I robbed other assemblies, taking wages from them that I might serve you.
Parallel Translations
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I robbed other assemblies, taking wages from them that I might serve you.
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I robbed other congregacions and toke wages of the to do you service with all.
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I robbed other Churches, and tooke wages of them to doe you seruice.
Cross-references (3)
Passages linked to 2 Corinthians 11:8 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- 2 Corinthians 11:9 When I was present with you and was in need, I wasn’t a burden on anyone, for the brothers, when they came from Macedonia, supplied the measure of my need. In everything I kept myself from being burdensome to you, and I will continue to do so.
- Philippians 4:14-16 However you did well that you shared in my affliction. You yourselves also know, you Philippians, that in the beginning of the Good News, when I departed from Macedonia, no assembly shared with me in the matter of giving and receiving but you only. For even in Thessalonica you sent once and again to my need.
- Philippians 4:18 But I have all things and abound. I am filled, having received from Epaphroditus the things that came from you, a sweet-smelling fragrance, an acceptable and well-pleasing sacrifice to God.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (15 sources)
Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.
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John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain 8. I robbed other churches He has intentionally, in…
8. I robbed other churches He has intentionally, in my opinion, made use of an offensive term, that he might the more forcibly express the unreasonableness of the matter — in respect of his being despised by the Corinthians. “I have,” says he, “procured pay for myself from the spoils of others, that I might serve you. While I have thus spared you, how unreasonable it is to make me so poor a return!” It is, however, a metaphor, that is taken from what is customary among soldiers; for as conquerors take spoils from the nations that they have conquered, so every thing that Paul took from the Churches that he had gained to Christ was, in a manner, the spoils of his victories, though, at the same time, he never would have taken it from persons against their will, but what they contributed gratuitously was, in a manner, due by right of spiritual warfare.
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 8 I robbed other churches, taking wages of them,…
8 I robbed other churches, taking wages of them, to do you service.
Ver. 8. I robbed other churches] Grandis metaphora, Great metaphor, th Piscator, I took maintenance from them (as the apostle presently expounds himself), I made a prey and prize of them, εσυλησα.
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 He interpreteth the term of robbed other churches, by…
He interpreteth the term of robbed other churches, by a taking wages of them; which indeed is no robbery, as he had proved, 1Co 9:1-27. All the robbery that was in it lay in this, that his maintenance, in strictness of right, should have been proportionably from this, as well as from other churches; but for some reasons (which he thinks fit to conceal) he refused to receive any thing from this church; but spared them, and lived upon the maintenance he had from other churches, while he was doing them service. Either he saw the members of this church were poor, or that there were some in this clulrch who would sooner have taken advantage to reproach him for it, and so have hindered the success of the gospel. Whatever it was that caused the apostle to do it, certain it is, that he did it, and make it a great piece of his glorying.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain I robbed other churches,.... Meaning the churches of Macedonia;…
I robbed other churches,.... Meaning the churches of Macedonia; not that what he had of them was by force and rapine, or by plundering of them, and spoiling of their substance, and living upon them against their wills, as soldiers use a conquered people, though the allusion is to such a custom; for what he had of theirs was freely communicated to him; as appears from the following verse: but because these churches from whom he received were poor, and the Corinthians whom he served were rich, he calls it a robbing of the former, though there was no injury in the case, for it was voluntary, because it was expended for the service of the latter:
taking wages of them to do you service; or "for your ministry"; either to supply their poor, or rather to support the ministry of the Gospel among them. The apostle continues the metaphor, taken from soldiers, to whom wages are due for their warfare; as are also to the ministers of the Gospel, the good soldiers of Jesus Christ; since no man goes a warfare at his own charges and expense but is for by those in whose service he is: and therefore, though the apostle did not think it advisable to ask for, and insist upon wages from them at that time, for his service among them, yet he took it of others in lieu of it; and this he mentions, partly to show that wages were due to him for his ministry, and partly to observe to them who they were beholden to for the support of the Gospel at first among them; as also to stir them up to be serviceable to other churches, as others had been to them.
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 I spoiled other churches - I, as it were,…
I spoiled other churches - I, as it were, took the spoils of them: it is a military term. Taking wages (or pay, another military word) of them - When I came to you at first. And when I was present with you, and wanted - My work not quite supplying my necessities. I was chargeable to no man - Of Corinth.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 8. I robbed other Churches] This part of…
Verse 8. I robbed other Churches] This part of the sentence is explained by the latter, taking wages to do you service. The word οψωνιον signifies the pay of money and provisions given daily to a Roman soldier. As if he had said: I received food and raiment, the bare necessaries of life, from other Churches while labouring for your salvation. Will you esteem this a crime?
