1 Corinthians 10 Cross References - MSB

¹ Now I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, that our forefathers were all under the cloud, and that they all passed through the sea. ² They were all baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea. ³ They all ate the same spiritual food ⁴ and drank the same spiritual drink; for they drank from the spiritual rock that accompanied them, and that rock was Christ. ⁵ Nevertheless, God was not pleased with most of them, for they were struck down in the wilderness. ⁶ These things took place as examples to keep us from craving evil things as they did. ⁷ Do not be idolaters, as some of them were. As it is written: “The people sat down to eat and to drink, and got up to indulge in revelry.” ⁸ We should not commit sexual immorality, as some of them did, and in one day twenty-three thousand of them died. ⁹ We should not test Christ, as some of them also did, and were killed by snakes. ¹⁰ And do not complain, as also some of them did, and were killed by the destroying angel. ¹¹ Now all these things happened to them as examples and were written down as warnings for us, on whom the fulfillment of the ages has come. ¹² So the one who thinks he is standing firm should be careful not to fall. ¹³ No 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. ¹⁴ Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry. ¹⁵ I speak to reasonable people; judge for yourselves what I say. ¹⁶ Is 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? ¹⁷ Because there is one loaf, we who are many are one body; for we all partake of the one loaf. ¹⁸ Consider the people of Israel: Are not those who eat the sacrifices fellow partakers in the altar? ¹⁹ Am I suggesting, then, that an idol is anything, or that food sacrificed to an idol is anything? ²⁰ No, but the sacrifices of pagans are offered to demons, not to God. And I do not want you to be participants with demons. ²¹ You 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. ²² Are we trying to provoke the Lord to jealousy? Are we stronger than He? ²³ “Everything is permissible for me,” but not everything is beneficial. “Everything is permissible for me,” but not everything is edifying. ²⁴ No one should seek his own good, but the good of others. ²⁵ Eat anything sold in the meat market without raising questions of conscience, ²⁶ for, “The earth is the Lord’s, and the fullness thereof.” ²⁷ If an unbeliever invites you to a meal and you want to go, eat anything set before you without raising questions of conscience. ²⁸ But 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—for the earth is the Lord’s, and the fullness thereof— ²⁹ the other one’s conscience, I mean, not your own. For why should my freedom be determined by someone else’s conscience? ³⁰ If I partake in the meal with thankfulness, why am I denounced because of that for which I give thanks? ³¹ So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all to the glory of God. ³² Do not become a stumbling block, whether to Jews or Greeks or the church of God— ³³ as 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.

²¹ And the LORD went before them in a pillar of cloud to guide their way by day, and in a pillar of fire to give them light by night, so that they could travel by day or night. ²² Neither the pillar of cloud by day nor the pillar of fire by night left its place before the people.

¹⁹ And the angel of God, who had gone before the camp of Israel, withdrew and went behind them. The pillar of cloud also moved from before them and stood behind them, ²⁰ so that it came between the camps of Egypt and Israel. The cloud was there in the darkness, but it lit up the night. So all night long neither camp went near the other. ²¹ Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and all that night the LORD drove back the sea with a strong east wind that turned it into dry land. So the waters were divided, ²² and the Israelites went through the sea on dry ground, with walls of water on their right and on their left.

²⁹ But the Israelites had walked through the sea on dry ground, with walls of water on their right and on their left.

³⁴ Then the cloud covered the Tent of Meeting, and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle.

¹⁵ On the day that the tabernacle, the Tent of the Testimony, was set up, the cloud covered it and appeared like fire above the tabernacle from evening until morning. ¹⁶ It remained that way continually; the cloud would cover the tabernacle by day, and at night it would appear like fire. ¹⁷ Whenever the cloud was lifted from above the Tent, the Israelites would set out, and wherever the cloud settled, there the Israelites would camp. ¹⁸ At the LORD’s command the Israelites set out, and at the LORD’s command they camped. As long as the cloud remained over the tabernacle, they remained encamped. ¹⁹ Even when the cloud lingered over the tabernacle for many days, the Israelites kept the LORD’s charge and did not set out. ²⁰ Sometimes the cloud remained over the tabernacle for only a few days, and they would camp at the LORD’s command and set out at the LORD’s command. ²¹ Sometimes the cloud remained only from evening until morning, and when it lifted in the morning, they would set out. Whether it was by day or by night, when the cloud was taken up, they would set out. ²² Whether the cloud lingered for two days, a month, or longer, the Israelites camped and did not set out as long as the cloud remained over the tabernacle; but when it was lifted, they would set out.

¹⁴ And they will tell it to the inhabitants of this land. They have already heard that You, O LORD, are in the midst of this people, that You, O LORD, have been seen face to face, that Your cloud stands over them, and that You go before them in a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night.

⁸ They set out from Pi-hahiroth and crossed through the sea, into the wilderness, and they journeyed three days into the Wilderness of Etham and camped at Marah.

³³ who went before you on the journey, in the fire by night and in the cloud by day, to seek out a place for you to camp and to show you the road to travel.

²³ For the LORD your God dried up the waters of the Jordan before you until you had crossed over, just as He did to the Red Sea, which He dried up before us until we had crossed over.

¹¹ You divided the sea before them, and they crossed through it on dry ground. You hurled their pursuers into the depths like a stone into raging waters. ¹² You led them with a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night, to light for them the way in which they should travel.

¹⁹ You in Your great compassion did not forsake them in the wilderness. By day the pillar of cloud never turned away from guiding them on their path; and by the night the pillar of fire illuminated the way they should go.

⁶ He turned the sea into dry land; they passed through the waters on foot; there we rejoiced in Him.

¹⁶ The waters saw You, O God; the waters saw You and swirled; even the depths were shaken. ¹⁷ The clouds poured down water; the skies resounded with thunder; Your arrows flashed back and forth. ¹⁸ Your thunder resounded in the whirlwind; the lightning lit up the world; the earth trembled and quaked. ¹⁹ Your path led through the sea, Your way through the mighty waters, but Your footprints were not to be found. ²⁰ You led Your people like a flock by the hand of Moses and Aaron.

¹³ He split the sea and brought them through; He set the waters upright like a wall. ¹⁴ He led them with a cloud by day and with a light of fire all night.

⁵³ He led them safely, so they did not fear, but the sea engulfed their enemies.

³⁹ He spread a cloud as a covering and a fire to light up the night.

⁷ Our fathers in Egypt did not grasp Your wonders or remember Your abundant kindness; but they rebelled by the sea, there at the Red Sea. ⁸ Yet He saved them for the sake of His name, to make His power known. ⁹ He rebuked the Red Sea, and it dried up; He led them through the depths as through a desert. ¹⁰ He saved them from the hand that hated them; He redeemed them from the hand of the enemy. ¹¹ The waters covered their foes; not one of them remained.

³ The sea observed and fled; the Jordan turned back; ⁴ the mountains skipped like rams, the hills like lambs. ⁵ Why was it, O sea, that you fled, O Jordan, that you turned back,

¹³ He divided the Red Sea in two His loving devotion endures forever. ¹⁴ and led Israel through the midst, His loving devotion endures forever. ¹⁵ but swept Pharaoh and his army into the Red Sea. His loving devotion endures forever.

¹¹ The LORD will always guide you; He will satisfy you in a sun-scorched land and strengthen your frame. You will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail. ¹² Your people will rebuild the ancient ruins; you will restore the age-old foundations; you will be called Repairer of the Breach, Restorer of the Streets of Dwelling. ¹³ If you turn your foot from breaking the Sabbath, from doing as you please on My holy day, if you call the Sabbath a delight, and the LORD’s holy day honorable, if you honor it by not going your own way or seeking your own pleasure or speaking idle words,

²⁰ Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews say that the place where one must worship is in Jerusalem.”

¹¹ And he received the sign of circumcision as a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised. So then, he is the father of all who believe but are not circumcised, in order that righteousness might be credited to them.

²¹ For if God did not spare the natural branches, He will certainly not spare you either.

¹ Now about spiritual gifts, brothers, I do not want you to be uninformed.

³⁸ But if anyone is ignorant, let him be ignorant.

²⁹ And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed and heirs according to the promise.

²⁹ By faith the people passed through the Red Sea as on dry land; but when the Egyptians tried to follow, they were drowned.

