What Does 1 Corinthians 9:13 Mean in the King James?
Do ye not know that they which minister about holy things live of the things of the temple? and they which wait at the altar are partakers with the altar?
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
Those who serve at the altar share in the altar’s own provision.
THE MEANING
Sacred service and material provision belong to the same living arrangement: those who work among sacred things eat from the temple’s provision, and those who attend the altar share its portion. Receiving that provision is part of participating in the work itself.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The verse undoes the belief that receiving material support makes sacred service less spiritual.
THE ROOT
συμμερίζονται
symmerizontai
GROWS FROM
μερίζω (merízō), from μέρος (meros)
To divide into portions, allot, or share.
“partakers” in this verse is symmerizontai. The Greek form joins σύν (syn, “with”) to μερίζω (merízō, “to apportion or share”), describing the attendants as sharing in the altar’s portion. The word holds participation and provision together: they do not merely wait near the altar; they share what belongs to it.
ALSO GROWS
meros: Part, portion, or share.
μέρος
The altar’s attendants receive a share from the sacred service they attend.
merízō: To divide, allot, distribute, or share.
μερίζω
The root makes the allocation of provision part of the meaning of participation.
merismós: A division, distribution, or allocation.
μερισμός
This branch echoes the portioning that makes the altar’s provision shareable.
THE PATTERN
Those who tend a source share in its fruit.
The priests the Levites, and all the tribe of Levi, shall have no part nor inheritance with Israel: they shall eat the offerings of the LORD made by fire, and his inheritance.Whoso keepeth the fig tree shall eat the fruit thereof: so he that waiteth on his master shall be honoured.For the scripture saith, Thou shalt not muzzle the ox that treadeth out the corn. And, The labourer is worthy of his reward.THE THREAD
Behold Israel after the flesh: are not they which eat of the sacrifices partakers of the altar?This verse makes the altar-sharing logic in 1 Corinthians 9:13 explicit: eating from the sacrifices is participation with the altar. It calls those participants κοινωνοί (koinōnoi, “sharers”), pairing common participation with the earlier verse’s language of sharing a portion.
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