1 Corinthians 10

¹I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, that our forefathers were all under the cloud, and [that] they all passed through the sea.

²They were all baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea.

³They all ate the same spiritual food

⁴and drank the same spiritual drink; for they drank from [the] spiritual rock that accompanied them, and [that] rock was Christ.

⁵Nevertheless, God was not pleased with most of them, for they were struck down in the wilderness.

⁶These things took place as examples to keep us from craving evil things as they [did].

⁷Do not be idolaters, as some of them [were]. As it is written: “The people sat down to eat and drink and got up to indulge in revelry.”

⁸We should not commit sexual immorality, as some of them [did], and in one day twenty-three thousand [of them] died.

⁹We should not test Christ, as some of them [did], and were killed by snakes.

¹⁰And do not complain, as some of them [did], and were killed by the destroying angel.

¹¹Now these things happened to them [as] examples and were written down as warnings for us, on whom the fulfillment of the ages has come.

¹²So the [one who] thinks he is standing firm should be careful not to fall.

¹³No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God [is] faithful; [He] will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when [you are] tempted, He will also provide an escape, so that you can stand up under [it].

¹⁴Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry.

¹⁵I speak to reasonable [people]; judge for yourselves what I say.

¹⁶Is not the cup of blessing that we bless a participation in the blood of Christ? [And] is not the bread that we break a participation in the body of Christ?

¹⁷Because [there is] one loaf, [we who are] many are one body; for we all partake of the one loaf.

¹⁸Consider the people of Israel: Are not those who eat the sacrifices fellow partakers in the altar?

¹⁹Am I suggesting, then, that food sacrificed to an idol is anything, or that an idol is anything?

²⁰No, [but] [the] sacrifices of pagans are offered to demons, not to God. And I do not want you to be participants with demons.

²¹You cannot drink [the] cup of [the] Lord and [the] cup of demons [too]; you cannot partake in [the] table of [the] Lord and [the] table of demons {too}.

²²Are we trying to provoke the Lord {to jealousy}? Are we stronger than He?

²³“Everything is permissible,” but not everything is beneficial. “Everything is permissible,” but not everything is edifying.

²⁴No one should seek his own [good], but [the good] of others.

²⁵Eat anything sold in [the] meat market without raising questions of conscience,

²⁶for, “The earth [is] the Lord’s, and the fullness thereof.”

²⁷If an unbeliever invites you {to a meal} and you want to go, eat anything set before you without raising questions of conscience.

²⁸But if someone tells you, “This [food] was offered to idols,” {then do} not eat [it], for the sake of the one who told [you] and for the sake of conscience —

²⁹the other [one’s] [ conscience ], I mean, not your own. For why {should} my freedom be determined by someone else’s conscience?

³⁰If I partake [in the meal] with thankfulness, why am I denounced because of that for which I give thanks?

³¹So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all to the glory of God.

³²Do not become a stumbling block, whether to Jews [or] Greeks [or] the church of God —

³³as I also [try to] please everyone in all [I do]. [For] I am not seeking my [own] good, but [the good] of many, that they may be saved.