² And I saw something like a sea of glass mixed with fire, beside which stood those who had conquered the beast and its image and the number of its name. They were holding harps from God, ³ and they sang the song of God’s servant Moses and of the Lamb: “Great and wonderful are Your works, O Lord God Almighty! Just and true are Your ways, O King of the nations!

³¹ When Israel saw the great power that the LORD had exercised over the Egyptians, the people feared the LORD and believed in Him and in His servant Moses.

²⁸ Then they heaped insults on him and said, “You are His disciple; we are disciples of Moses. ²⁹ We know that God spoke to Moses, but we do not know where this man is from.”

³ Or aren’t you aware that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death?

¹³ Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Were you baptized into the name of Paul? ¹⁴ I thank God that I did not baptize any of you except Crispus and Gaius, ¹⁵ so no one can say that I baptized into my name. ¹⁶ Yes, I also baptized the household of Stephanas; beyond that I do not remember if I baptized anyone else.

²⁷ For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.

² He was faithful to the One who appointed Him, just as Moses was faithful in all God’s house. ³ For Jesus has been counted worthy of greater glory than Moses, just as the builder of a house has greater honor than the house itself.

⁴ Then the LORD said to Moses, “Behold, I will rain down bread from heaven for you. Each day the people are to go out and gather enough for that day. In this way I will test whether or not they will follow My instructions.

¹⁵ When the Israelites saw it, they asked one another, “What is it?” For they did not know what it was. So Moses told them, “It is the bread that the LORD has given you to eat.

³⁵ The Israelites ate manna forty years, until they came to a land where they could settle; they ate manna until they reached the border of Canaan.

³ He humbled you, and in your hunger He gave you manna to eat, which neither you nor your fathers had known, so that you might understand that man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD.

¹⁵ In their hunger You gave them bread from heaven; in their thirst You brought them water from the rock. You told them to go in and possess the land which You had sworn to give them.

²⁰ You gave Your good Spirit to instruct them. You did not withhold Your manna from their mouths, and You gave them water for their thirst.

²³ Yet He commanded the clouds above and opened the doors of the heavens. ²⁴ He rained down manna for them to eat; He gave them grain from heaven. ²⁵ Man ate the bread of angels; He sent them food in abundance.

⁴⁰ They asked, and He brought quail and satisfied them with the bread of heaven.

²² The next day, the crowd that had remained on the other side of the sea realized that no other boat had been there except the one that His disciples had entered, and that Jesus had not boarded it with His disciples, but they had gone away alone. ²³ However, some boats from Tiberias landed near the place where the people had eaten the bread after the Lord had given thanks. ²⁴ So when the crowd saw that neither Jesus nor His disciples were there, they got into the boats and went to Capernaum to look for Him. ²⁵ When they found Him on the other side of the sea, they asked Him, “Rabbi, when did You get here?” ²⁶ Jesus replied, “Truly, truly, I tell you, it is not because you saw these signs that you are looking for Me, but because you ate the loaves and had your fill. ²⁷ Do not work for food that perishes, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. For on Him God the Father has placed His seal of approval.” ²⁸ Then they inquired, “What must we do to perform the works of God?” ²⁹ Jesus replied, “The work of God is this: to believe in the One He has sent.” ³⁰ So they asked Him, “What sign then will You perform, so that we may see it and believe You? What will You do? ³¹ Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, as it is written: ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’” ³² Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I tell you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but it is My Father who gives you the true bread from heaven. ³³ For the bread of God is He who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” ³⁴ “Sir,” they said, “give us this bread at all times.” ³⁵ Jesus answered, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to Me will never hunger, and whoever believes in Me will never thirst. ³⁶ But as I stated, you have seen Me and still you do not believe. ³⁷ Everyone the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will never drive away. ³⁸ For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but to do the will of Him who sent Me. ³⁹ And this is the will of the Father who sent Me, that I shall lose none of those He has given Me, but raise them up at the last day. ⁴⁰ And it is the will of Him who sent Me that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in Him shall have eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.” ⁴¹ At this, the Jews began to grumble about Jesus because He had said, “I am the bread that came down from heaven.” ⁴² They were asking, “Is this not Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How then can He say, ‘I have come down from heaven?’” ⁴³ “Stop grumbling among yourselves,” Jesus therefore replied. ⁴⁴ “No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him, and I will raise him up at the last day. ⁴⁵ It is written in the Prophets: ‘And they will all be taught by God.’ Therefore everyone who has heard the Father and learned from Him comes to Me— ⁴⁶ not that anyone has seen the Father except the One who is from God; only He has seen the Father. ⁴⁷ Truly, truly, I tell you, he who believes in Me has eternal life. ⁴⁸ I am the bread of life. ⁴⁹ Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, yet they died. ⁵⁰ This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that anyone may eat of it and not die. ⁵¹ I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And this bread, which I will give for the life of the world, is My flesh.” ⁵² At this, the Jews began to argue among themselves, “How can this man give us His flesh to eat?” ⁵³ So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I tell you, unless you eat the flesh and drink the blood of the Son of Man, you have no life in you. ⁵⁴ Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. ⁵⁵ For My flesh is truly food, and My blood is truly drink. ⁵⁶ Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood remains in Me, and I in him. ⁵⁷ Just as the living Father sent Me and I live because of the Father, so also the one who feeds on Me will live because of Me. ⁵⁸ This is the bread that came down from heaven. Unlike your fathers, who ate the manna and died, the one who eats this bread will live forever.”

¹² Joseph replied, “This is the interpretation: The three branches are three days.

²⁶ The seven good cows are seven years, and the seven ripe heads of grain are seven years. The dreams have the same meaning.

⁶ Behold, I will stand there before you by the rock at Horeb. And when you strike the rock, water will come out of it for the people to drink.” So Moses did this in the sight of the elders of Israel.

¹¹ Then Moses raised his hand and struck the rock twice with his staff, so that a great amount of water gushed out, and the congregation and their livestock were able to drink.

²¹ And I took that sinful thing, the calf you had made, and burned it in the fire. Then I crushed it and ground it to powder as fine as dust, and I cast it into the stream that came down from the mountain.

¹⁵ He split the rocks in the wilderness and gave them drink as abundant as the seas.

²⁰ When He struck the rock, water gushed out and torrents raged. But can He also give bread or supply His people with meat?”

⁴¹ He opened a rock, and water gushed out; it flowed like a river in the desert.

²⁰ The beasts of the field will honor Me, the jackals and the ostriches, because I provide water in the wilderness and rivers in the desert, to give drink to My chosen people.

²¹ They did not thirst when He led them through the deserts; He made water flow for them from the rock; He split the rock, and water gushed out.

⁴ Again, take a few of these, throw them into the fire, and burn them. From there a fire will spread to the whole house of Israel. ⁵ This is what the Lord GOD says: ‘This is Jerusalem, which I have set in the center of the nations, with countries all around her.

³⁸ Wherever the sons of men or beasts of the field or birds of the air dwell, He has given them into your hand and has made you ruler over them all. You are that head of gold.

¹⁷ ‘These four great beasts are four kings who will arise from the earth.

³⁸ The field is the world, and the good seed represents the sons of the kingdom. The weeds are the sons of the evil one, ³⁹ and the enemy who sows them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the age, and the harvesters are angels.

²⁶ While they were eating, Jesus took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to the disciples, saying, “Take and eat; this is My body.” ²⁷ Then He took the cup, gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you. ²⁸ This is My blood of the new covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.

¹⁰ Jesus answered, “If you knew the gift of God and who is asking you for a drink, you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water.”

¹⁴ But whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a fount of water springing up to eternal life.”

³⁷ On the last and greatest day of the feast, Jesus stood up and called out in a loud voice, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink.

²⁴ and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, “Take and eat. This is My body, which is broken for you; do this in remembrance of Me.” ²⁵ In the same way, after supper He took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood; do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.”

²⁵ For Hagar stands for Mount Sinai in Arabia and corresponds to the present-day Jerusalem, and she is in slavery with her children.

¹⁷ These are a shadow of the things to come, but the body that casts it belongs to Christ.

¹ For the law is only a shadow of the good things to come, not the realities themselves. It can never, by the same sacrifices offered year after year, make perfect those who draw near to worship.

¹⁷ The Spirit and the bride say, “Come!” Let the one who hears say, “Come!” And let the one who is thirsty come, and the one who desires the water of life drink freely.

