| 1 | For I would have you remember, brethren, how our forefathers were all of them sheltered by the cloud, and all got safely through the Red Sea. |
| 2 | All were baptized in the cloud and in the sea to be followers of Moses. |
| 3 | All ate the same spiritual food, |
| 4 | and all drank the same spiritual drink; for they long drank the water that flowed from the spiritual rock that went with them--and that rock was the Christ. |
| 5 | But with most of them God was not well pleased; for they were laid low in the Desert. |
| 6 | And in this they became a warning to us, to teach us not to be eager, as they were eager, in pursuit of what is evil. |
| 7 | And you must not be worshippers of idols, as some of them were. For it is written, 'The People sat down to eat and drink, and stood up to dance.' |
| 8 | Nor may we be fornicators, like some of them who committed fornication and on a single day 23,000 of them fell dead. |
| 9 | And do not let us test the Lord too far, as some of them tested Him and were destroyed by the serpents. |
| 10 | And do not be discontented, as some of them were, and they were destroyed by the Destroyer. |
| 11 | All this kept happening to them with a figurative meaning; but it was put on record by way of admonition to us upon whom the ends of the Ages have come. |
| 12 | So then let him who thinks he is standing securely beware of falling. |
| 13 | No temptation has you in its power but such as is common to human nature; and God is faithful and will not allow you to be tempted beyond your strength. But, when the temptation comes, He will also provide the way of escape; so that you may be able to bear it. |
| 14 | Therefore, my dear friends, avoid all connection with the worship of idols. |
| 15 | I speak as to men of sense: judge for yourselves of what I say. |
| 16 | The cup of blessing, which we bless, does it not mean a joint-participation in the blood of Christ? The loaf of bread which we break, does it not mean a joint-participation in the body of Christ? |
| 17 | Since there is one loaf, we who are many are one body; we, all of us, share in that one loaf. |
| 18 | Look at the Israelites--the nation and their ritual. Are not those who eat the sacrifices joint-partakers in the altar? |
| 19 | Do I mean that a thing sacrificed to an idol is what it claims to be, or that an idol is a real thing? |
| 20 | No, but that which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to demons, not to God; and I would not have you have fellowship with one another through the demons. |
| 21 | You cannot drink the Lord's cup and the cup of demons: you cannot be joint-partakers both in the table of the Lord and in the table of demons. |
| 22 | Or are we actually arousing the Lord to jealousy. Are we stronger than He is? |
| 23 | Everything is allowable, but not everything is profitable. Everything is allowable, but everything does not build others up. |
| 24 | Let no one be for ever seeking his own good, but let each seek that of his fellow man. |
| 25 | Anything that is for sale in the meat market, eat, and ask no questions for conscience' sake; |
| 26 | for the earth is the Lord's, and all that it contains. |
| 27 | If an unbeliever gives you an invitation and you are disposed to accept it, eat whatever is put before you, and ask no questions for conscience' sake. |
| 28 | But if any one tells you, 'This food has been offered in sacrifice;' abstain from eating it--out of respect for him who warned you, and, as before, for conscience' sake. |
| 29 | But now I mean his conscience, not your own. 'Why, on what ground,' you may object, 'is the question of my liberty of action to be decided by a conscience not my own? |
| 30 | If, so far as I am concerned, I partake with a grateful heart, why am I to be found fault with in regard to a thing for which I give thanks?' |
| 31 | Whether, then, you are eating or drinking, or whatever you are doing, let everything be done to the glory of God. |
| 32 | Do not be causes of stumbling either to Jews or to Gentiles, nor to the Church of God. |
| 33 | That is the way that I also seek in everything the approval of all men, not aiming at my own profit, but at that of the many, in the hope that they may be saved. |