1 Corinthians 10
Contemporary English Version
Don't Worship Idols
10 (A) Friends, I want to remind you that all our ancestors walked under the cloud and went through the sea. 2 This was like being baptized and becoming followers of Moses. 3 (B) All of them also ate the same spiritual food 4 (C) and drank the same spiritual drink, which flowed from the spiritual rock that followed them. That rock was Christ. 5 (D) But most of them did not please God. So they died, and their bodies were scattered all over the desert.
6 What happened to them is a warning to keep us from wanting to do the same evil things. 7 (E) They worshiped idols, just as the Scriptures say, “The people sat down to eat and drink. Then they got up to dance around.” So don't worship idols. 8 (F) Some of those people did shameful things, and in a single day about 23,000 died. Don't do shameful things as they did. 9 (G) And don't try to test Christ,[a] as some of them did and were later bitten by poisonous snakes. 10 (H) Don't even grumble, as some of them did and were killed by the destroying angel. 11 These things happened to them as a warning to us. All this was written in the Scriptures to teach us who live in these last days.
12 Even if you think you can stand up to temptation, be careful not to fall. 13 (I) You are tempted in the same way that everyone else is tempted. But God can be trusted not to let you be tempted too much, and he will show you how to escape from your temptations.
14 My friends, you must keep away from idols. 15 I am speaking to you as people who have enough sense to know what I am talking about. 16 (J) When we drink from the cup we ask God to bless, isn't that sharing in the blood of Christ? When we eat the bread we break, isn't that sharing in the body of Christ? 17 By sharing in the same loaf of bread, we become one body, even though there are many of us.
18 (K)(L) Aren't the people of Israel sharing in the worship when they gather around the altar and eat the sacrifices offered there? 19 Am I saying that either the idols or the food sacrificed to them is anything at all? 20 (M) No, I am not! This food is really sacrificed to demons and not to God. I don't want you to have anything to do with demons. 21 You cannot drink from the cup of demons and still drink from the Lord's cup. You cannot eat at the table of demons and still eat at the Lord's table. 22 (N) We would make the Lord jealous if we did this. And we are not stronger than the Lord.
Always Honor God
23 (O) Some of you say, “We can do whatever we want to!” But I tell you not everything may be good or helpful. 24 We should think about others and not about ourselves. 25 However, when you buy meat in the market, go ahead and eat it. Keep your conscience clear by not asking where the meat came from. 26 (P) The Scriptures say, “The earth and everything in it belong to the Lord.”
27 If an unbeliever invites you to dinner, and you want to go, then go. Eat whatever you are served. Don't cause a problem for someone's conscience by asking where the food came from. 28-29 But if you are told it has been sacrificed to idols, don't cause a problem by eating it. I don't mean a problem for yourself, but for the one who told you. Why should my freedom be limited by someone else's conscience? 30 If I give thanks for what I eat, why should anyone accuse me of doing wrong?
31 When you eat or drink or do anything else, always do it to honor God. 32 Don't cause problems for Jews or Greeks or anyone else who belongs to God's church. 33 I always try to please others instead of myself, in the hope that many of them will be saved.
Footnotes
- 10.9 Christ: Some manuscripts have “the Lord.”
Kehillah in Corinth I 10
Orthodox Jewish Bible
10 I do not want you to be without da’as, Achim b’Moshiach, that Avoteinu all were under the anan (cloud, SHEMOT 13:21-22) and passed through the sea [SHEMOT 14:22-25],
2 And all into Moshe Rabbenu were given tevilah in the anan (cloud) and in the sea,
3 And all of the same spiritual okhel (food) ate [SHEMOT 16:4,35; DEVARIM 8:3; TEHILLIM 78:24-29],
4 And all of the same spiritual drink drank, for they were drinking from a spiritual TZUR following them [SHEMOT 17:6; BAMIDBAR 20:11; TEHILLIM 78:15; 105:41], and that TZUR was Moshiach.
5 But Hashem was not pleased with most of them, for they were strewn about in the desert, VAYISHCHATEM BAMIDBAR ("then He slaughtered them in the desert" [BAMIDBAR 14:16, 23,29-30; TEHILLIM 78:31).
6 Now these things occurred as moftim (examples) for us, in order that we would not crave what is ra’ah as they did. [BAMIDBAR 11:4,34; TEHILLIM 106:14]
7 Neither should you become ovdei elilim (idolaters), as some of them did, as it has been written, "And the people sat to eat and to drink and they got up to revel” SHEMOT 32:6.