¹¹ And the LORD said to Moses, “How long will this people treat Me with contempt? How long will they refuse to believe in Me, despite all the signs I have performed among them? ¹² I will strike them with a plague and destroy them—and I will make you into a nation greater and mightier than they are.”

²⁸ So tell them: As surely as I live, declares the LORD, I will do to you exactly as I heard you say. ²⁹ Your bodies will fall in this wilderness—all who were numbered in the census, everyone twenty years of age or older—because you have grumbled against Me. ³⁰ Surely none of you will enter the land in which I swore to settle you, except Caleb son of Jephunneh and Joshua son of Nun. ³¹ But I will bring your children, whom you said would become plunder, into the land you have rejected—and they will enjoy it. ³² As for you, however, your bodies will fall in this wilderness. ³³ Your children will be shepherds in the wilderness for forty years, and they will suffer for your unfaithfulness until the last of your bodies lies in the wilderness. ³⁴ In keeping with the forty days you spied out the land, you shall bear your guilt forty years—a year for each day—and you will experience My alienation. ³⁵ I, the LORD, have spoken, and I will surely do these things to this entire wicked congregation, which has conspired against Me. They will meet their end in the wilderness, and there they will die.”

³⁷ those men who had brought out the bad report about the land—were struck down by a plague before the LORD.

⁶⁴ Among all these, however, there was not one who had been numbered by Moses and Aaron the priest when they counted the Israelites in the Wilderness of Sinai. ⁶⁵ For the LORD had told them that they would surely die in the wilderness. Not one was left except Caleb son of Jephunneh and Joshua son of Nun.

³⁴ When the LORD heard your words, He grew angry and swore an oath, saying, ³⁵ “Not one of the men of this evil generation shall see the good land I swore to give your fathers,

¹⁵ Indeed, the LORD’s hand was against them, to eliminate them from the camp, until they had all perished. ¹⁶ Now when all the fighting men among the people had died,

³² In spite of all this, they kept on sinning; despite His wonderful works, they did not believe. ³³ So He ended their days in futility, and their years in sudden terror. ³⁴ When He slew them, they would seek Him; they repented and searched for God.

¹ A prayer of Moses the man of God. Lord, You have been our dwelling place through all generations.

⁷ For we are consumed by Your anger and terrified by Your wrath. ⁸ You have set our iniquities before You, our secret sins in the light of Your presence.

¹¹ So I swore on oath in My anger, “They shall never enter My rest.”

²⁶ So He raised His hand and swore to cast them down in the wilderness,

¹⁷ And with whom was God angry for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness?

⁵ Although you are fully aware of this, I want to remind you that after the Lord had delivered His people out of the land of Egypt, He destroyed those who did not believe.

⁴ Meanwhile, the rabble among them had a strong craving for other food, and again the Israelites wept and said, “Who will feed us meat?

³¹ Now a wind sent by the LORD came up, drove in quail from the sea, and brought them near the camp, about two cubits above the surface of the ground, for a day’s journey in every direction around the camp. ³² All that day and night, and all the next day, the people stayed up gathering the quail. No one gathered less than ten homers, and they spread them out all around the camp. ³³ But while the meat was still between their teeth, before it was chewed, the anger of the LORD burned against the people, and the LORD struck them with a severe plague. ³⁴ So they called that place Kibroth-hattaavah, because there they buried the people who had craved other food.

²⁷ He rained meat on them like dust, and winged birds like the sand of the sea. ²⁸ He felled them in the midst of their camp, all around their dwellings. ²⁹ So they ate and were well filled, for He gave them what they craved. ³⁰ Yet before they had filled their desire, with the food still in their mouths, ³¹ God’s anger flared against them, and He put to death their strongest and subdued the young men of Israel.

¹⁴ They craved intensely in the wilderness and tested God in the desert. ¹⁵ So He granted their request, but sent a wasting disease upon them.

⁶ “I have cut off the nations; their corner towers are destroyed. I have made their streets deserted with no one to pass through. Their cities are laid waste, with no man, no inhabitant. ⁷ I said, ‘Surely you will fear Me and accept correction.’ Then her dwelling place would not be cut off despite all for which I punished her. But they rose early to corrupt all their deeds.

¹⁴ Nevertheless, death reigned from Adam until Moses, even over those who did not sin in the way that Adam transgressed. He is a pattern of the One to come.

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

¹¹ Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will fall by following the same pattern of disobedience.

²⁴ For Christ did not enter a man-made copy of the true sanctuary, but He entered heaven itself, now to appear on our behalf in the presence of God.

²¹ And this water symbolizes the baptism that now saves us also—not the removal of dirt from the body, but the pledge of a clear conscience toward God—through the resurrection of Jesus Christ,

⁶ if He condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to destruction, reducing them to ashes as an example of what is coming on the ungodly;

⁷ In like manner, Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities around them, who indulged in sexual immorality and pursued strange flesh, are on display as an example of those who sustain the punishment of eternal fire.

⁴ He took the gold from their hands, and with an engraving tool he fashioned it into a molten calf. And they said, “These, O Israel, are your gods, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!”

⁶ So the next day they arose, offered burnt offerings, and presented peace offerings. And the people sat down to eat and drink, and got up to indulge in revelry. ⁷ Then the LORD said to Moses, “Go down at once, for your people, whom you brought up out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves. ⁸ How quickly they have turned aside from the way that I commanded them! They have made for themselves a molten calf and have bowed down to it. They have sacrificed to it and said, ‘These, O Israel, are your gods, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt.’”

¹⁷ When Joshua heard the sound of the people shouting, he said to Moses, “The sound of war is in the camp.”

¹⁹ As Moses approached the camp and saw the calf and the dancing, he burned with anger and threw the tablets out of his hands, shattering them at the base of the mountain.

¹² And the LORD said to me, “Get up and go down from here at once, for your people, whom you brought out of Egypt, have corrupted themselves. How quickly they have turned aside from the way that I commanded them! They have made for themselves a molten image.”

¹⁶ And I saw how you had sinned against the LORD your God; you had made for yourselves a molten calf. You had turned aside quickly from the way that the LORD had commanded you. ¹⁷ So I took the two tablets and threw them out of my hands, shattering them before your eyes. ¹⁸ Then I fell down before the LORD for forty days and forty nights, as I had done the first time. I did not eat bread or drink water because of all the sin you had committed in doing what was evil in the sight of the LORD and provoking Him to anger. ¹⁹ For I was afraid of the anger and wrath that the LORD had directed against you, enough to destroy you. But the LORD listened to me this time as well. ²⁰ The LORD was angry enough with Aaron to destroy him, but at that time I also prayed for Aaron. ²¹ And I took that sinful thing, the calf you had made, and burned it in the fire. Then I crushed it and ground it to powder as fine as dust, and I cast it into the stream that came down from the mountain.

¹⁹ At Horeb they made a calf and worshiped a molten image. ²⁰ They exchanged their Glory for the image of a grass-eating ox.

¹¹ But now I am writing you not to associate with anyone who claims to be a brother but is sexually immoral or greedy, an idolater or a verbal abuser, a drunkard or a swindler. With such a man do not even eat.

⁹ Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who submit to or perform homosexual acts,

⁷ But not everyone has this knowledge. Some people are still so accustomed to idols that they eat such food as if it were sacrificed to an idol. And since their conscience is weak, it is defiled.

¹⁴ Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry.

²⁰ Brothers, stop thinking like children. In regard to evil be infants, but in your thinking be mature. ²¹ It is written in the Law: “By strange tongues and foreign lips I will speak to this people, but even then they will not listen to Me, says the Lord.” ²² Tongues, then, are a sign, not for believers, but for unbelievers. Prophecy, however, is for believers, not for unbelievers.

²¹ Little children, keep yourselves from idols. Amen.

¹ While Israel was staying in Shittim, the men began to indulge in sexual immorality with the daughters of Moab, ² who also invited them to the sacrifices for their gods. And the people ate and bowed down to these gods. ³ So Israel joined in worshiping Baal of Peor, and the anger of the LORD burned against them. ⁴ Then the LORD said to Moses, “Take all the leaders of the people and execute them in broad daylight before the LORD, so that His fierce anger may turn away from Israel.” ⁵ So Moses told the judges of Israel, “Each of you must kill all of his men who have joined in worshiping Baal of Peor.” ⁶ Just then an Israelite man brought to his family a Midianite woman in the sight of Moses and the whole congregation of Israel while they were weeping at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting. ⁷ On seeing this, Phinehas son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, got up from the assembly, took a spear in his hand, ⁸ followed the Israelite into his tent, and drove the spear through both of them—through the Israelite and on through the belly of the woman. So the plague against the Israelites was halted, ⁹ but those who died in the plague numbered 24,000.

