Passage

1 Corinthians 16.2

Book: 1 Corinthians · ASV / WEB / KJV / YLT

Immediate context (±2 verses)

ASV

Now concerning the collection for the saints, as I gave order to the churches of Galatia, so also do ye.

2. Upon the first day of the week let each one of you lay by him in store, as he may prosper, that no collections be made when I come.

And when I arrive, whomsoever ye shall approve, them will I send with letters to carry your bounty unto Jerusalem: 4. and if it be meet for me to go also, they shall go with me. (1 Corinthians 16:1-4, ASV)

WEB

Now concerning the collection for the saints, as I commanded the assemblies of Galatia, you do likewise.

2. On the first day of the week, let each one of you save, as he may prosper, that no collections be made when I come.

When I arrive, I will send whoever you approve with letters to carry your gracious gift to Jerusalem. 4. If it is appropriate for me to go also, they will go with me. (1 Corinthians 16:1-4, WEB)

KJV

Now concerning the collection for the saints, as I have given order to the churches of Galatia, even so do ye.

2. Upon the first day of the week let every one of you lay by him in store, as God hath prospered him, that there be no gatherings when I come.

And when I come, whomsoever ye shall approve by your letters, them will I send to bring your liberality unto Jerusalem. ^{liberality: Gr. gift} 4. And if it be meet that I go also, they shall go with me. (1 Corinthians 16:1-4, KJV)

YLT

And concerning the collection that [is] for the saints, as I directed to the assemblies of Galatia, so also ye, do ye;

2. on every first [day] of the week, let each one of you lay by him, treasuring up whatever he may have prospered, that when I may come then collections may not be made;

and whenever I may come, whomsoever ye may approve, through letters, these I will send to carry your favour to Jerusalem; 4. and if it be meet for me also to go, with me they shall go. (1 Corinthians 16:1-4, YLT)

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Setting

Speaker: Paul the Apostle
Audience: the church at Corinth, a mixed Jew-and-Gentile congregation in a wealthy Roman colony, fractured over teachers, status, sexual ethics, and the limits of freedom
Location: composed in Ephesus, addressed to Corinth
Time period: c. AD 55-56

Theological reading

Upon the first day of the week let each one of you lay by him in store, as he may prosper. A logistical instruction about the collection for the Jerusalem saints, and incidentally one of the earliest pieces of evidence for Christians marking the first day of the week.

The evidential value should be stated carefully, because it is often overstated. The verse does not command a Sunday assembly and does not say the setting aside happened at one, since by him in store most naturally suggests each household putting money aside at home. What it does show is that the first day of the week already functioned as a recognised marker in Paul's instructions to a Gentile congregation around AD 55, alongside the gathering at Troas on the first day in Acts 20:7 and the reference to the Lord's day in Revelation 1:10. Taken together these are early and independent, and they precede any imperial legislation on the subject by more than two centuries.

The collection itself is the larger theme, occupying 2 Corinthians 8 and 9 and mentioned in Romans 15:25-27. Paul is gathering money from Gentile churches for Jewish believers in Jerusalem, and he treats it as more than relief: it is a material demonstration that the two halves of the church are one body, which is the doctrine of chapter 12 turned into a freight problem. The proportionality clause, as he may prosper, sets giving by capacity rather than by a fixed rate.

Key words

Theologically-loaded Greek or Hebrew words in this verse may have entries in the lexicon. Curated to roughly 100 contested terms across the corpus, not every word; see Lexicon Roadmap.

G1096 - ginomai, ginomai, Strong's G1096

Quoted in

Arguments and defeaters:

Concepts:

Why these four translations

ris3n chose ASV, WEB, KJV, and YLT for two reasons together. They are the most literal English translations available (formal-equivalence: word-for-word renderings that preserve the Hebrew and Greek grammar rather than smoothing it into modern dynamic-equivalence idiom). And they are in the public domain in the United States, which means fair-use quotation at any length requires no publisher license. Modern licensed translations (NASB95, ESV, NIV) restrict volume of quotation under their copyright terms, so they are not used at stub-level coverage here. NASB95 appears only on hand-curated rich passage hubs under Lockman Foundation's fair-use allowance.

The four:

ASV (American Standard Version, 1901). The basis of the modern critical-text English tradition.
WEB (World English Bible, contemporary). Public-domain revision in the ASV line, in current English.
KJV (King James Version, 1611). Reformation-era, Textus Receptus base.
YLT (Young's Literal Translation, Robert Young, 1862). Hyper-literal preservation of Hebrew and Greek grammar; useful for word-study work even where English reads stiff.

See Bibles for the full per-translation history, translators, textual basis, strengths, and weaknesses.