1 Corinthians 10

The TorahRooted Bible (TRB), translated directly from the Hebrew and Greek.

Warnings from Israel in the wilderness

¹ Now I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, that all our fathers were under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, ² and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, ³ and all ate the same spiritual food, ⁴ and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank of the spiritual rock that followed them, and the rock was the Messiah. ⁵ But with most of them Elohim was not well pleased, for they were laid low in the wilderness. ⁶ Now these things became examples for us, that we should not crave evil things as they also craved. ⁷ And do not become idolaters as were some of them. As it is written, "The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play." ⁸ Nor let us commit sexual immorality, as some of them did, and in one day twenty-three thousand fell; ⁹ nor let us tempt the Messiah, as some of them also tempted, and were destroyed by serpents; ¹⁰ nor grumble, as some of them also grumbled, and were destroyed by the destroyer. ¹¹ Now all these things happened to them as examples, and they were written for our admonition, on whom the ends of the ages have come. ¹² Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall. ¹³ No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but Elohim is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it.

The table of the Lord

¹⁴ Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry. ¹⁵ I speak as to wise men; judge for yourselves what I say. ¹⁶ The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of the Messiah? The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of the Messiah? ¹⁷ For we, though many, are one bread and one body; for we all partake of the one bread. ¹⁸ Observe Israel after the flesh: are not those who eat of the sacrifices partakers of the altar? ¹⁹ What am I saying then? That an idol is anything, or that what is offered to idols is anything? ²⁰ Rather, that the things which the nations sacrifice they sacrifice to demons and not to Elohim, and I do not want you to have fellowship with demons. ²¹ You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons; you cannot partake of the Lord's table and of the table of demons. ²² Or do we provoke the Lord to jealousy? Are we stronger than He?

Do all to the glory of Elohim

²³ All things are lawful for me, but not all things are helpful; all things are lawful for me, but not all things build up. ²⁴ Let no one seek his own good, but each one that of the other. ²⁵ Eat whatever is sold in the meat market, asking no questions for conscience' sake; ²⁶ for the earth is the Lord's, and all that fills it. ²⁷ If any of those who do not believe invites you, and you want to go, eat whatever is set before you, asking no questions for conscience' sake. ²⁸ But if anyone says to you, "This was offered to idols," do not eat it, for the sake of the one who told you, and for conscience' sake; for the earth is the Lord's, and all that fills it. ²⁹ Conscience, I say, not one's own, but that of the other. For why is my liberty judged by another's conscience? ³⁰ If I partake with thanks, why am I evil spoken of for that for which I give thanks? ³¹ Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of Elohim. ³² Give no offense, either to the Jews or to the Greeks or to the assembly of Elohim, ³³ just as I also please all men in all things, not seeking my own profit, but the profit of many, that they may be saved.

Notes

• 10:1 "Our fathers": Paul writes to an assembly in which many had come from the nations (12:2), and he calls Israel in the wilderness "our fathers," so Israel's history is their history too. The events of verses 1-5 are those of Exodus and Numbers: the pillar of cloud (Exodus 13:21), the crossing of the sea "on dry ground" (Exodus 14:22), the bread from heaven (Exodus 16:4) and water from the rock. "Baptized into Moses" pictures the people going through the water under the cloud and following Moses as their leader.
• 10:4 Water came from the rock near the start of the journey (Exodus 17:6) and again near its end (Numbers 20:11), and Moses sang of Elohim as "the Rock" (Deuteronomy 32:4). Jewish tradition told of a well or rock that went with Israel through the wilderness; it appears in the Biblical Antiquities of Pseudo-Philo, usually dated to the first century, and more fully in later rabbinic writings. Paul says that the One who truly went with them and gave them drink was the Messiah.
• 10:8 Numbers 25:9 says, "Those who died in the plague were twenty-four thousand." Paul's twenty-three thousand "in one day" has been explained in more than one way: as those who fell on the one day, beside others who died later, or as a round figure; the difference has long been noticed, and the TRB translates both texts as they stand. The sin of Baal Peor joined sexual immorality with the worship of an idol (Numbers 25:1-3), the very two things Paul warns against here.
• 10:16 "The cup of blessing" is a Jewish expression for the cup of wine over which the blessing is said after a meal; later rabbinic writings use the same name, and the Mishnah (written down about AD 200) describes four cups at the Passover meal. Paul ties it to "the cup after supper" at Yeshua's last Passover (11:25; Luke 22:20). "Communion" is koinōnia, a sharing or partnership: those who eat and drink share in what the meal is about, as those who ate Israel's sacrifices were partakers of the altar (verse 18).
• 10:20 Paul uses the words of the Song of Moses, "They sacrificed to demons, not to Eloah" (Deuteronomy 32:17), and in verse 22 he echoes "They have made Me jealous with what is no god" (32:21). To eat at an idol's sacrifice was to share in its worship. This agrees with the letter from Jerusalem, that believers from the nations "abstain from things offered to idols" (Acts 15:29), a rule that many trace to Leviticus 17:7-9.
• 10:26 Paul quotes Psalm 24:1, "The earth is Yahweh's, and all that fills it"; "the Lord" here stands for the name Yahweh in the Hebrew text quoted. Much of the meat sold in a Greek city's market came from animals offered in its temples. Paul tells them not to ask about it, but if someone says it was offered to an idol, not to eat (verse 28), which agrees with Acts 15:29; the subject is food offered to idols, and the passage does not discuss which animals the Torah calls clean (Leviticus 11). The Majority Text repeats the psalm at the end of verse 28; many modern Bibles do not.

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