Psalm 136-138; 1 Corinthians 9

From today's Bible reading:

Psalm 136:

Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever.

Give thanks to the God of heaven, for his steadfast love endures forever.

Psalm 137:

our captors required of us songs, and our tormentors, mirth, saying, "Sing us one of the songs of Zion!"

How shall we sing the LORD's song in a foreign land?

Let my tongue stick to the roof of my mouth, if I do not remember you, if I do not set Jerusalem above my highest joy!

Blessed shall he be who takes your little ones and dashes them against the rock!

Psalm 138:

I give you thanks, O LORD, with my whole heart; before the gods I sing your praise

I bow down toward your holy temple and give thanks to your name for your steadfast love and your faithfulness,

you have exalted above all things your name and your word.

On the day I called, you answered me; my strength of soul you increased.

All the kings of the earth shall give you thanks, O LORD, for they have heard the words of your mouth,

All the kings of the earth ... shall sing of the ways of the LORD, for great is the glory of the LORD.

For though the LORD is high, he regards the lowly, but the haughty he knows from afar.

Though I walk in the midst of trouble, you preserve my life;

you stretch out your hand against the wrath of my enemies, and your right hand delivers me.

The LORD will fulfill his purpose for me; your steadfast love, O LORD, endures forever. Do not forsake the work of your hands.


1 Corinthians 9:

you are the seal of my apostleship in the Lord.3

you are the seal of my apostleship in the Lord.

is it only Barnabas and I who have no right to refrain from working for a living?

Who serves as a soldier at his own expense?

Who plants a vineyard without eating any of its fruit?

the plowman should plow in hope and the thresher thresh in hope of sharing in the crop.

If we have sown spiritual things among you, is it too much if we reap material things from you?

we have not made use of this right, but we endure anything rather than put an obstacle in the way of the gospel of Christ.

the Lord commanded that those who proclaim the gospel should get their living by the gospel.

I have made no use of any of these rights, nor am I writing these things to secure any such provision.

I would rather die than have anyone deprive me of my ground for boasting.

if I preach the gospel, that gives me no ground for boasting.

For necessity is laid upon me. Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel!

if I do this of my own will, I have a reward, but if not of my own will, I am still entrusted with a stewardship.

What then is my reward?

That in my preaching I may present the gospel free of charge, so as not to make full use of my right in the gospel.

For though I am free from all, I have made myself a servant to all, that I might win more of them.

I have become all things to all people, that by all means I might save some.

I do it all for the sake of the gospel, that I may share with them in its blessings.

in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize

So run that you may obtain it.

Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable.

I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified.