5:18a

For: The word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as For indicates that 5:18 is the reason that believers should give generously to help the elders. Paul used an example from the Old Testament.

Scripture: See the note on 4:13b.

says: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as says is in the present tense, even though the Scriptures were written many years before. This is natural in Greek and English. Use the tense that is most natural in your language.

5:18b

This Scripture is in Deuteronomy 25:4.

Do not muzzle an ox while it is treading out the grain: Paul mentioned this Old Testament verse to explain the reason that believers should give generously to help the elders. It was part of the laws that God gave the Israelites many centuries before. It literally meant that farmers should not force an ox to work without letting it eat while it was working. Here Paul used this law as a figure of speech. In this context, the law meant that believers should also not expect an elder to preach and teach without paying him.

muzzle: To muzzle an ox means to put something over its mouth so that it cannot eat.

ox: An ox (plural “oxen”) is a kind of large cow or bull. An ox is very strong, and farmers use oxen for farm work. For example, oxen are used to pull carts or ploughs.

treading out the grain: Here, treading out the grain is an example of the kind of work that an ox did. When a crop such as wheat was harvested, the farmers needed to separate the kernels from the cut stalks. They did this by making an ox walk over the stalks many times.

grain: The word grain refers to the seeds of various types of grasses such as wheat, barley, oats, and millet that people use for food.

5:18c

The worker is worthy of his wages: Here Paul quoted something that Jesus had said (Luke 10:7).

General Comment on 5:18a–c

In some languages it may be helpful to make Paul’s comparison explicit in this verse. One way you could do this is:

For the Scripture says, “Do not muzzle the ox while it is treading out the grain,” and “The worker deserves his wages.” In the same way, those who teach the believers deserve to receive money/help from them.

Paragraph 5:19–22

© 2003 by SIL International®

Made available under the terms of a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License (CC BY-SA) creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0

All Scripture quotations in this publication, unless otherwise indicated, are from The Holy Bible, Berean Standard Bible. BSB is produced in cooperation with Bible Hub, Discovery Bible, OpenBible.com, and the Berean Bible Translation Committee.