Even to this present hour we hunger, thirst, are naked, are beaten, and have no certain dwelling place.
Parallel Translations
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Even to this present hour we hunger, thirst, are naked, are beaten, and have no certain dwelling place.
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Even vnto this daye we honger and thyrst and are naked and are boffetted with fistes and have no certayne dwellinge place
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Vnto this houre we both hunger, and thirst, and are naked, and are buffeted, and haue no certaine dwelling place,
Cross-references (12)
Passages linked to 1 Corinthians 4:11 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Romans 8:35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Could oppression, or anguish, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?
- 2 Corinthians 11:23-27 Are they servants of Christ? (I speak as one beside himself.) I am more so: in labors more abundantly, in prisons more abundantly, in stripes above measure, and in deaths often. Five times I received forty stripes minus one from the Jews. Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I suffered shipwreck. I have been a night and a day in the deep. I have been in travels often, perils of rivers, perils of robbers, perils from my countrymen, perils from the Gentiles, perils in the city, perils in the wilderness, perils in the sea, perils among false brothers; in labor and travail, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, and in cold and nakedness.
- Philippians 4:12 I know how to be humbled, and I also know how to abound. In everything and in all things I have learned the secret both to be filled and to be hungry, both to abound and to be in need.
- Matthew 8:20 Jesus said to him, “The foxes have holes, and the birds of the sky have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.”
- 2 Timothy 3:11 persecutions, and sufferings: those things that happened to me at Antioch, Iconium, and Lystra. I endured those persecutions. The Lord delivered me out of them all.
- Job 22:6 For you have taken pledges from your brother for nothing, and stripped the naked of their clothing.
- 2 Corinthians 6:4-5 but in everything commending ourselves, as servants of God, in great endurance, in afflictions, in hardships, in distresses, in beatings, in imprisonments, in riots, in labors, in watchings, in fastings;
- Acts 14:19 But some Jews from Antioch and Iconium came there, and having persuaded the multitudes, they stoned Paul, and dragged him out of the city, supposing that he was dead.
- Acts 16:23 When they had laid many stripes on them, they threw them into prison, charging the jailer to keep them safely,
- Acts 23:2 The high priest, Ananias, commanded those who stood by him to strike him on the mouth.
- 1 Corinthians 9:4 Have we no right to eat and to drink?
- 2 Corinthians 4:8 We are pressed on every side, yet not crushed; perplexed, yet not to despair;
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (17 sources)
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John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain 11. For to this hour. The Apostle here describes…
11. For to this hour. The Apostle here describes his condition, as if in a picture, that the Corinthians may learn, from his example, to lay aside that loftiness of spirit, and embrace, as he did, the cross of Christ with meekness of spirit. He discovers the utmost dexterity in this respect, that in making mention of those things which had rendered him contemptible, he affords clear proof of his singular fidelity and indefatigable zeal for the advancement of the gospel; and, on the other hand, he tacitly reproves his rivals, who, while they had furnished no such proof, were desirous, nevertheless, to be held in the highest esteem. In the words themselves there is no obscurity, except that we must take notice of the distinction between those two participles — λοιδορουμενοι και βλασφημουμενοι (reviled and defamed.) As λοιδορια means — that harsher sort of raillery, which does not merely give a person a slight touch, but a sharp bite, and blackens his character by open contumely, there can be no doubt that λοιδορειν means — wounding a person with reproach as with a sting. I have accordingly rendered it — harassed with revilings Βλασφημια signifies a more open reproach, when any one is severely and atrociously slandered.
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain 11 Even unto this present hour we both hunger,…
11 Even unto this present hour we both hunger, and thirst, and are naked, and are buffeted, and have no certain dwellingplace;
Ver. 11. Even to this present] Thus he complaineth, not out of impatience (for he was active in his sufferings), but to stain their pride, that permitted it so to be, when it was in their power to have relieved him.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain Our state in the world is low and mean;…
Our state in the world is low and mean; though you be full, we are hungry and thirsty; though you be richly clothed, yet we
are next to naked, clothed with rags; though you be hugged and embraced by the men of the world, yet we
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are buffeted; though you have rich and famous houses, yet we
have no certain dwelling-place. Thus it hath been with us from the beginning of our profession of Christ, and thus it is with us at this day, saith the apostle: from whence he gives these Corinthians and their false teachers a just reason to suspect themselves, whether they were true and sincere professors, yea or no, and to consider how it came to pass, that their lot in the world was so different from the lot of those whom the Lord had dignified with the title and office of his apostles. The condition of the most faithful and able ministers and the most sincere Christians that have been in the world, hath always been a mean and afflicted state and condition.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
William Burkitt 1703 · Public Domain Observe here, 1. The several kinds of sufferings which…
Observe here, 1. The several kinds of sufferings which the holy apostles were exposed to, and exercised with; namely, hunger, and want, poverty, and reproach, persecution, and death. They suffered in their bodies by hunger, and nakedness, and stripes; in their names, by scandals and reproaches, being accounted the filth of the world, and the off-scouring of all things.