²⁹ So they provoked the LORD to anger with their deeds, and a plague broke out among them.

¹⁸ Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a man can commit is outside his body, but he who sins sexually sins against his own body.

¹⁴ But I have a few things against you, because some of you hold to the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to place a stumbling block before the Israelites so they would eat food sacrificed to idols and commit sexual immorality.

² So the people contended with Moses, “Give us water to drink.” “Why do you contend with me?” Moses replied. “Why do you test the LORD?”

⁷ He named the place Massah and Meribah because the Israelites quarreled, and because they tested the LORD, saying, “Is the LORD among us or not?”

²⁰ Behold, I am sending an angel before you to protect you along the way and to bring you to the place I have prepared. ²¹ Pay attention to him and listen to his voice; do not defy him, for he will not forgive rebellion, since My Name is in him.

⁵ and spoke against God and against Moses: “Why have you led us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? There is no bread or water, and we detest this wretched food!” ⁶ So the LORD sent venomous snakes among the people, and many of the Israelites were bitten and died.

¹⁶ Do not test the LORD your God as you tested Him at Massah.

¹⁸ They willfully tested God by demanding the food they craved.

⁵⁶ But they tested and disobeyed God Most High, for they did not keep His decrees.

⁹ where your fathers tested and tried Me, though they had seen My work.

¹⁴ They craved intensely in the wilderness and tested God in the desert.

⁸ do not harden your hearts, as you did in the rebellion, in the day of testing in the wilderness, ⁹ where your fathers tested and tried Me, and for forty years saw My works. ¹⁰ Therefore I was angry with that generation, and I said, ‘Their hearts are always going astray, and they have not known My ways.’ ¹¹ So I swore on oath in My anger, ‘They shall never enter My rest.’”

²⁸ Anyone who rejected the law of Moses died without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. ²⁹ How much more severely do you think one deserves to be punished who has trampled on the Son of God, profaned the blood of the covenant that sanctified him, and insulted the Spirit of grace? ³⁰ For we know Him who said, “Vengeance is Mine; I will repay, says the Lord,” and again, “The Lord will judge His people.”

²³ When the LORD passes through to strike down the Egyptians, He will see the blood on the top and sides of the doorframe and will pass over that doorway; so He will not allow the destroyer to enter your houses and strike you down.

²⁴ So the people grumbled against Moses, saying, “What are we to drink?”

² And there in the desert they all grumbled against Moses and Aaron. ³ “If only we had died by the LORD’s hand in the land of Egypt!” they said. “There we sat by pots of meat and ate our fill of bread, but you have brought us into this desert to starve this whole assembly to death!” ⁴ Then the LORD said to Moses, “Behold, I will rain down bread from heaven for you. Each day the people are to go out and gather enough for that day. In this way I will test whether or not they will follow My instructions. ⁵ Then on the sixth day, when they prepare what they bring in, it will be twice as much as they gather on the other days.” ⁶ So Moses and Aaron said to all the Israelites, “This evening you will know that it was the LORD who brought you out of the land of Egypt, ⁷ and in the morning you will see the LORD’s glory, because He has heard your grumbling against Him. For who are we that you should grumble against us?” ⁸ And Moses added, “The LORD will give you meat to eat this evening and bread to fill you in the morning, for He has heard your grumbling against Him. Who are we? Your grumblings are not against us but against the LORD.” ⁹ Then Moses said to Aaron, “Tell the whole congregation of Israel, ‘Come before the LORD, for He has heard your grumbling.’”

² So the people contended with Moses, “Give us water to drink.” “Why do you contend with me?” Moses replied. “Why do you test the LORD?” ³ But the people thirsted for water there, and they grumbled against Moses: “Why have you brought us out of Egypt—to make us and our children and livestock die of thirst?”

² All the Israelites grumbled against Moses and Aaron, and the whole congregation said to them, “If only we had died in the land of Egypt, or if only we had died in this wilderness!

²⁷ “How long will this wicked congregation grumble against Me? I have heard the complaints that the Israelites are making against Me. ²⁸ So tell them: As surely as I live, declares the LORD, I will do to you exactly as I heard you say. ²⁹ Your bodies will fall in this wilderness—all who were numbered in the census, everyone twenty years of age or older—because you have grumbled against Me. ³⁰ Surely none of you will enter the land in which I swore to settle you, except Caleb son of Jephunneh and Joshua son of Nun.

⁴¹ The next day the whole congregation of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron, saying, “You have killed the LORD’s people!”

⁴⁶ Moses said to Aaron, “Take your censer, place fire from the altar in it, and add incense. Go quickly to the congregation and make atonement for them, because wrath has come out from the LORD; the plague has begun.” ⁴⁷ So Aaron took the censer as Moses had ordered and ran into the midst of the assembly. And seeing that the plague had begun among the people, he offered the incense and made atonement for the people. ⁴⁸ He stood between the living and the dead, and the plague was halted. ⁴⁹ But those who died from the plague numbered 14,700, in addition to those who had died on account of Korah.

¹⁶ But when the angel stretched out his hand to destroy Jerusalem, the LORD relented from the calamity and said to the angel who was destroying the people, “Enough! Withdraw your hand now!” At that time the angel of the LORD was by the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.

¹⁵ Then God sent an angel to destroy Jerusalem, but as the angel was doing so, the LORD saw it and relented from the calamity, and He said to the angel who was destroying the people, “Enough! Withdraw your hand now!” At that time the angel of the LORD was standing by the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite.

²¹ and the LORD sent an angel who annihilated every mighty man of valor and every leader and commander in the camp of the king of Assyria. So he withdrew to his own land in disgrace. And when he entered the temple of his god, some of his own sons struck him down with the sword.

²⁵ They grumbled in their tents and did not listen to the voice of the LORD.

³⁹ and the enemy who sows them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the age, and the harvesters are angels. ⁴⁰ As the weeds are collected and burned in the fire, so will it be at the end of this age. ⁴¹ The Son of Man will send out His angels, and they will weed out of His kingdom every cause of sin and all who practice lawlessness. ⁴² And they will throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

²³ Immediately, because Herod did not give glory to God, an angel of the Lord struck him down, and he was eaten by worms and died.

¹⁴ Do everything without complaining or arguing,

⁷ and to grant relief to you who are oppressed and to us as well. This will take place when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with His mighty angels ⁸ in blazing fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus.

²⁸ By faith he kept the Passover and the sprinkling of blood, so that the destroyer of the firstborn would not touch Israel’s own firstborn.

¹⁶ These men are discontented grumblers, following after their own lusts; their mouths spew arrogance; they flatter others for their own advantage.

¹ Then I heard a loud voice from the temple saying to the seven angels, “Go, pour out on the earth the seven bowls of God’s wrath.”

²³ Now the words “it was credited to him” were written not only for Abraham,

¹¹ And do this, understanding the occasion. The hour has come for us to wake up from our slumber, for our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed.

⁴ For what was written in the past was written for our instruction, so that through endurance and the encouragement of the Scriptures, we might have hope.

²⁹ What I am saying, brothers, is that the time is short. From now on those who have wives should live as if they had none;

¹⁰ Isn’t He actually speaking on our behalf? Indeed, this was written for us, because when the plowman plows and the thresher threshes, they should also expect to share in the harvest.

⁵ Let your gentleness be apparent to all. The Lord is near.

²⁵ Let us not neglect meeting together, as some have made a habit, but let us encourage one another, and all the more as you see the Day approaching.

³⁷ For, “In just a little while, He who is coming will come and will not delay.

¹⁸ Children, it is the last hour; and just as you have heard that the antichrist is coming, so now many antichrists have appeared. This is how we know it is the last hour.

¹⁸ Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.

¹⁴ Blessed is the man who is always reverent, but he who hardens his heart falls into trouble.

³³ Peter said to Him, “Even if all fall away on account of You, I never will.” ³⁴ “Truly I tell you,” Jesus declared, “this very night, before the rooster crows, you will deny Me three times.”

