1 Corinthians 9:3

New Life Version

When people ask questions about me, I say this:

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
My defense to those who examine me is this:

King James Version (1611)
Mine answere to them that doe examine me, is this:

King James Version
Mine answer to them that do examine me is this,

English Standard Version
This is my defense to those who would examine me.

New American Standard Bible
My defense to those who examine me is this:

New Century Version
This is the answer I give people who want to judge me:

Amplified Bible
This is my defense to those who would put me on trial and interrogate me [concerning my authority as an apostle]:

Legacy Standard Bible
My defense to those who examine me is this:

Berean Standard Bible
This is my defense to those who scrutinize me:

Contemporary English Version
When people question me, I tell them

Complete Jewish Bible
That is my defense when people put me under examination.

Darby Translation
My defence to those who examine me is this:

Easy-to-Read Version
Some people want to judge me. So this is the answer I give them:

Geneva Bible (1587)
My defence to them that examine mee, is this,

George Lamsa Translation
So my answer to those who criticize me is this,

Good News Translation
When people criticize me, this is how I defend myself:

Lexham English Bible
My defense to those who examine me is this:

Literal Translation
My defense to those examining me is this:

American Standard Version
My defence to them that examine me is this.

Bible in Basic English
My answer to those who are judging me is this.

Hebrew Names Version
My defense to those who examine me is this.

International Standard Version
This is my defense to those who would examine me:

Etheridge Translation
3 My apology to them who judge me [fn] is this:

Murdock Translation
3 And [fn] apology to my judgers, is this:

Bishop's Bible (1568)
Myne aunswere to them that aske me, is this,

English Revised Version
My defence to them that examine me is this.

World English Bible
My defense to those who examine me is this.

Wesley's New Testament (1755)
My answer to them who examine me is this.

Weymouth's New Testament
That is how I vindicate myself to those who criticize me.

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
My defense to hem that axen me, that is.

Update Bible Version
My defense to those that examine me is this.

Webster's Bible Translation
My answer to them that examine me is this,

New English Translation
This is my defense to those who examine me.

New King James Version
My defense to those who examine me is this:

New Living Translation
This is my answer to those who question my authority.

New Revised Standard
This is my defense to those who would examine me.

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
My defence, unto them who are examining me, is this:

Douay-Rheims Bible
My defence with them that do examine me is this.

Revised Standard Version
This is my defense to those who would examine me.

Tyndale New Testament (1525)
Myne answer to them that axe me is this.

Young's Literal Translation
My defence to those who examine me in this;

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
Myne answere vnto them that axe me, is this:

Mace New Testament (1729)
my answer to those who call me to account, is this:

THE MESSAGE
I'm not shy in standing up to my critics. We who are on missionary assignments for God have a right to decent accommodations, and we have a right to support for us and our families. You don't seem to have raised questions with the other apostles and our Master's brothers and Peter in these matters. So, why me? Is it just Barnabas and I who have to go it alone and pay our own way? Are soldiers self-employed? Are gardeners forbidden to eat vegetables from their own gardens? Don't milkmaids get to drink their fill from the pail?

Simplified Cowboy Version
This is my answer to my critics and those who judge me.

New American Standard Bible (1995)
My defense to those who examine me is this:

Contextual Overview

³ When people ask questions about me, I say this: ⁴ Do we not have the right to have food and drink when we are working for the Lord? ⁵ Do we not have the right to take a Christian wife along with us? The other missionaries do. The Lord's brothers do and Peter does. ⁶ Are Barnabas and I the only ones who should keep working for a living so we can preach? ⁷ Have you ever heard of a soldier who goes to war and pays for what he needs himself? Have you ever heard of a man planting a field of grapes and not eating some of the fruit? Have you ever heard of a farmer who feeds cattle and does not drink some of the milk? ⁸ These things are not just what men think are right to do. God's Law speaks about this. ⁹ God gave Moses the Law. It says, "When the cow is made to walk on the grain to break it open, do not stop it from eating some." Does God care about the cow? ¹⁰ Did not God speak about this because of us. For sure, this was written for us. The man who gets the fields ready and the man who gathers in the grain should expect some of the grain. ¹¹ We have planted God's Word among you. Is it too much to expect you to give us what we need to live each day? ¹² If other people have the right to expect this from you, do we not have more right? But we have not asked this of you. We have suffered many things. We did this so the Good News of Christ would not be held back.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

answer: Acts 22:1, Acts 25:16, Philippians 1:7, Philippians 1:17, 2 Timothy 4:16,*Gr.

