Chapter 10

¹For I would not have you forget, brothers, that though our forefathers were all protected by the cloud, and all passed safely through the sea, ²and in the cloud and the sea all, as it were, accepted baptism as followers of Moses, ³and all ate the same supernatural food ⁴and drank the same supernatural drink—for they used to drink from a supernatural rock which attended them, and the rock was really Christ— ⁵still most of them disappointed God, for they were struck down in the desert.

⁶Now these things happened to warn us, so that we should not long for what is evil as they did. ⁷You must not become idolaters, like some of them, for the Scripture says, “The people sat down to eat and drink and got up to dance.” ⁸Let us not practice immorality, like some of them, twenty-three thousand of whom fell dead in one day, ⁹Let us not try the Lord’s patience too far, as some of them did, for they were killed for it by the snakes. ¹⁰You must not grumble, as some of them did, for they were destroyed for it by the destroying angel. ¹¹These things happened to them as a warning to others, but they were written down to instruct us, in whose days the ages have reached their climax.

¹²So the man who thinks he can stand must be on his guard against a fall. ¹³It is no superhuman temptation that you have had. And God can be depended on, not to let you be tried beyond your strength, but when temptation comes, to give you a way out of it, so that you can withstand it.

¹⁴Therefore, my dear brothers, have nothing to do with the worship of idols. ¹⁵I appeal to your good sense. Make up your minds about what I say. ¹⁶Does not the consecrated cup which we bless mean that in drinking it we share in the blood of Christ? Does not the bread that we break mean that in eating it we share in the body of Christ? ¹⁷Because there is one loaf, we, many as we are, are one body, for we all share the one loaf. ¹⁸Think of the Israelites’ practices. Do not those who eat what is sacrificed have divine fellowship at the sacrificial altar? ¹⁹What am I saying then? That there is any such thing as being offered to an idol, or any such thing as an idol? ²⁰No, but that what the heathen sacrifice they offer to demons and not to God, and I do not want you to have fellowship with demons. ²¹You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons. You cannot eat at the table of the Lord and at the table of demons. ²²Or are we trying to arouse the Lord to jealousy? Are we stronger than he is?

²³We are free to do anything, but not everything is good for us. We are free to do anything, but not everything builds up character. ²⁴No one should look after his own advantage but after that of his neighbor.

²⁵Eat anything for sale in the meat market without raising any question, as far as conscience is concerned, ²⁶for the earth and everything in it belongs to the Lord. ²⁷If one of the heathen invites you to his house, and you wish to go, eat whatever is served, without raising any question, as far as conscience is concerned. ²⁸But if someone says to you, “This meat has been offered in sacrifice,” let it alone, on account of the man who told you and his conscientious scruples; ²⁹his scruples, I say, not yours. For why should my liberty of action be limited by another’s scruples? ³⁰If I give thanks for what I eat, why should I be denounced for eating what I give thanks over?

³¹So whether you are eating or drinking or doing anything else, do it all to the honor of God. ³²You must not be hindrances to Jews or Greeks or to the church of God either, ³³just as I for my part try to please everyone in all I do, not aiming at my own advantage, but at that of people generally, in order that they may be saved.