Lectionary Calendar
Wednesday, April 8th, 2026
Wednesday in Easter Week
Attention!
Tired of seeing ads while studying? Now you can enjoy an "Ads Free" version of the site for as little as 10¢ a day and support a great cause!
Click here to learn more!

Read the Bible

Good News Translation

2 Corinthians 11:8

While I was working among you, I was paid by other churches. I was robbing them, so to speak, in order to help you.

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - Minister, Christian;   The Topic Concordance - Deception;   Disciples/apostles;  

Dictionaries:

- Bridgeway Bible Dictionary - Deacon;   Giving;   Mission;   Work;   Baker Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology - Wages;   Holman Bible Dictionary - 2 Corinthians;   Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament - Abuse, Abusers;   Collection;   Philippians Epistle to the;   Preaching;   Tithes ;  

Encyclopedias:

- International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Corinthians, Second Epistle to the;   Philippians, the Epistle to;   Scribes;   Service;   Wages;  

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
I robbed other churches by taking pay from them to minister to you.
King James Version (1611)
I robbed other Churches, taking wages of them to doe you seruice.
King James Version
I robbed other churches, taking wages of them, to do you service.
English Standard Version
I robbed other churches by accepting support from them in order to serve you.
New American Standard Bible
I robbed other churches by taking wages from them to serve you;
New Century Version
I accepted pay from other churches, taking their money so I could serve you.
Amplified Bible
I robbed other churches by accepting [more than their share of] financial support for my ministry to you.
New American Standard Bible (1995)
I robbed other churches by taking wages from them to serve you;
Legacy Standard Bible
I robbed other churches by taking wages from them to minister to you.
Berean Standard Bible
I robbed other churches by accepting their support in order to serve you.
Contemporary English Version
I robbed other churches by taking money from them to serve you.
Complete Jewish Bible
I robbed other congregations by accepting support from them in order to serve you.
Darby Translation
I spoiled other assemblies, receiving hire for ministry towards you.
Easy-to-Read Version
I accepted pay from other churches. I took their money so that I could serve you.
Geneva Bible (1587)
I robbed other Churches, and tooke wages of them to doe you seruice.
George Lamsa Translation
I deprived other churches, taking supplies from them, in order to minister to you.
Lexham English Bible
I robbed other churches by accepting support from them for the ministry to you.
Literal Translation
I stripped other assemblies, receiving wages for the serving of you.
American Standard Version
I robbed other churches, taking wages of them that I might minister unto you;
Bible in Basic English
I took money from other churches as payment for my work, so that I might be your servant;
Hebrew Names Version
I robbed other assemblies, taking wages from them that I might serve you.
International Standard Version
I robbed other churches by accepting support from them in order to serve you.
Etheridge Translation
And other churches have I despoiled, receiving of them expenses, for your service.
Murdock Translation
8 And I robbed other churches, and I took pay [fn] for ministering to you.
Bishop's Bible (1568)
I robbed other Churches, takyng wages of them, to do you seruice.
English Revised Version
I robbed other churches, taking wages [of them] that I might minister unto you;
World English Bible
I robbed other assemblies, taking wages from them that I might serve you.
Wesley's New Testament (1755)
I spoiled other churches, taking wages of them, to serve you: and when I was present with you and wanted, I was chargeable to no man.
Weymouth's New Testament
Other Churches I robbed, receiving pay from them in order to do you service.
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
Y made nakid othere chirchis, and Y took sowde to youre seruyce.
Update Bible Version
I robbed other churches, taking wages to serve you;
Webster's Bible Translation
I robbed other churches, taking wages [of them], to do you service.
New English Translation
I robbed other churches by receiving support from them so that I could serve you!
New King James Version
I robbed other churches, taking wages from them to minister to you.
New Living Translation
I "robbed" other churches by accepting their contributions so I could serve you at no cost.
New Life Bible
I did take money from other churches. I used it while I worked with you so you would not have to pay me.
New Revised Standard
I robbed other churches by accepting support from them in order to serve you.
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
Other assemblies, I despoiled, receiving supplies that I might minister, unto you;
Douay-Rheims Bible
I have taken from other churches, receiving wages of them for your ministry.
Revised Standard Version
I robbed other churches by accepting support from them in order to serve you.
Tyndale New Testament (1525)
I robbed other congregacions and toke wages of the to do you service with all.
Young's Literal Translation
other assemblies I did rob, having taken wages, for your ministration;
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
and robbed other cogregacions, and toke wages of the, to preach vnto you.
Mace New Testament (1729)
by taking wages of other churches, I may have injured them, to do you service.
Simplified Cowboy Version
Sure, I accepted some pay from some other outfits, but that was just so I could get to y'all and help out.