them: 1 Corinthians 14:37, 2 Corinthians 10:7, 2 Corinthians 10:8, 2 Corinthians 12:16-19, 2 Corinthians 13:3, 2 Corinthians 13:5, 2 Corinthians 13:10

Reciprocal: 1 Corinthians 9:1 - I not an

Cross-References

Genesis 9:1
God made good come to Noah and his sons, and said to them, "Have many children, and cover the earth.

Genesis 9:3
Every moving thing that lives will be food for you. I give all to you as I gave you the green plants.

Genesis 9:5
For sure, I will take the life of every animal and every person for taking a life. I will punish every man's brother for taking the life of man.

Genesis 9:12
Then God said, "This is something special to see for all time, because of the agreement that I am making between Me and you and every living thing that is with you:

Genesis 9:14
When I bring clouds over the earth and the rain-bow is seen in the clouds,

Genesis 9:15
I will remember My agreement that is between Me and you and every living thing of all flesh. Never again will the water become a flood to destroy all flesh.

Genesis 9:21
And he drank of the wine, and drank too much, and lay without covering himself in his tent.

Genesis 9:22
Then Ham, the father of Canaan, saw that his father was without clothes. And he told his two brothers outside.

Genesis 9:25
So he said, "May Canaan be cursed! He will be a servant of servants to his brothers."

Genesis 9:26
He also said, "Honor and thanks be to the Lord, the God of Shem. Let Canaan be his servant.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Mine answer to them that do examine me is this. These words are referred by some to the following, as if the apostle's answer lay in putting the questions he does in the next verses; but they rather seem to belong to the preceding, and the meaning to be this, that when any persons called in question his apostleship, and examined him upon that head, what he thought fit to say in answer to them, and in defence of himself, was by referring them to the famous church at Corinth, who were as particular persons, and as a church, his work in the Lord, and everyone of them as so many seals of his apostleship; he being the first preacher of the Gospel to them, the founder of them as a church, and the instrument of their conversion.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Mine answer - Greek Ἡ ἐμὴ ἀπολογία Hē emē apologia. My “apology;” my defense. The same word occurs in Acts 22:1; Acts 25:16; 2 Corinthians 7:11; Philippians 1:7, Philippians 1:17; 2 Timothy 4:16; 1 Peter 3:15; see the note at Acts 22:1. Here it means his answer, or defense against those who sat in judgment on his claims to be an apostle.

To them that do examine me. - To those who “inquire” of me; or who “censure” and condemn me as not having any claims to the apostolic office. The word used here ἀνακρίνω anakrinō is properly a forensic term, and is usually applied to judges in courts; to those who sit in judgment, and investigate and decide in litigated cases brought before them; Luke 23:14; Acts 4:9; Acts 12:19; Acts 24:8. The apostle here may possibly allude to the arrogance and pride of those who presumed to sit as judges on his qualification for the apostolic office. It is not meant that this answer had been given by Paul before this, but that this was the defense which he had to offer.

Is this - This which follows; the statements which are made in the following verses. In these statements (1 Corinthians 9:4-6, etc.) he seems to have designed to take up their objections to his apostolic claims one by one, and to show that they were of no force.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse 1 Corinthians 9:3. Mine answer to them — Ἡ εμη απολογια τοις εμε ανακρινουσιν· This is my defence against those who examine me. The words are forensic; and the apostle considers himself as brought before a legal tribunal, and questioned so as to be obliged to answer as upon oath. His defence therefore was this, that they were converted to God by his means. This verse belongs to the two preceding verses.