Even unto this present hour we both hunger, and thirst, and are naked, and are buffeted, and have no certain dwellingplace;
Parallel translations
- WEB Even to this present hour we hunger, thirst, are naked, are beaten, and have no certain dwelling place.
- BSB To this very hour we are hungry and thirsty, we are poorly clothed, we are brutally treated, we are homeless.
- NKJV To the present hour we both hunger and thirst, and we are poorly clothed, and beaten, and homeless.
- NASB Up to this present hour we are both hungry and thirsty, and are poorly clothed and roughly treated and homeless;
- NLT Even now we go hungry and thirsty, and we don’t have enough clothes to keep warm. We are often beaten and have no home.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Paul lists the hardships of apostolic life—hunger, thirst, poor clothing, beatings, homelessness. It matters because faithful ministry embraced real suffering, unlike the Corinthians' comfort.
Overview
In a catalog of afflictions, Paul shows that being an apostle meant ongoing physical deprivation and abuse 'to this present hour.' Far from the kingly ease the Corinthians imagined for themselves, the messengers of Christ shared in His sufferings. This sober list rebukes spiritual complacency and dignifies hardship endured for the gospel.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 12
- Rom 8:35Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?
- Phil 4:12I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound: every where and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need.
- 2 Cor 11:23–27Are they ministers of Christ? (I speak as a fool) I am more; in labours more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequent, in deaths oft.
- Matt 8:20And Jesus saith unto him, The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head.
- 2 Tim 3:11Persecutions, afflictions, which came unto me at Antioch, at Iconium, at Lystra; what persecutions I endured: but out of them all the Lord delivered me.
- Job 22:6For thou hast taken a pledge from thy brother for nought, and stripped the naked of their clothing.
- 2 Cor 6:4–5But in all things approving ourselves as the ministers of God, in much patience, in afflictions, in necessities, in distresses,
- 2 Cor 4:8We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair;
- Acts 14:19And there came thither certain Jews from Antioch and Iconium, who persuaded the people, and, having stoned Paul, drew him out of the city, supposing he had been dead.
- Acts 23:2And the high priest Ananias commanded them that stood by him to smite him on the mouth.
- Acts 16:23And when they had laid many stripes upon them, they cast them into prison, charging the jailor to keep them safely:
- 1 Cor 9:4Have we not power to eat and to drink?
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
Christ crucified is the wisdom and power of God; he is our Passover sacrificed for us, the firstfruits of resurrection, the foundation on which everything is built.
How 1 Corinthians 4:11 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Greek word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.