⁴⁰ Then Jesus returned to the disciples and found them sleeping. “Were you not able to keep watch with Me for one hour?” He asked Peter. ⁴¹ “Watch and pray so that you will not enter into temptation. For the spirit is willing, but the body is weak.”

²⁰ That is correct: They were broken off because of unbelief, but you stand by faith. Do not be arrogant, but be afraid.

⁶ Brothers, I have applied these things to myself and Apollos for your benefit, so that you may learn from us not to think beyond what is written. Then you will not take pride in one man over another. ⁷ For who makes you so superior? What do you have that you did not receive? And if you did receive it, why do you boast as though you did not? ⁸ Already you have all you want. Already you have become rich. Without us, you have become kings. How I wish you really were kings, so that we might be kings with you!

² The one who thinks he knows something does not yet know as he ought to know.

¹⁷ Therefore, beloved, since you already know these things, be on your guard so that you will not be carried away by the error of the lawless and fall from your secure standing.

¹⁷ You say, ‘I am rich; I have grown wealthy and need nothing.’ But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind, and naked. ¹⁸ I counsel you to buy from Me gold refined by fire so that you may become rich, white garments so that you may be clothed and your shameful nakedness not exposed, and salve to anoint your eyes so that you may see.

²⁰ Look, there is a town nearby where I can flee, and it is a small place. Please let me flee there—is it not a small place? Then my life will be saved.” ²¹ “Very well,” he answered, “I will grant this request as well, and will not demolish the town you indicate.

¹⁷ And I have promised to bring you up out of your affliction in Egypt, into the land of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites—a land flowing with milk and honey.’

⁹ Know therefore that the LORD your God is God, the faithful God who keeps His covenant of loving devotion for a thousand generations of those who love Him and keep His commandments.

⁵ Your loving devotion, O LORD, reaches to the heavens, Your faithfulness to the clouds.

³³ But I will not withdraw My loving devotion from him, nor ever betray My faithfulness.

⁷ We have escaped like a bird from the snare of the fowler; the net is torn, and we have slipped away.

³ For the scepter of the wicked will not rest upon the land allotted to the righteous, so that the righteous will not put forth their hands to injustice.

⁵ Righteousness will be the belt around His hips, and faithfulness the sash around His waist.

¹ O LORD, You are my God! I will exalt You; I will praise Your name. For You have worked wonders—plans formed long ago—in perfect faithfulness.

⁷ Thus says the LORD, the Redeemer and Holy One of Israel, to Him who was despised and abhorred by the nation, to the Servant of rulers: “Kings will see You and rise, and princes will bow down, because of the LORD, who is faithful, the Holy One of Israel, who has chosen You.”

⁵ “If you have raced with men on foot and they have worn you out, how can you compete with horses? If you stumble in a peaceful land, how will you do in the thickets of the Jordan?

¹¹ For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, to give you a future and a hope.

²³ They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness!

¹⁷ If the God whom we serve exists, then He is able to deliver us from the blazing fiery furnace and from your hand, O king.

²⁰ And I will betroth you in faithfulness, and you will know the LORD.”

²¹ For at that time there will be great tribulation, unmatched from the beginning of the world until now, and never to be seen again. ²² If those days had not been cut short, nobody would be saved. But for the sake of the elect, those days will be cut short. ²³ At that time, if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Christ!’ or ‘There He is!’ do not believe it. ²⁴ For false Christs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and wonders that would deceive even the elect, if that were possible.

⁴ And forgive us our sins, for we also forgive everyone who sins against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.’”

²⁶ And besides all this, a great chasm has been fixed between us and you, so that even those who wish cannot cross from here to you, nor can anyone cross from there to us.’

³¹ And the Lord said “Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift each of you like wheat. ³² But I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith will not fail. And when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers.”

⁴⁶ “Why are you sleeping?” He asked. “Get up and pray so that you will not enter into temptation.”

²⁸ I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one can snatch them out of My hand. ²⁹ My Father who has given them to Me is greater than all. No one can snatch them out of My Father’s hand. ³⁰ I and the Father are one.”

⁴⁴ The rest were to follow on planks and various parts of the ship. In this way everyone was brought safely to land.

²⁸ And we know that all things work together for the good of those who love Him, who are called according to His purpose. ²⁹ For those God foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brothers. ³⁰ And those He predestined, He also called; those He called, He also justified; those He justified, He also glorified. ³¹ What then shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? ³² He who did not spare His own Son but gave Him up for us all, how will He not also, along with Him, freely give us all things? ³³ Who will bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. ³⁴ Who is there to condemn us? For Christ, who died, and more than that was raised to life, is at the right hand of God—and He is interceding for us. ³⁵ Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? ³⁶ As it is written: “For Your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.” ³⁷ No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. ³⁸ For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor principalities nor powers, neither the present nor the future, ³⁹ neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

⁹ God, who has called you into fellowship with His Son Jesus Christ our Lord, is faithful. ¹⁰ He has delivered us from such a deadly peril, and He continues to deliver us. In Him we have placed our hope that He will yet again deliver us,

²³ Are they servants of Christ? I am speaking like I am out of my mind, but I am so much more: in harder labor, in worse beatings, in more imprisonments, in frequent danger of death. ²⁴ Five times I received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one. ²⁵ Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked. I spent a night and a day in the open sea. ²⁶ In my frequent journeys, I have been in danger from rivers and from bandits, in danger from my countrymen and from the Gentiles, in danger in the city and in the country, in danger on the sea and among false brothers, ²⁷ in labor and toil and often without sleep, in hunger and thirst and often without food, in cold and exposure. ²⁸ Apart from these external trials, I face daily the pressure of my concern for all the churches.

⁸ Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. ⁹ But He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is perfected in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly in my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest on me. ¹⁰ That is why, for the sake of Christ, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

¹² For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this world’s darkness, and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. ¹³ Therefore take up the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you will be able to stand your ground, and having done everything, to stand.

²⁴ The One who calls you is faithful, and He will do it.

³ But the Lord is faithful, and He will strengthen you and guard you from the evil one.

¹¹ This is a trustworthy saying: If we died with Him, we will also live with Him; ¹² if we endure, we will also reign with Him; if we deny Him, He will also deny us; ¹³ if we are faithless, He remains faithful; He cannot deny Himself.

¹⁸ And the Lord will rescue me from every evil action and bring me safely into His heavenly kingdom. To Him be the glory forever and ever. Amen.

¹⁸ Thus by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled to take hold of the hope set before us may be strongly encouraged.

²³ Let us hold resolutely to the hope we profess, for He who promised is faithful.

¹¹ By faith Sarah, even though she was beyond the proper age, received power and was enabled to conceive a child, because she considered Him faithful who had promised.

³⁵ Women received back their dead, raised to life again. Others were tortured and refused their release, so that they might gain a better resurrection. ³⁶ Still others endured mocking and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. ³⁷ They were stoned, they were sawed in two, they were put to the test, they were put to death by the sword. They went around in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, oppressed, and mistreated. ³⁸ The world was not worthy of them. They wandered in deserts and mountains, and hid in caves and holes in the ground.

⁴ In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood.

¹⁰ My brothers, as an example of patience in affliction, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. ¹¹ See how blessed we consider those who have persevered. You have heard of Job’s perseverance and have seen the outcome from the Lord. He is full of compassion and mercy.

⁵ who through faith are shielded by God’s power for the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. ⁶ In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in various trials ⁷ so that the proven character of your faith—more precious than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, honor, and glory, at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

¹⁹ So then, those who suffer according to God’s will should entrust their souls to their faithful Creator and continue to do good.

⁸ Be sober-minded and alert. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. ⁹ Resist him, standing firm in your faith and in the knowledge that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kinds of suffering.

⁹ if all this is so, then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials and to hold the unrighteous for punishment on the day of judgment.

⁹ If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

¹⁰ Do not fear what you are about to suffer. Look, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison to test you, and you will suffer tribulation for ten days. Be faithful even unto death, and I will give you the crown of life.

¹⁰ Because you have kept My command to persevere, I will also keep you from the hour of testing that is about to come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell on the earth.

¹¹ Then I saw heaven standing open, and there before me was a white horse. And its rider is called Faithful and True. With righteousness He judges and wages war.

¹⁹ Do not avenge yourselves, beloved, but leave room for God’s wrath. For it is written: “Vengeance is Mine; I will repay, says the Lord.”

