cares for her own children, ⁸ in the same way we had a fond affection for you and were delighted to ^(G)share with you not only the ^(H)gospel of God, but also our own ^[i]lives, because you had become ^[j]very dear to us.

⁹ For you recall, brothers and sisters, our ^(I)labor and hardship: it was by ^(J)working night and day so as not to be a ^(K)burden to any of you, that we proclaimed to you the ^(L)gospel of God. ¹⁰ You are witnesses, and so is ^(M)God, of ^(N)how devoutly and rightly and blamelessly we ^[k]behaved toward you ^[l]believers; ¹¹ just as you know how we were ^(O)exhorting and encouraging and ^(P)imploring each one of you as ^(Q)a father would his own children, ¹² so that you would ^(R)walk in a manner worthy of the God who ^(S)calls you into His own kingdom and ^(T)glory.

¹³ For this reason we also constantly ^(U)thank God that when you received the ^(V)word of God which you heard from us, you accepted it ^(W)not as the word of mere men, but as what it really is, the word of God, ^(X)which also is at work in you who believe. ¹⁴ For you, brothers and sisters, became ^(Y)imitators of ^(Z)the churches of God in Christ Jesus that are ^(AA)in Judea, for ^(AB)you also endured the same sufferings at the hands of your own countrymen, ^(AC)even as they did from the Jews, ^15 (AD)who both killed the Lord Jesus and ^(AE)the prophets, and ^[m]drove us out. ^[n]They are not pleasing to God, ^[o]but hostile to all people, ^16 (AF)hindering us from speaking to the Gentiles ^(AG)so that they may be saved; with the result that they always ^[p](AH)reach the limit of their sins. But ^(AI)wrath has come upon them ^[q]fully.

¹⁷ But we, brothers and sisters, having been orphaned from you by absence for a ^[r]short while—^(AJ)in ^[s]person, not in ^[t]spirit—were all the more eager with great desire ^(AK)to see your face. ^18 [u]For ^(AL)we wanted to come to you—I, Paul, ^[v](AM)more than once—and ^(AN)Satan ^(AO)hindered us. ¹⁹ For who is our hope, or ^(AP)joy or crown of pride, in the presence of our Lord Jesus at His ^[w](AQ)coming? Or is it not indeed you? ²⁰ For you are ^(AR)our glory and joy.