The word, say some, signifies that dirt and filth which scavengers do rake together in the streets, and carry to the dung-hill. Others think it an allusion to the sacrifices which the heathens used for the lustration of a city, who when their city was under any great calamity, chose out some very base, vile, and nasty person, and burnt him in a ditch, and cast his ashes into the sea, as a sacrifice unto Neptune, saying, Be thou a purgation for us. Such a base and vile esteem had the world of the holy apostles and messengers of Christ.
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Lord! to see such a man as St. Paul going up and down the world with a naked back and empty belly, without a house of settled abode to hide his head in; one that did more service for God in his day, than perhaps we have done him all our days: can we, the ministers of Christ, complain of hard usage form the world, when we consider that this great apostle suffered in the world?
Observe, 2. The duration and continuance of the apostles’ sufferings, Even unto this day, and unto this present hour. It was not only at their first entrance upon the apostolical office, when all the world was set against Christianity, that they met with this usage, but all along, from the first hour they began to preach the gospel, even unto this hour, did they meet with opposition and persecution.
As long as there is a devil in hell, and wicked men upon earth, all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution: but surely the dregs in this cup have in all ages been reserved for the ministers of Christ Jesus; as if to preach were nothing else but to stir up the rage, and be blotted with the obloquies of men.
Observe, 3. The holy and humble behaviour, the meek and patient carriage and demeanour, of the apostles, under all this load and burden of reproach and scorn, disgrace and shame, persecution and ill usage: being reviled, we bless. When we meet with opprobrious words, we are so far from rendering evil for evil, or railing for railing, that we speak well of, and wish well to, the persons that are thus injurious to us: Being persecuted by them, we suffer it patiently from them; being defamed by any of them, we entreat God for them, to pity and pardon them; and we entreat them to pity themselves.
To publish invectives against those, though the worst of men, who reproach and persecute us, is a modern piece of zeal, which the blessed apostles and holy sufferers in the primitive times were not only little acquainted with, but perfect strangers to.
William Burkitt's Expository Notes on the New Testament (1700–1703) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain Even unto this present hour,.... What is about to…
Even unto this present hour,.... What is about to be related was not what befell the apostles now and then, and a great while ago; but what for a considerable time, and unto the present time, was more or less the common constant series and course of life they were inured to:
we both hunger, and thirst, and are naked; wanted the common necessaries of life, food to eat, and raiment to put on, and gold and silver to purchase any with; which might be, when, as it was sometimes their case, they were in desert places, or on the seas; or when they fell among thieves; or had given all away, as they sometimes did, for the relief of others; or when they were not, as sometimes, taken notice of, and provided for, where they ministered, as they ought to have been.
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And are buffeted; not only by Satan, as the apostle was, but by men; scourged, whipped, and beaten by them; scourged in the synagogues by the Jews with forty stripes save one; and beaten with rods by the Romans, and other Gentiles.
And have no certain dwelling place; were in an unsettled state, always moving from one place to another, and had no place they could call their own; like their Lord and master, who had not where to lay his head; and like some of the Old Testament saints, who wandered about in sheep skins and goat skins, in deserts, and in mountains, in dens and caves of the earth.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain And are naked - Who can imagine a more…
And are naked - Who can imagine a more glorious triumph of the truth, than that which is gained in these circumstances when St. Paul, with an impediment in his speech, and a person rather contemptible than graceful, appeared in a mean, perhaps tattered, dress before persons of the highest distinction, and yet commanded such attention. and made such deep impressions upon them!
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 11. We both hunger and thirst, &c.] Who…
Verse 11. We both hunger and thirst, &c.] Who would then have been an apostle of Christ, even with all its spiritual honours and glories, who had not a soul filled with love both to God and man, and the fullest conviction of the reality of the doctrine he preached, and of that spiritual world in which alone he could expect rest? See the Introduction, sect. vi.
Have no certain dwelling place] We are mere itinerant preachers, and when we set out in the morning know not where, or whether we shall or not, get a night's lodging.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain Even unto this present hour - Paul here drops…
Even unto this present hour - Paul here drops the irony, and begins a serious recapitulation of his actual sufferings and trials. The phrase used here “unto this present hour” denotes that these things had been incessant through all their ministry. They were not merely at the commencement of their work, but they had continued and attended them everywhere. And even then they were experiencing the same thing. These privations and trials were still continued, and were to be regarded as a part of the apostolic condition.
