¹Ali nisem svoboden? nisem li apostol? nisem li videl Jezusa, Gospoda našega? niste li vi moje delo v Gospodu?

¹Am I not free? Am I not an apostle? Haven’t I seen Jesus Christ, our Lord? Aren’t you my work in the Lord?

²Če drugim nisem apostol, sem pa vsaj vam; kajti pečat mojega apostolstva ste vi v Gospodu.

²If to others I am not an apostle, yet at least I am to you; for you are the seal of my apostleship in the Lord.

³Moj zagovor tem, ki me sodijo, je ta:

³My defense to those who examine me is this.

⁴Nimamo li pravice, da jemo in pijemo?

⁴Have we no right to eat and to drink?

⁵Nimamo li pravice, da vodimo sestro kot ženo s seboj, kakor tudi drugi apostoli in bratje Gospodovi in Kefa?

⁵Have we no right to take along a wife who is a believer, even as the rest of the apostles, and the brothers of the Lord, and Cephas?

⁶Ali samo jaz in Barnaba nimava pravice, da nehava delati?

⁶Or have only Barnabas and I no right to not work?

⁷Kdo služi kdaj za vojnika na svoje stroške? kdo sadi vinograd, pa ne jé njegovega sadu? Ali kdo pase čredo, pa ne jé mleka od črede?

⁷What soldier ever serves at his own expense? Who plants a vineyard, and doesn’t eat of its fruit? Or who feeds a flock, and doesn’t drink from the flock’s milk?

⁸Govorim li to po človeško? ali ne govori tega tudi postava?

⁸Do I speak these things according to the ways of men? Or doesn’t the law also say the same thing?

⁹Kajti v Mojzesovi postavi je pisano: „Ne zaveži gobca volu, ko vrši žito“. Skrbi li Bog za vole?

⁹For it is written in the law of Moses, “You shall not muzzle an ox while it treads out the grain.” Deuteronomy 25:4 Is it for the oxen that God cares,

¹⁰Ali pa pravi to vsekakor za nas? Res, za voljo nas je to pisano, ker kdor orje, mora z upanjem orati, in kdor mlati, mlatiti z upanjem, da bo imel svoj delež.

¹⁰or does he say it assuredly for our sake? Yes, it was written for our sake, because he who plows ought to plow in hope, and he who threshes in hope should partake of his hope.

¹¹Če smo vam mi duhovno posejali, je li kaj velikega, ako bomo mi vaše meseno želi?

¹¹If we sowed to you spiritual things, is it a great thing if we reap your fleshly things?

¹²Če so drugi deležni te pravice pri vas, čemu ne tem bolj mi? Ali nismo se poslužili te pravice, marveč prenašamo vse, da ne provzročimo kake ovire evangeliju Kristusovemu.

¹²If others partake of this right over you, don’t we yet more? Nevertheless we did not use this right, but we bear all things, that we may cause no hindrance to the Good News of Christ.

¹³Ne veste li, da ti, kateri opravljajo sveto službo, jedo od templja, in kateri služijo oltarju, imajo delež z oltarjem?

¹³Don’t you know that those who serve around sacred things eat from the things of the temple, and those who wait on the altar have their portion with the altar?

¹⁴Tako je naredil tudi Gospod, da naj ti, kateri oznanjujejo evangelij, žive od evangelija.

¹⁴Even so the Lord ordained that those who proclaim the Good News should live from the Good News.

¹⁵Jaz pa se nisem poslužil ničesar tega. Ne pišem pa tega, da bi se tako godilo z menoj; kajti rajši umrem, nego da mi kdo uniči mojo hvalo.

¹⁵But I have used none of these things, and I don’t write these things that it may be done so in my case; for I would rather die, than that anyone should make my boasting void.

¹⁶Kajti če oznanjam evangelij, nimam nič hvale, ker to mi je neizogibna dolžnost; da, gorje mi, če evangelija ne oznanjam!

¹⁶For if I preach the Good News, I have nothing to boast about; for necessity is laid on me; but woe is to me, if I don’t preach the Good News.

¹⁷Če namreč delam to iz dobre volje, imam plačilo, če pa po sili, mi je poverjeno oskrbništvo.

¹⁷For if I do this of my own will, I have a reward. But if not of my own will, I have a stewardship entrusted to me.

¹⁸Kaj je torej moje plačilo? Da oznanjujoč evangelij prinesem brez stroškov evangelij, tako da ne upotrebim pravice svoje v evangeliju.

¹⁸What then is my reward? That, when I preach the Good News, I may present the Good News of Christ without charge, so as not to abuse my authority in the Good News.

¹⁹Kajti dasi sem bil svoboden od vseh, sem se storil sužnja vsem, da bi jih tem več pridobil.

¹⁹For though I was free from all, I brought myself under bondage to all, that I might gain the more.

²⁰In Judom sem postal kakor Jud, da bi Jude pridobil; tistim, ki so pod postavo, kakor bi bil pod postavo, čeprav sam nisem pod postavo, da bi pridobil te, kateri so pod postavo;

²⁰To the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might gain Jews; to those who are under the law, as under the law, that I might gain those who are under the law;

²¹tistim pa, ki so brez postave, kakor bi bil brez postave, dasi nisem brez postave Bogu, temuč v postavi Kristusu, da bi pridobil tiste, ki so brez postave;

²¹to those who are without law, as without law (not being without law toward God, but under law toward Christ), that I might win those who are without law.

²²slabotnim sem postal slabič, da bi pridobil slabiče: vsem sem postal vse, da bi jih vsekakor nekaj zveličal.

²²To the weak I became as weak, that I might gain the weak. I have become all things to all men, that I may by all means save some.

²³Vse pa delam zavoljo evangelija, da bi prejel delež ž njim.

²³Now I do this for the sake of the Good News, that I may be a joint partaker of it.

²⁴Ne veste li, da tisti, ki teko na tekališču, vsi sicer teko, a eden prejme darilo? Tako tecite, da ga dosežete!

²⁴Don’t you know that those who run in a race all run, but one receives the prize? Run like that, that you may win.

²⁵Vsak pa, ki se tam bori, se zdržuje vsega: oni seveda, da dobe strohljiv venec, mi pa nestrohljivega.

²⁵Every man who strives in the games exercises self-control in all things. Now they do it to receive a corruptible crown, but we an incorruptible.

²⁶Jaz torej tečem tako, ne kakor na negotovo; tako se borim, ne kakor bi po zraku mahal,temuč tarem svoje telo in ga usnužnujem, da ne bi kako, ko sem drugim oznanjeval, sam bil zavrgljiv.

²⁶I therefore run like that, as not uncertainly. I fight like that, as not beating the air,

²⁷temuč tarem svoje telo in ga usnužnujem, da ne bi kako, ko sem drugim oznanjeval, sam bil zavrgljiv.

²⁷but I beat my body and bring it into submission, lest by any means, after I have preached to others, I myself should be rejected.