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

²⁰ No, but the sacrifices of pagans are offered to demons, not to God. And I do not want you to be participants with demons. ²¹ You 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.

¹⁷ “Therefore come out from among them and be separate, says the Lord. Touch no unclean thing, and I will receive you.”

¹ Therefore, beloved, since we have these promises, let us cleanse ourselves from everything that defiles body and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.

¹¹ Why? Because I do not love you? God knows I do!

¹⁵ And for the sake of your souls, I will most gladly spend my money and myself. If I love you more, will you love me less?

¹⁹ Have you been thinking all along that we were making a defense to you? We speak before God in Christ, and all of this, beloved, is to build you up.

¹ Therefore, my brothers, whom I love and long for, my joy and crown, that is how you must stand firm in the Lord, my beloved.

¹ Paul, a prisoner of Christ Jesus, and Timothy our brother, To Philemon our beloved fellow worker,

¹¹ Beloved, I urge you, as foreigners and exiles, to abstain from the desires of the flesh, which war against your soul.

⁸ And all who dwell on the earth will worship the beast—all whose names have not been written from the foundation of the world in the Book of Life belonging to the Lamb who was slain.

⁸ But to the cowardly and unbelieving and sinful and abominable and murderers and sexually immoral and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars, their place will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur. This is the second death.”

¹⁵ But outside are the dogs, the sorcerers, the sexually immoral, the murderers, the idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices falsehood.

² “Hear my words, O wise men; give ear to me, O men of learning. ³ For the ear tests words as the mouth tastes food.

¹⁰ We are fools for Christ, but you are wise in Christ. We are weak, but you are strong. You are honored, but we are dishonored.

⁵ I say this to your shame. Is there really no one among you wise enough to arbitrate between his brothers?

¹ Now about food sacrificed to idols: We know that we all have knowledge. Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up.

¹³ Judge for yourselves: Is it proper for a woman to pray to God with her head uncovered?

²⁰ Brothers, stop thinking like children. In regard to evil be infants, but in your thinking be mature.

²¹ but test all things. Hold fast to what is good.

²² While they were eating, Jesus took bread, spoke a blessing and broke it, and gave it to the disciples, saying, “Take and eat; this is My body.” ²³ Then He took the cup, gave thanks, and gave it to them, and they all drank from it. ²⁴ He said to them, “This is My blood of the new covenant, which is poured out for many. ²⁵ Truly I tell you, I will no longer drink of the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it anew in the kingdom of God.”

¹⁹ And He took the bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, “This is My body, given for you; do this in remembrance of Me.” ²⁰ In the same way, after supper He took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood, which is poured out for you.

⁴² They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.

⁴⁶ With one accord they continued to meet daily in the temple courts and to break bread from house to house, sharing their meals with gladness and sincerity of heart,

⁷ On the first day of the week, the disciples came together to break bread. Since Paul was ready to leave the next day, he talked to them and kept on speaking until midnight.

¹¹ Then Paul went back upstairs, broke bread, and ate. And after speaking until daybreak, he departed.

²³ For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: The Lord Jesus, on the night He was betrayed, took bread, ²⁴ and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, “Take and eat. This is My body, which is broken for you; do this in remembrance of Me.” ²⁵ In the same way, after supper He took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood; do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.” ²⁶ For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes. ²⁷ Therefore, whoever eats this bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the Lord. ²⁸ Each one must examine himself before he eats of the bread and drinks of the cup. ²⁹ For anyone who eats and drinks unworthily, without recognizing the body of the Lord, eats and drinks judgment on himself.

¹³ For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, slave or free, and we were all given into one Spirit to drink.

¹⁴ We have come to share in Christ if we hold firmly to the end the assurance we had at first.

³ We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And this fellowship of ours is with the Father and with His Son, Jesus Christ.

⁷ But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.

⁵ so in Christ we who are many are one body, and each member belongs to one another.

³ They all ate the same spiritual food ⁴ and drank the same spiritual drink; for they drank from the spiritual rock that accompanied them, and that rock was Christ.

²¹ You 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.

²⁶ For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes. ²⁷ Therefore, whoever eats this bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the Lord. ²⁸ Each one must examine himself before he eats of the bread and drinks of the cup.

¹² The body is a unit, though it is composed of many parts. And although its parts are many, they all form one body. So it is with Christ.

²⁷ Now you are the body of Christ, and each of you is a member of it.

²⁶ You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. ²⁷ For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. ²⁸ There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.

²² And God put everything under His feet and made Him head over everything for the church, ²³ which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.

¹⁵ by abolishing in His flesh the law of commandments and decrees. He did this to create in Himself one new man out of the two, thus making peace ¹⁶ and reconciling both of them to God in one body through the cross, by which He extinguished their hostility.

⁶ This mystery is that through the gospel the Gentiles are fellow heirs, fellow members of the body, and fellow partakers of His promise in Christ.

⁴ There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called;

¹² to equip the saints for works of ministry and to build up the body of Christ, ¹³ until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God, as we mature to the full measure of the stature of Christ.

¹⁶ From Him the whole body, fitted and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love through the work of each individual part.

²⁵ Therefore each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to his neighbor, for we are all members of one another.

¹⁹ He has lost connection to the head, from whom the whole body, supported and knit together by its joints and ligaments, grows as God causes it to grow.

¹¹ Here there is no Greek or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, or free, but Christ is all and is in all.

¹⁵ Let the peace of God rule in your hearts, for to this you were called as members of one body. And be thankful.

³ From the peace offering he is to bring an offering made by fire to the LORD: the fat that covers the entrails, all the fat that is on them, ⁴ both kidneys with the fat on them near the loins, and the lobe of the liver, which he is to remove with the kidneys. ⁵ Then Aaron’s sons are to burn it on the altar atop the burnt offering that is on the burning wood, as an offering made by fire, a pleasing aroma to the LORD.

¹¹ Then the priest is to burn them on the altar as food, an offering made by fire to the LORD.

⁶ Every male among the priests may eat of it. It must be eaten in a holy place; it is most holy.

¹¹ Now this is the law of the peace offering that one may present to the LORD: ¹² If he offers it in thanksgiving, then along with the sacrifice of thanksgiving he shall offer unleavened cakes mixed with olive oil, unleavened wafers coated with oil, and well-kneaded cakes of fine flour mixed with oil. ¹³ Along with his peace offering of thanksgiving he is to present an offering with cakes of leavened bread. ¹⁴ From the cakes he must present one portion of each offering as a contribution to the LORD. It belongs to the priest who sprinkles the blood of the peace offering. ¹⁵ The meat of the sacrifice of his peace offering of thanksgiving must be eaten on the day he offers it; none of it may be left until morning. ¹⁶ If, however, the sacrifice he offers is a vow or a freewill offering, it shall be eaten on the day he presents his sacrifice, but the remainder may be eaten on the next day. ¹⁷ But any meat of the sacrifice remaining until the third day must be burned up.

¹³ or for the custom of the priests with the people. When any man offered a sacrifice, the servant of the priest would come with a three-pronged meat fork while the meat was boiling ¹⁴ and plunge it into the pan or kettle or cauldron or cooking pot. And the priest would claim for himself whatever the meat fork brought up. This is how they treated all the Israelites who came to Shiloh. ¹⁵ Even before the fat was burned, the servant of the priest would come and say to the man who was sacrificing, “Give the priest some meat to roast, because he will not accept boiled meat from you, but only raw.” ¹⁶ And if any man said to him, “The fat must be burned first; then you may take whatever you want,” the servant would reply, “No, you must give it to me right now. If you refuse, I will take it by force!”

¹² “Yes, he is ahead of you,” they answered. “Hurry now, for today he has come to the city because the people have a sacrifice on the high place. ¹³ As soon as you enter the city, you will find him before he goes up to the high place to eat. The people will not eat until he comes, because he must bless the sacrifice; after that, the guests will eat. Go up at once; you will find him.”

³ regarding His Son, who was a descendant of David according to the flesh,

¹ What then shall we say that Abraham, our forefather, has discovered?

¹² And he is also the father of the circumcised who not only are circumcised, but who also walk in the footsteps of the faith that our father Abraham had before he was circumcised.