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain I robbed other churches - The churches of Macedonia…
I robbed other churches - The churches of Macedonia and elsewhere, which had ministered to his needs. Probably he refers especially to the church at Philippi (see Phi 4:15-16), which seems to have done more than almost any other church for his support. By the use of the word “robbed” here Paul does not mean that he had obtained anything from them in a violent or unlawful manner, or anything which they did not give voluntarily. The word (ἐσύλησα esulēsa) means properly, “I spoiled, plundered, robbed,” but the idea of Paul here is, that he, as it were, robbed them, because he did not render an equivalent for what they gave him. They supported him when he was laboring for another people. A conqueror who plunders a country gives no equivalent for what he takes. In this sense only could Paul say that he had plundered the church at Philippi. His general principle was, that “the laborer was worthy of his hire,” and that a man was to receive his support from the people for whom he labored (see 1Co 9:7-14), but this rule he had not observed in this case.
Taking wages of them - Receiving a support from them. They bore my expenses.
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To do you service - That I might labor among you without being supposed to be striving to obtain your property, and that I might not be compelled to labor with my own hands, and thus to prevent my preaching the gospel as I could otherwise do. The supply from other churches rendered it unnecessary in a great measure that his time should be taken off from the ministry in order to obtain a support.
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 I robbed--that is, took from them in order to…
I robbed--that is, took from them in order to spare you more than what was their fair share of contribution to my maintenance, for example, the Philippian Church (Phi 4:15-16).
wages--"subsidy."
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to do you service--Greek, "with a view to ministration to you"; compare "supplied" (Greek, "in addition"), Co2 11:9, implying, he brought with him from the Macedonians, supplies towards his maintenance at Corinth; and (Co2 11:9) when those resources failed ("when I wanted") he received a new supply, while there, from the same source.
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 8. Robbed—An indignant hyperbole. When his great ministerial labours…
8. Robbed—An indignant hyperbole. When his great ministerial labours interfered with his self-support, he accepted what they voluntarily offered, but were not obligated to give.
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 8. I robbed other churches] “An hyperbolical expression” (Meyer).…
8. I robbed other churches] “An hyperbolical expression” (Meyer). And yet in one sense it was true, for the Corinthians were just as much bound to support the Apostle when at Corinth as any other Churches were when the Apostle was with them. And, therefore, if when at Corinth he availed himself of assistance from those other Churches, he was taking from them what they ought not to have been called upon to supply. Why he did so we are told in 2Co_11:12.
taking wages of them] The Philippian Church, we learn from Php_4:15-16 (cf. next verse), is the Church referred to. Their liberality, St Paul felt, was not likely to be cast in his teeth, therefore he readily accepted it. In later days he again received their bounty with a willingness which would not, he knew, be misconstrued. This is an instance of that minute but undesigned agreement in points of detail which constitutes so strong an argument for the genuineness of most of the Scriptures of the N. T. For the word translated wages see St Luk_3:14; Rom_6:23; 1Co_9:7. It was most commonly used of a soldier’s pay, when given in kind.
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to do you service] Rather, towards my support in my ministry to you.
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 (8) I robbed other churches, taking wages of them.—The…
(8) I robbed other churches, taking wages of them.—The word for wages—strictly rations, or wages in kind, rather than in money—is found in Luk_3:14; Rom_6:23; 1Co_9:7. Its use in the last-named passage had, perhaps, given occasion for a sneer. “He too can take wages when it suits his purpose.” From St. Paul’s point of view, if what he had received had been wages at all, he had been guilty of an act of spoliation. He had received wages from one employer while he was acting in the service of another.
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 I robbed; literally, I ravaged, or plundered. The intensity…
I robbed; literally, I ravaged, or plundered. The intensity of St. Paul"s feelings, smarting under base calumny and ingratitude, reveals itself by the passionate expression which he here uses. Other Churches. The only Church of which we know as contributing to St. Paul"s needs is that at Philippi. (Php_4:15, 16) Taking wages. The expression is again impassioned. It is meant rather ironically than literally. Literally it means rations. (1Co_9:7)
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 8. I robbed other churches. Other churches sustained him…
8. I robbed other churches. Other churches sustained him when he came to Corinth. This seems to have been the usual custom. Philippi aided him more than once while preaching in Thessalonica (Phil. 4:16). The churches of Macedonia aided him at Corinth.
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.
J. W. McGarvey 1914 · Public Domain I robbed other churches [Paul again shows his emotion…
I robbed other churches [Paul again shows his emotion by the indignant hyperbole "robbed"], taking wages of them that I might minister unto you ;
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 11:8-9 Paul had been accepting . . . contributions…
11:8-9 Paul had been accepting . . . contributions . . . from Macedonia—i.e., Philippi (Phil 4:15-19). Paul’s apparent inconsistency made the Corinthians suspicious of his motives or doubtful of his love toward them (2 Cor 11:11).
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.