We both hunger and thirst - The apostles, like their master, were poor, and in traveling about from place to place, it often happened that they scarcely found entertainment of the plainest kind, or had money to purchase it. It is no dishonor to be poor, and especially if that poverty is produced by doing good to others. Paul might have been rich, but he chose to be poor for the sake of the gospel. To enjoy the luxury of doing good to others, we ought to be willing to be hungry and thirsty, and to be deprived of our ordinary enjoyments.
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And are naked - In traveling; our clothes become old and worn out, and we have no friends to replace them, and no money to purchase new. It is no discredit to be clad in mean raiment, if that is produced by self-denying toils in behalf of others. There is no, honor in gorgeous apparel; but there is real honor in voluntary poverty and want, when produced in the cause of benevolence. Paul was not ashamed to travel, to preach, and to appear before princes and kings, in a soiled and worn-out garment, for it was worn out in the service of his Master, and Divine Providence had arranged the circumstances of his life. But how many a minister now would he ashamed to appear in such clothing! How many professed Christians are ashamed to go to the house of God because they cannot dress well, or be in the fashion, or outshine their neighbors! If an apostle was willing to be meanly clad in delivering the message of God, then assuredly we should be willing to preach, or to worship him in such clothing as he provides. We may add here, what a sublime spectacle was here; and what a glorious triumph of the truth. Here was Paul with an impediment in his speech; with a personage small and mean rather than graceful; and in a mean and tattered dress; and often in chains, yet delivering truth before which kings trembled, and which produced everywhere a deep impression on the human mind. Such was the power of the gospel then! And such triumph did the truth then have over men. See Doddridge.
And are buffeted - Struck with the hand; see the note at Mat 26:67. Probably it is used here to denote harsh and injurious treatment in general; compare 2Co 12:7.
And have no certain dwelling-place - No fixed or permanent home. They wandered to distant lands; threw themselves on the hospitality of strangers, and even of the enemies of the gospel; when driven from one place they went to another; and thus they led a wandering, uncertain life, amidst strangers and foes. They who know what are the comforts of home; who are surrounded by beloved families; who have a peaceful and happy fireside; and who enjoy the blessings of domestic tranquility, may be able to appreciate the trials to which the apostles were subjected. All this was for the sake of the gospel; all to purchase the blessings which we so richly enjoy.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain (Co2 11:23-27).
(Co2 11:23-27).
naked--that is, insufficiently clad (Rom 8:35).
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buffeted--as a slave (Pe1 2:20), the reverse of the state of the Corinthians, "reigning as kings" (Act 23:2). So Paul's master before him was "buffeted" as a slave, when about to die a slave's death (Mat 26:67).
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 11. Even unto this present hour—While I write to…
11. Even unto this present hour—While I write to you from Ephesus I am the subject of such a life.
Buffeted—Struck with the clenched fist.
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No certain dwellingplace—Without position, or fixed residence.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 11. Even unto this present hour we both hunger,…
11. Even unto this present hour we both hunger, and thirst] The Apostle would point out to his converts the true glory of the Christian minister. Labour and suffering for Christ’s sake are the marks of the servants of God, not self-conceit and self-praise.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (11) We both hunger.—From the strong irony of the…
(11) We both hunger.—From the strong irony of the last verse, the Apostle here passes, in the pathethic and sad description which occupies 1Co_4:11-13, to show how intensely true that last word “despised” was, as expressing his own position, not only in time past, but at the very hour of his writing. Here still there is an implied contrast between their condition (“full,” “rich,” “kings,” of 1Co_4:8) and that of St. Paul himself.
Are naked.—The better reading is, we are in need of sufficient clothing (as 2Co_11:27).
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Are buffeted—i.e., are treated like slaves, and not like “kings,” as you are.
Have no certain dwellingplace.—To be without a fixed home was a peculiar sign of want and degradation. (See Mat_8:20; Mat_10:23.)
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain Unto this present hour. In these three verses he…
Unto this present hour. In these three verses he draws a picture of the condition of the apostles, especially of the trials to which he was himself subjected, on which the best comment is in 2Co_11:23-27. This letter was written from Ephesus, where he had so much to do and to endure. (Act_20:31) Hunger and thirst. "In hunger and thirst, in fastings often". (2Co_11:27) Are naked (Mat_25:36; Jam_2:15; and comp. 2Co_11:27) And are buffeted. The verb means literally, are slapped in the face. (2Co_12:7) Such insults, together with scourgings, fell to the lot of St. Paul (Act_23:2, etc.) and the other apostles, (Acts 1Pe_2:20) as well as to that of their Lord. (Mat_26:57, etc.) It showed the utter contempt with which they were treated; for though St. Paul ought to have been exempt from such violence, both as a freeman and a Roman citizen, he was treated as vilely as if he had been a mere foreign slave. Have no certain dwelling place. This homelessness was among the severest of all trials. (Mat_8:20 Mat_10:23)
Vers. 11-13.
