What Does 1 Corinthians 9:10 Mean?
Or does he say it altogether for our sake? For our sake, surely, it is written, that the one who plows should plow in hope, and the one who threshes in hope should share in his hope.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
Or saith he it altogether for our sakes? For our sakes, no doubt, this is written: that he that ploweth should plow in hope; and that he that thresheth in hope should be partaker of his hope.THE KEY
Hope here is not waiting outside the harvest; it is the expectation of having a share in it.
THE MEANING
Your labor and its fruit are not meant to be strangers to one another. Plowing and threshing unfold under one expectation: the worker has a share in what the work brings forth. The harvest is still ahead, but the hope of sharing in it is already present in the labor.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
This undoes the belief that you must labor while remaining excluded from what your work produces.
THE ROOT
μετέχειν
metéchein
GROWS FROM
μετά + ἔχω (metá + échō)
To have with; to share in something.
“partaker” in this verse is metéchein. The Greek phrase points toward μετέχειν (metéchein, “to share in”) as what the thresher hopes for. The worker is pictured as having a share in the yield, not as standing apart from it.
ALSO GROWS
métochos: One who shares in something.
μέτοχος
The same word family makes participation a relationship to what is shared, not merely a payment received from outside.
metochḗ: A share or participation in something.
μετοχή
This branch brings out the shared portion contained in the verse’s image of a worker partaking in the harvest.
ἐλπίδι
elpídi
GROWS FROM
ἐλπιδ-
Expectation or hope directed toward what is anticipated.
The verse repeats ἐλπίδι (elpídi, “in hope”) for both plowing and threshing, then directs that expectation toward sharing in the yield. Hope is not detached from the work; it reaches into the labor as its anticipated fruit.
ALSO GROWS
elpís: Hope or expectation.
ἐλπίς
The noun names the forward-looking expectation that accompanies the labor in this verse.
elpízō: To hope or expect something.
ἐλπίζω
The related verb shows hope as an active orientation toward what is anticipated.
THE PATTERN
Those who labor toward a harvest are shown as participants in its fruit, not cut off from it.
You shall not muzzle the ox while he treads out the grain.For you eat the weariness of your palms; flourishing is yours, and goodness is yours.While making good, let us not give out, for in its own season we reap, if we do not go slack.THE THREAD
For in hope we have been delivered; but hope that is seen is not hope, for why would anyone still hope for what he sees?Both verses use ἐλπίς (elpís, “hope, expectation”) and ἐλπίζω (elpízō, “to hope, expect”) to hold attention toward what is not yet seen. Romans names hope’s forward reach; this verse gives that reach a concrete shape, the worker expects to share in the harvest.
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