8 Neither should we commit zenut as some of them committed zenut and fell in one day twenty-three thousand [BAMIDBAR 25:1,9]. [T.N. if Rav Sha’ul is not giving the number that died in one day, a very famous and devastating twenty-four hour period, (with BAMIDBAR 25:4 mentioning other executions and the subsequent total being 24,000 [Bamidbar 24:9]), then Rav Sha’ul is referring to those who died in Shemot 32:35, quoting as he does Shemot 32:6 in 1C 10:7]
9 Neither let us tempt Moshiach, as some of them put Moshiach to the test, and by nechashim (serpents) were being destroyed [Ex 17:2; Num 21:5-6; Ps 78:18; 95:9; 106:4; ].
10 Neither should we murmur and grumble even as some of them VAYILONU ("and they murmured’ SHEMOT 15:24; 16:2; 17:3; BAMIDBAR 14:2,29; 16:41) and they were destroyed by the destroyer (Num 14:2,36; 16:41-49; 17:5,10; Ex 12:23 Ps 106:25-27).
11 Now, these things happened to those ones as moftim (examples), but it was written for our admonition, to whom the Kitzei HaOlamim has come.
12 So then the one that presupposes that he stands, let him take care lest he fall.
13 No nissayon (temptation) has overtaken you, except that which is common to Bnei Adam, but, Hashem is ne’eman (faithful) (DEVARIM 7:9), who will not let you to be brought into nissayon beyond what you are able, but will make with the nissayon also the derech (Tzaddikim TEHILLIM 1:6) as a way out for you to be able to endure.
14 Therefore, my chaverim, flee from avodah zarah.
15 I speak as to thinking men; you judge what I say.
16 The Kos HaBracha (Cup of Blessing) over which we say the Bracha, is it not a [Mizbe’ach] sharing and deveykus participation in the Korban Pesach death and kapporah of Moshiach? The matzoh which we break, is this not a sharing and a deveykus participation in the Guf HaMoshiach?
17 Because the matzoh is echad, we, many as we are, are one body, one new humanity, for we all partake of the matzoh echad.
18 Observe Yisroel according to the basar. Are not the ones eating the korbanot (sacrifices) partakers of the Mizbe’ach (altar VAYIKRA 7:6, 14, 15)?
19 What then am I saying? That a sacrifice to an elil (idol) is anything or that an idol is anything?
20 No, the things which they sacrifice, YIZB’CHU LASHEDIM LO ELOHIM ("They sacrificed to demons which were not G-d" DEVARIM 32:17; TEHILLIM 106:37). Now I do not want you to become sharers with the shedim (demons). [VAYIKRA 17:7; DEVARIM 32:17; TEHILLIM 106:37]
21 You are not able to drink from the Kos of Hashem and also from the Kos HaShedim; you are not able to partake of the shulchan of Hashem and the shulchan of shedim (demons).
22 Or is it that you would move Hashem to kinah (jealousy) [DEVARIM 32:21]? We don’t think we are stronger than He, do we? [DEVARIM 32:16; MELACHIM ALEF 14:22; TEHILLIM 78:58; YIRMEYAH 44:8; KOHELET 6:10; YESHAYAH 45:9]
23 “All things are lawful”? But not all things are beneficial; “All things are lawful”? But not all things edify [6:12].
24 Let no one seek his own benefit but the benefit of the other.
25 Everything being sold in a meat market eat without raising qualms of matzpun (conscience).
26 For LAHASHEM HA’ARETZ UMELOAH ("The earth is the L-rd’s and the fullness thereof" TEHILLIM 24:1; 50:12; 89:11; SHEMOT 9:29; 19:5; IYOV 41:11; TEHILLIM 50:12).
27 If anyone of the Apikorosim invites you and you want to go, eat everything being set before you without raising qualms of matzpun (conscience).
28 But if anyone should say to you, ‘Zeh nizbach l’elil!’ (‘This is sacrificed to an idol!’), do not eat out of consideration for that man who informed you and because of matzpun (conscience).
29 But I speak not about your matzpun but about the matzpun of the other man, for why is my cherut (freedom) brought into mishpat (judgment) by another’s matzpun (conscience)?
30 If I partake with Birkat Hamazon (grace after meals), why am I blamed for what I give todah (thanks) for?
31 Whether, therefore, you eat or you drink or whatever you do, do all things to the kavod (glory) of Hashem. [ZECHARYAH 14:21]
32 Be without michshol both to Yehudim and to Yevanim and to the Kehillah of Hashem,
33 even as I also please Bnei Adam in all things, not seeking my own advantage but that of the many, that they may be brought to Yeshu’at Eloheinu.
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