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The best and most useful often the most afflicted.
I HISTORY AND PERSONAL OBSERVATION TEACH US THIS. Heb_11:35-38. Paul"s case is a striking illustration. Note the
(1) variety,
(2) painfulness,
(3) strangeness, of the apostolic afflictions.
See also another list. (2Co_11:23-27)
II LET US LEARN THAT:
1. Affliction is not always significant of Divine displeasure. Often we have chastisement because of our sins, but sometimes sorrow comes to us when
2. most firmly we tread the path of duty. Under such circumstances it should not dismay or depress us.
3. Suffering even severe suffering is not always a valid reason for relinquishing active service. Some people are too anxious to "retire." Work done under suffering is sometimes marvellously effective, Our woes fit us to deal with the woe begone. When under great stress we feel that we can do nothing, we sometimes become Samsons; when we feel that we can do everything, we are generally mere Philistines.
1. Much affliction need not necessarily be even a hindrance to us in our work. Paul"s sufferings did not make him less active in the cause of Christ. He abounded in toil whilst he abounded in sorrow.
2. Affliction comes to us in the path of duty, it should not drive us from that path. Most of Paul"s sorrows were caused by his zeal and faithfulness. He would preach Christ. To choose an easier path would not have been wise for him is not wise for us.
3. Affliction is sanctified to God"s faithful servants. Beyond all doubt Paul was greatly the better for his many sorrows. Humanly speaking, he could never have been Paul without them. That which seems likely to hinder may help. Men who have to do much have generally to suffer much. Biography furnishes multitudinous illustrations of this.
4. Extraordinary sufferings sometimes bear with them the promise of unusual usefulness. Idlers have thus been made remarkably diligent, sleepers have been awakened, the worldly have become consecrated. The first true and inspiring view of Christian service has been obtained from the flame of the furnace. The apprenticeship of some "of whom the world was not worthy" has been served in the fires. Some great lives have begun with martyrdom.
5. Affliction should be received in a spirit of meekness, even when it comes directly from men who have no reason to use us ill. Paul, when reviled, blessed; when persecuted, calmly endured it, without after retaliation; when defamed, he entreated (perhaps God to pardon his enemies). Herein Paul was like Christ. He employed conquering kindness. To imitate him will require much grace. It is often much easier to take affliction from the hands of God than from the hands of men. H.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
B. W. Johnson 1891 · Public Domain 11. Unto this present hour, etc. All through our…
11. Unto this present hour, etc. All through our ministry we suffer want for the needs of life, are often in want of food and drink and clothing, are beaten (buffeted), and, like the Master, have no certain home.
B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.
William B. Godbey 1900 · Public Domain 11. “Unto this hour we hunger and thirst.” When…
11. “Unto this hour we hunger and thirst.” When they had nothing to eat, they rejoiced in a fast and profited by it spiritually. If I ate like other people, I could not do the work God has given me. I am editor in the morning, teacher in the afternoon, and preacher at night. Hence one meal and a lunch are all I can manage. “We are naked.” This is literal. Of course, it is to be understood in a modified sense. The Orientals do not clothe the entire body like the Occidentals. At that time there were no factories, therefore clothing was scarce and costly. We can not evade the conclusion that the apostles suffered much from insufficient clothing. Their overland traveling was all on foot, which was decidedly in their favor. They were great walkers. “We are buffeted;” i. e., they were often cruelly flogged (2Co 11:25). “We tramp.” When you turn with disgust from tramps, remember the apostles were tramps. If Jesus were now on earth, He would everywhere be so considered. If Christ and His apostles were now on earth, walking from place to place — their clothing meager, cheap, poor and insufficient, peculiar to the poorest people, soiled and untidy, preaching on the streets and in the hovels of the peasantry, denouncing sin in the clergy as well as the laity — they would be shunned by the influential, shut out of the churches, ostracized from society, and very probably arrested, punished and imprisoned, as when they were on the earth; going into a popular church and speaking, as was their custom, the officers would lead them out, and the service go right on as if nothing had happened.
William B. Godbey, Commentary on the New Testament (1896–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
J. W. McGarvey 1914 · Public Domain Even unto this present hour we both hunger, and…
Even unto this present hour we both hunger, and thirst, and are naked, and are buffeted [smitten with the clenched fist], and have no certain dwelling-place [ Mat_8:20 ; Mat_10:23 ];
J. W. McGarvey (with Philip Y. Pendleton), Commentaries on the New Testament (The Fourfold Gospel, 1914; Acts; and the epistles) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 4:11-13 Paul reminds the Corinthians how much he had…
4:11-13 Paul reminds the Corinthians how much he had endured for Christ’s sake (cp. 2 Cor 6:4-5; 11:23-28).
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.