Contextual Overview

5 I do not think that I am the least bit inferior to those very special so-called "apostles" of yours! 6 Perhaps I am an amateur in speaking, but certainly not in knowledge; we have made this clear to you at all times and in all conditions. 7 I did not charge you a thing when I preached the Good News of God to you; I humbled myself in order to make you important. Was that wrong of me? 8 While I was working among you, I was paid by other churches. I was robbing them, so to speak, in order to help you. 9 And during the time I was with you I did not bother you for help when I needed money; the believers who came from Macedonia brought me everything I needed. As in the past, so in the future: I will never be a burden to you! 10 By Christ's truth in me, I promise that this boast of mine will not be silenced anywhere in all of Achaia. 11 Do I say this because I don't love you? God knows I love you! 12 I will go on doing what I am doing now, in order to keep those other "apostles" from having any reason for boasting and saying that they work in the same way that we do. 13 Those men are not true apostles—they are false apostles, who lie about their work and disguise themselves to look like real apostles of Christ. 14 Well, no wonder! Even Satan can disguise himself to look like an angel of light!

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

2 Corinthians 11:9, Philippians 4:14-16

Reciprocal: 2 Kings 5:26 - Is it a time 1 Corinthians 13:7 - endureth 2 Corinthians 12:13 - I myself Philippians 4:15 - in the

Cross-References

Genesis 10:25
Eber had two sons: one was named Peleg, because during his time the people of the world were divided; and the other was named Joktan.
Genesis 10:32
All these peoples are the descendants of Noah, nation by nation, according to their different lines of descent. After the flood all the nations of the earth were descended from the sons of Noah.
Genesis 11:4
They said, "Now let's build a city with a tower that reaches the sky, so that we can make a name for ourselves and not be scattered all over the earth."
Genesis 11:9
The city was called Babylon, because there the Lord mixed up the language of all the people, and from there he scattered them all over the earth.
Genesis 49:7
A curse be on their anger, because it is so fierce, And on their fury, because it is so cruel. I will scatter them throughout the land of Israel. I will disperse them among its people.
Deuteronomy 32:8
The Most High assigned nations their lands; he determined where peoples should live. He assigned to each nation a heavenly being,
Luke 1:51
He has stretched out his mighty arm and scattered the proud with all their plans.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

I robbed other churches,.... Meaning the churches of Macedonia; not that what he had of them was by force and rapine, or by plundering of them, and spoiling of their substance, and living upon them against their wills, as soldiers use a conquered people, though the allusion is to such a custom; for what he had of theirs was freely communicated to him; as appears from the following verse: but because these churches from whom he received were poor, and the Corinthians whom he served were rich, he calls it a robbing of the former, though there was no injury in the case, for it was voluntary, because it was expended for the service of the latter:

taking wages of them to do you service; or "for your ministry"; either to supply their poor, or rather to support the ministry of the Gospel among them. The apostle continues the metaphor, taken from soldiers, to whom wages are due for their warfare; as are also to the ministers of the Gospel, the good soldiers of Jesus Christ; since no man goes a warfare at his own charges and expense but is for by those in whose service he is: and therefore, though the apostle did not think it advisable to ask for, and insist upon wages from them at that time, for his service among them, yet he took it of others in lieu of it; and this he mentions, partly to show that wages were due to him for his ministry, and partly to observe to them who they were beholden to for the support of the Gospel at first among them; as also to stir them up to be serviceable to other churches, as others had been to them.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

I robbed other churches - The churches of Macedonia and elsewhere, which had ministered to his needs. Probably he refers especially to the church at Philippi (see Philippians 4:15-16), which seems to have done more than almost any other church for his support. By the use of the word “robbed” here Paul does not mean that he had obtained anything from them in a violent or unlawful manner, or anything which they did not give voluntarily. The word (ἐσύλησα esulēsa) means properly, “I spoiled, plundered, robbed,” but the idea of Paul here is, that he, as it were, robbed them, because he did not render an equivalent for what they gave him. They supported him when he was laboring for another people. A conqueror who plunders a country gives no equivalent for what he takes. In this sense only could Paul say that he had plundered the church at Philippi. His general principle was, that “the laborer was worthy of his hire,” and that a man was to receive his support from the people for whom he labored (see 1 Corinthians 9:7-14), but this rule he had not observed in this case.

Taking wages of them - Receiving a support from them. They bore my expenses.

To do you service - That I might labor among you without being supposed to be striving to obtain your property, and that I might not be compelled to labor with my own hands, and thus to prevent my preaching the gospel as I could otherwise do. The supply from other churches rendered it unnecessary in a great measure that his time should be taken off from the ministry in order to obtain a support.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse 2 Corinthians 11:8. I robbed other Churches — This part of the sentence is explained by the latter, taking wages to do you service. The word οψωνιον signifies the pay of money and provisions given daily to a Roman soldier. As if he had said: I received food and raiment, the bare necessaries of life, from other Churches while labouring for your salvation. Will you esteem this a crime?


 
adsfree-icon
Ads FreeProfile