³ For I could wish that I myself were cursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, my own flesh and blood, ⁴ the people of Israel. Theirs is the adoption as sons; theirs the divine glory and the covenants; theirs the giving of the law, the temple worship, and the promises. ⁵ Theirs are the patriarchs, and from them proceeds the human descent of Christ, who is God over all, forever worthy of praise! Amen. ⁶ It is not as though God’s word has failed. For not all who are descended from Israel are Israel. ⁷ Nor because they are Abraham’s descendants are they all his children. On the contrary, “Through Isaac your offspring will be reckoned.” ⁸ So it is not the children of the flesh who are God’s children, but it is the children of the promise who are regarded as offspring.

¹³ Do you not know that those who work in the temple eat of its food, and those who serve at the altar partake of its offerings?

¹⁸ Since many are boasting according to the flesh, I too will boast. ¹⁹ For you gladly tolerate fools, since you are so wise. ²⁰ In fact, you even put up with anyone who enslaves you or exploits you or takes advantage of you or exalts himself or strikes you in the face. ²¹ To my shame I concede that we were too weak for that! Speaking as a fool, however, I can match what anyone else dares to boast about. ²² Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they descendants of Abraham? So am I.

¹⁶ Peace and mercy to all who walk by this rule, even to the Israel of God.

¹¹ Therefore remember that formerly you who are Gentiles in the flesh and called uncircumcised by the so-called circumcision (that done in the body by human hands)— ¹² remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world.

³ For it is we who are the circumcision, we who worship by the Spirit of God, who glory in Christ Jesus, and who put no confidence in the flesh— ⁴ though I myself could have such confidence. If anyone else thinks he has grounds for confidence in the flesh, I have more: ⁵ circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin; a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee;

²¹ They have provoked My jealousy by that which is not God; they have enraged Me with their worthless idols. So I will make them jealous by those who are not a people; I will make them angry by a nation without understanding.

¹⁷ All the nations are as nothing before Him; He regards them as nothingness and emptiness.

²⁹ See, they are all a delusion; their works amount to nothing; their images are as empty as the wind.

²⁸ He chose the lowly and despised things of the world, and the things that are not, to nullify the things that are,

⁷ So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow.

⁴ So about eating food sacrificed to idols: We know that an idol is nothing at all in the world, and that there is no other God but one.

² If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have absolute faith so as to move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.

¹¹ I have become a fool in my boasting, but you drove me to it. In fact, you should have commended me, since I am in no way inferior to those “super-apostles,” even though I am nothing.

⁷ They must no longer offer their sacrifices to the goat demons to which they have prostituted themselves. This will be a permanent statute for them for the generations to come.’

¹⁶ They provoked His jealousy with foreign gods; they enraged Him with abominations. ¹⁷ They sacrificed to demons, not to God, to gods they had not known, to newly arrived gods, which your fathers did not fear.

¹⁵ And Jeroboam appointed his own priests for the high places and for the goat demons and calf idols he had made.

³⁷ They sacrificed their sons and their daughters to demons. ³⁸ They shed innocent blood—the blood of their sons and daughters, whom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan, and the land was polluted with blood. ³⁹ They defiled themselves by their actions and prostituted themselves by their deeds.

⁴ The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers so they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.

²⁰ Now the rest of mankind who were not killed by these plagues still did not repent of the works of their hands. They did not stop worshiping demons and idols of gold, silver, bronze, stone, and wood, which cannot see or hear or walk.

³⁷ He will say: “Where are their gods, the rock in which they took refuge, ³⁸ which ate the fat of their sacrifices and drank the wine of their drink offerings? Let them rise up and help you; let them give you shelter!

²¹ Then Elijah approached all the people and said, “How long will you waver between two opinions? If the LORD is God, follow Him. But if Baal is God, follow him.” But the people did not answer a word.

¹¹ But you who forsake the LORD, who forget My holy mountain, who set a table for Fortune and fill bowls of mixed wine for Destiny,

²⁴ No one can serve two masters: Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.

¹⁰ For if someone with a weak conscience sees you who are well informed eating in an idol’s temple, will he not be encouraged to eat food sacrificed to idols?

¹⁶ Is 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?

¹⁵ What harmony is there between Christ and Belial? Or what does a believer have in common with an unbeliever? ¹⁶ What agreement can exist between the temple of God and idols? For you are the temple of the living God. As God has said: “I will dwell with them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be My people.” ¹⁷ “Therefore come out from among them and be separate, says the Lord. Touch no unclean thing, and I will receive you.”

⁵ You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on their children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me,

¹⁴ For you must not worship any other god, for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God.

²⁴ For the LORD your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God.

¹⁵ For the LORD your God, who is among you, is a jealous God. Otherwise the anger of the LORD your God will be kindled against you, and He will wipe you off the face of the earth.

¹⁶ They provoked His jealousy with foreign gods; they enraged Him with abominations.

¹⁹ But Joshua said to the people, “You are not able to serve the LORD, for He is a holy God; He is a jealous God; He will not forgive your rebellion or your sins.

⁴ God is wise in heart and mighty in strength. Who has resisted Him and prospered?

⁹ Do you have an arm like God’s? Can you thunder with a voice like His? ¹⁰ Then adorn yourself with majesty and splendor, and clothe yourself with honor and glory. ¹¹ Unleash the fury of your wrath; look on every proud man and bring him low. ¹² Look on every proud man and humble him; trample the wicked where they stand. ¹³ Bury them together in the dust; imprison them in the grave. ¹⁴ Then I will confess to you that your own right hand can save you.

⁵⁸ They enraged Him with their high places and provoked His jealousy with their idols.

¹⁰ Whatever exists was named long ago, and what happens to a man is foreknown; but he cannot contend with one stronger than he.

⁹ Woe to him who quarrels with his Maker—one clay pot among many. Does the clay ask the potter, ‘What are you making?’ Does your work say, ‘He has no hands’?

¹⁴ Will your courage endure or your hands be strong in the day I deal with you? I, the LORD, have spoken, and I will act.

¹⁸ Neither their silver nor their gold will be able to deliver them on the Day of the LORD’s wrath. The whole earth will be consumed by the fire of His jealousy.” For indeed, He will make a sudden end of all who dwell on the earth.

³¹ It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.

¹⁵ If your brother is distressed by what you eat, you are no longer acting in love. Do not by your eating destroy your brother, for whom Christ died.

¹⁹ So then, let us pursue what leads to peace and to mutual edification. ²⁰ Do not destroy the work of God for the sake of food. All food is clean, but it is wrong for a man to let his eating be a stumbling block.

¹ We who are strong ought to bear with the shortcomings of the weak and not to please ourselves. ² Each of us should please his neighbor for his good, to build him up.

¹² “Everything is permissible for me,” but not everything is beneficial. “Everything is permissible for me,” but I will not be mastered by anything.

⁹ Be careful, however, that your freedom does not become a stumbling block to the weak.

³ But he who prophesies speaks to men for their edification, encouragement, and comfort. ⁴ The one who speaks in a tongue edifies himself, but the one who prophesies edifies the church. ⁵ I wish that all of you could speak in tongues, but I would rather have you prophesy. For he who prophesies is greater than one who speaks in tongues, unless he interprets so that the church may be edified.

¹² It is the same with you. Since you are eager to have spiritual gifts, strive to excel in gifts that build up the church.

¹⁷ You may be giving thanks well enough, but the other one is not edified.

²⁶ What then shall we say, brothers? When you come together, each one of you has a psalm or a teaching, a tongue, a revelation, or an interpretation. All of these must be done to build up the church.

²⁹ Let no unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building up the one in need and bringing grace to those who listen.

¹¹ Therefore encourage and build one another up, just as you are already doing.

⁴ or devote themselves to myths and endless genealogies, which promote speculation rather than the stewardship of God’s work, which is by faith.

¹⁹ Though I am free of obligation to anyone, I make myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible. ²⁰ To the Jews I became like a Jew, to win the Jews. To those under the law I became like one under the law, to win those under the law. ²¹ To those without the law I became like one without the law (though I am not outside the law of God but am under the law of Christ), to win those without the law. ²² To the weak I became like one who is weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all people so that by all possible means I might save some. ²³ I do this for the sake of the gospel, so that I may share in its blessings.

³³ as 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.

⁵ It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no account of wrongs.

¹⁴ See, I am ready to come to you a third time, and I will not be a burden to you, because I am not seeking your possessions, but you. For children should not have to save up for their parents, but parents for their children.

