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?

¹Nisam li ja slobodan? Nisam li apostol? Nisam li vidio Isusa, Gospodina našega? Niste li vi djelo moje u Gospodinu?

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.

²Ako drugima nisam apostol, vama svakako jesam. Ta vi ste pečat mojega apostolstva u Gospodinu.

³My defense to those who examine me is this.

³Moj odgovor mojim tužiteljima jest ovo:

⁴Have we no right to eat and to drink?

⁴Zar nemamo prava jesti i piti?

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?

⁵Zar nemamo prava ženu vjernicu voditi sa sobom kao i drugi apostoli i braća Gospodnja i Kefa?

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

⁶Ili samo ja i Barnaba nemamo prava ne raditi?

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?

⁷Tko ikada vojuje o svojem trošku? Tko sadi vinograd pa roda njegova ne jede? Ili tko pase stado pa od mlijeka stada ne jede?

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

⁸Zar to govorim po ljudsku? Ne kaže li to i Zakon?

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,

⁹Jer u Mojsijevu zakonu piše: Ne zavezuj usta volu koji vrši! Zar je Bogu do volova?

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.

¹⁰Ne govori li on baš radi nas? Doista, radi nas je napisano, jer tko ore, u nadi treba da ore; i tko vrši, u nadi da će dobiti dio.

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

¹¹Ako smo mi vama sijali dobra duhovna, veliko li je nešto ako vam požanjemo tjelesna?

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.

¹²Ako drugi sudjeluju u vašim dobrima, zašto ne bismo mi mogli još većma. Ali nismo se poslužili tim pravom, nego sve teglimo da ne bismo postavili kakvu zapreku evanđelju Kristovu?

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?

¹³Ne znate li: koji obavljaju svetinje, od svetišta se hrane; i koji žrtveniku služe, sa žrtvenikom dijele?

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

¹⁴Tako je i Gospodin onima koji evanđelje navješćuju odredio od evanđelja živjeti.

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.

¹⁵No ja se ničim od toga nisam poslužio. A i ne napisah toga da bi se tako postupilo prema meni. Radije umrijeti, nego... Te mi slave nitko neće oduzeti!

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.

¹⁶Jer što navješćujem evanđelje, nije mi na hvalu, ta dužnost mi je. Doista, jao meni ako evanđelja ne navješćujem.

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.

¹⁷Jer ako to činim iz vlastite pobude, ide me plaća; ako li ne iz vlastite pobude - služba je to koja mi je povjerena.

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.

¹⁸Koja mi je dakle plaća? Da propovijedajući pružam evanđelje besplatno ne služeći se svojim pravom u evanđelju.

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

¹⁹Jer premda slobodan od sviju, sam sebe svima učinih slugom da ih što više steknem.

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;

²⁰Bijah Židovima Židov da Židove steknem; onima pod Zakonom, kao da sam pod Zakonom - premda ja nisam pod Zakonom - da one pod Zakonom steknem;

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.

²¹onima bez Zakona, kao da sam bez zakona - premda nisam bez Božjega zakona, nego u Kristovu zakonu - da steknem one bez Zakona;

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.

²²bijah nejakima nejak da nejake steknem. Svima bijah sve da pošto-poto neke spasim.

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

²³A sve činim poradi evanđelja da bih i ja bio suzajedničar u njemu.

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.

²⁴Ne znate li: trkači u trkalištu svi doduše trče, ali jedan prima nagradu? Tako trčite da dobijete.

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.

²⁵Svaki natjecatelj sve moguće izdržava; oni da dobiju raspadljiv vijenac, mi neraspadljiv.

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

²⁶Ja dakle tako trčim - ne kao besciljno, tako udaram šakom - ne kao da mlatim vjetar,

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.

²⁷nego krotim svoje tijelo i zarobljavam da sam ne budem isključen pošto sam drugima propovijedao.