⁴ Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others. ⁵ Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus:

²¹ For all the others look after their own interests, not those of Christ Jesus.

¹⁵ The voice spoke to him a second time: “Do not call anything impure that God has made clean.”

⁵ Therefore it is necessary to submit to authority, not only to avoid punishment, but also as a matter of conscience.

¹⁴ I am convinced and fully persuaded in the Lord Jesus that nothing is unclean in itself. But if anyone regards something as unclean, then for him it is unclean.

²⁷ If an unbeliever invites you to a meal and you want to go, eat anything set before you without raising questions of conscience. ²⁸ But 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—for the earth is the Lord’s, and the fullness thereof— ²⁹ the other one’s conscience, I mean, not your own. For why should my freedom be determined by someone else’s conscience?

⁴ For every creation of God is good, and nothing that is received with thanksgiving should be rejected,

¹⁵ To the pure, all things are pure; but to the defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure. Indeed, both their minds and their consciences are defiled.

⁵ Now if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, you will be My treasured possession out of all the nations—for the whole earth is Mine.

¹⁴ Behold, to the LORD your God belong the heavens, even the highest heavens, and the earth and everything in it.

¹¹ Who has given to Me that I should repay him? Everything under heaven is Mine.

¹ A Psalm of David. The earth is the LORD’s, and the fullness thereof, the world and all who dwell therein.

¹² If I were hungry, I would not tell you, for the world is Mine, and the fullness thereof.

²⁸ But 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—for the earth is the Lord’s, and the fullness thereof—

¹⁷ Instruct those who are rich in the present age not to be conceited and not to put their hope in the uncertainty of wealth, but in the living God, who richly provides all things for us to enjoy.

²⁹ Then Levi hosted a great banquet for Jesus at his house. A large crowd of tax collectors was there, along with others who were eating with them. ³⁰ But their scribes and the Pharisees complained to Jesus’ disciples, “Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?”

⁷ Stay at the same house, eating and drinking whatever you are offered. For the worker is worthy of his wages. Do not move around from house to house. ⁸ If you enter a town and they welcome you, eat whatever is set before you.

²³ Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let us feast and celebrate.

⁷ And all who saw this began to grumble, saying, “He has gone to be the guest of a sinful man!”

⁹ I wrote you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people. ¹⁰ I was not including the sexually immoral of this world, or the greedy or swindlers or idolaters. In that case you would have to leave this world. ¹¹ But now I am writing you not to associate with anyone who claims to be a brother but is sexually immoral or greedy, an idolater or a verbal abuser, a drunkard or a swindler. With such a man do not even eat.

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

¹³ For we do not write you anything that is beyond your ability to read and understand. And I hope that you will understand us completely,

² Instead, we have renounced secret and shameful ways. We do not practice deceit, nor do we distort the word of God. On the contrary, by open proclamation of the truth, we commend ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God.

¹¹ Therefore, since we know what it means to fear the Lord, we try to persuade men. What we are is clear to God, and I hope it is clear to your conscience as well.

²⁹ Moses said to him, “When I have left the city, I will spread out my hands to the LORD. The thunder will cease, and there will be no more hail, so that you may know that the earth is the LORD’s.

¹⁶ The highest heavens belong to the LORD, but the earth He has given to mankind.

⁵ By My great power and outstretched arm, I made the earth and the men and beasts on the face of it, and I give it to whom I please. ⁶ So now I have placed all these lands under the authority of My servant Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon. I have even made the beasts of the field subject to him.

³¹ Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ ³² For the Gentiles strive after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them.

¹⁰ For if someone with a weak conscience sees you who are well informed eating in an idol’s temple, will he not be encouraged to eat food sacrificed to idols? ¹¹ So this weak brother, for whom Christ died, is destroyed by your knowledge. ¹² By sinning against your brothers in this way and wounding their weak conscience, you sin against Christ. ¹³ Therefore, if what I eat causes my brother to stumble, I will never eat meat again, so that I will not cause him to stumble.

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

¹⁵ If your brother is distressed by what you eat, you are no longer acting in love. Do not by your eating destroy your brother, for whom Christ died. ¹⁶ Do not allow what you consider good, then, to be spoken of as evil. ¹⁷ For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit. ¹⁸ For whoever serves Christ in these things is pleasing to God and approved by men. ¹⁹ So then, let us pursue what leads to peace and to mutual edification. ²⁰ Do not destroy the work of God for the sake of food. All food is clean, but it is wrong for a man to let his eating be a stumbling block. ²¹ It is better not to eat meat or drink wine or to do anything to cause your brother to stumble or to be hindered or weakened.

⁹ Be careful, however, that your freedom does not become a stumbling block to the weak.

¹⁹ Though I am free of obligation to anyone, I make myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible.

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

²¹ We are taking great care to do what is right, not only in the eyes of the Lord, but also in the eyes of men.

²² Abstain from every form of evil.

⁶ He who observes a special day does so to the Lord; and he who does not observe the day, to the Lord does not observe it. He who eats does so to the Lord, for he gives thanks to God; and he who abstains does so to the Lord and gives thanks to God.

³ They will prohibit marriage and require abstinence from certain foods that God has created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth. ⁴ For every creation of God is good, and nothing that is received with thanksgiving should be rejected,

⁷ There, in the presence of the LORD your God, you and your households shall eat and rejoice in all you do, because the LORD your God has blessed you.

¹² And you shall rejoice before the LORD your God—you, your sons and daughters, your menservants and maidservants, and the Levite within your gates, since he has no portion or inheritance among you.

¹⁸ Instead, you must eat them in the presence of the LORD your God at the place the LORD your God will choose—you, your sons and daughters, your menservants and maidservants, and the Levite within your gates. Rejoice before the LORD your God in all you do,

¹⁶ And the people went out, brought back branches, and made booths on their own rooftops, in their courtyards, in the court of the house of God, and in the squares by the Water Gate and by the Gate of Ephraim. ¹⁷ The whole assembly who had returned from exile made booths and lived in them. From the days of Joshua son of Nun until that day, the Israelites had not celebrated like this. And there was great rejoicing. ¹⁸ Day after day, from the first day to the last, Ezra read from the Book of the Law of God. The Israelites kept the feast for seven days, and on the eighth day they held an assembly, according to the ordinance.

⁵ “Ask all the people of the land and the priests, ‘When you fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh months for these seventy years, was it really for Me that you fasted? ⁶ And when you were eating and drinking, were you not doing so simply for yourselves?

⁴¹ But give as alms the things that are within you, and you will see that everything is clean for you.

³⁴ And they are different. The unmarried woman or virgin is concerned about the work of the Lord, how she can be holy in both body and spirit. But the married woman is concerned about the affairs of this world, how she can please her husband.

¹⁷ And whatever you do, in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.

²³ And whatever you do, work at it with your whole being, for the Lord and not for men,

¹¹ If anyone speaks, he should speak as one conveying the words of God. If anyone serves, he should serve with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom be the glory and the power forever and ever. Amen.

²⁸ Therefore keep watch over yourselves and the entire flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. Be shepherds of the church of the Lord and of God, which He purchased with His own blood.

¹⁶ In this hope, I strive always to maintain a clear conscience before God and man.

¹³ Therefore let us stop judging one another. Instead, make up your mind not to put any stumbling block or obstacle in your brother’s way.

¹³ Therefore, if what I eat causes my brother to stumble, I will never eat meat again, so that I will not cause him to stumble.

²² Don’t you have your own homes in which to eat and drink? Or do you despise the church of God and humiliate those who have nothing? What can I say to you? Shall I praise you for this? No, I will not!

³ We put no obstacle in anyone’s way, so that no one can discredit our ministry.

¹⁰ so that you may be able to test and prove what is best and may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ,

⁵ For if someone does not know how to manage his own household, how can he care for the church of God?

¹⁵ in case I am delayed, so that you will know how each one must conduct himself in God’s household, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and foundation of the truth.

¹⁴ in the hope that I may provoke my own people to jealousy and save some of them.

² Each of us should please his neighbor for his good, to build him up. ³ For even Christ did not please Himself, but as it is written: “The insults of those who insult You have fallen on Me.”

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

²⁸ Apart from these external trials, I face daily the pressure of my concern for all the churches. ²⁹ Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is led into sin, and I do not burn with grief?

¹⁰ Am I now seeking the approval of men, or of God? Or am I striving to please men? For if I were still trying to please men, I would not be a servant of Christ.