1 Corinthians 10

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

¹¹You 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.

¹²You 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.

¹³He split the sea and brought them through; He set the waters upright like a wall.

¹⁴He led them with a cloud by day and with a light of fire all night.

⁷Our fathers in Egypt did not grasp Your wonders or remember Your abundant kindness; but they rebelled by the sea, there at the Red Sea.

⁸Yet He saved them for the sake of His name, to make His power known.

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

¹⁹And 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,

²⁰so 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.

²He was faithful to the One who appointed Him, just as Moses was faithful in all God’s house.

³For Jesus has been counted worthy of greater glory than Moses, just as the builder of a house has greater honor than the house itself.

³¹When 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.

¹³Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Were you baptized into the name of Paul?

¹⁴I thank God that I did not baptize any of you except Crispus and Gaius,

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

²⁸Then they heaped insults on him and said, “You are His disciple; we are disciples of Moses.

²⁹We know that God spoke to Moses, but we do not know where this man is from.”

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

³He 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.

¹⁵In 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 that You had sworn to give them.

⁴Then 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.

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

³⁵The 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.

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

⁶Behold, 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.

³⁷On 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.

²¹They 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.

¹⁴But 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.”

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

¹⁰Jesus 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.”

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

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

⁶⁴Among 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.

⁶⁵For 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.

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

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

¹¹And 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?

¹²I will strike them with a plague and destroy them—and I will make you into a nation greater and mightier than they are.”

⁷In 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.

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

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

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

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.

⁷I 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.

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

⁶So 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.

⁷Then 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.

¹⁹At Horeb they made a calf and worshiped a molten image.

²⁰They exchanged their Glory for the image of a grass-eating ox.

¹²And 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.”

⁹Do 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,

¹⁴Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry.

¹⁶And 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.

¹⁷So I took the two tablets and threw them out of my hands, shattering them before your eyes.

¹While Israel was staying in Shittim, the men began to indulge in sexual immorality with the daughters of Moab,

²who also invited them to the sacrifices for their gods. And the people ate and bowed down to these gods.

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

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

⁹Do 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,

¹⁴But 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.

⁵and 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!”

⁶So the Lord sent venomous snakes among the people, and many of the Israelites were bitten and died.

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

⁸do not harden your hearts, as you did in the rebellion, in the day of testing in the wilderness,

⁹where your fathers tested and tried Me, and for forty years saw My works.

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

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

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

²All 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!

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

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

¹⁴Do everything without complaining or arguing,

¹⁵Then 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.

¹⁶But 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.

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

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

¹⁰Isn’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.

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

¹⁸Children, 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.

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

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

¹⁷Therefore, 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.

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

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

⁴⁰Then 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.”

³³Peter 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.”

⁹if 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.

¹⁸And 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.

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

⁸Be sober-minded and alert. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.

⁹Resist him, standing firm in your faith and in the knowledge that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kinds of suffering.

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

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

⁸But to the cowardly and unbelieving 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.”

²¹Little children, keep yourselves from idols.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

²⁶While 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.”

²⁷Then He took the cup, gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you.

²³For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: The Lord Jesus, on the night He was betrayed, took bread,

²⁴and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, “This is My body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of Me.”

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

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

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

⁵³So 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.

⁵⁴Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.

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

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

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

¹²The 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.

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

¹⁶From 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.

³For 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—

⁴though I myself could have such confidence. If anyone else thinks he has grounds for confidence in the flesh, I have more:

¹¹Then the priest is to burn them on the altar as food, a food offering to the Lord.

¹¹Therefore 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)—

¹²remember 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.

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

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

¹²And 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.

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

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

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

²¹They 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.

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

²If 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.

²⁰Now 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.

³⁷They sacrificed their sons and their daughters to demons.

³⁸They 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.

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

¹⁷They sacrificed to demons, not to God, to gods they had not known, to newly arrived gods, which your fathers did not fear.

⁴The 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.

⁷They 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.’

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

²⁴No 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.

²¹Then 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.

¹⁵What harmony is there between Christ and Belial? Or what does a believer have in common with an unbeliever?

¹⁶What agreement can exist between the temple of God and idols? For we 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.”

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

¹⁶Is 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?

³⁷He will say: “Where are their gods, the rock in which they took refuge,

³⁸which 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!

²¹They 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.

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

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

¹⁹But 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.

⁹Do you have an arm like God’s? Can you thunder with a voice like His?

¹⁰Then adorn yourself with majesty and splendor, and clothe yourself with honor and glory.

⁵You 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,

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

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

²⁹Let 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.

¹⁹So then, let us pursue what leads to peace and to mutual edification.

²⁰Do 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.

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

¹We who are strong ought to bear with the shortcomings of the weak and not to please ourselves.

²Each of us should please his neighbor for his good, to build him up.

¹We who are strong ought to bear with the shortcomings of the weak and not to please ourselves.

²Each of us should please his neighbor for his good, to build him up.

⁴Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.

⁵Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus:

³³as 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.

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

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

²⁰To the Jews I became like a Jew, to win the Jews. To those under the law I became like one under the law (though I myself am not under the law), to win those under the law.

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

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

⁷But 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.

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

¹⁴I 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.

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

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

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

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

⁵Now 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.

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

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

¹⁷Instruct 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 God, who richly provides all things for us to enjoy.

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

⁷Stay 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.

⁸If you enter a town and they welcome you, eat whatever is set before you.

⁹I wrote you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people.

¹⁰I was not including the sexually immoral of this world, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters. In that case you would have to leave this world.

²Instead, 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.

²⁹Then 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.

³⁰But the Pharisees and their scribes complained to Jesus’ disciples, “Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?”

¹¹Therefore, 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.

¹⁰For 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?

¹¹So this weak brother, for whom Christ died, is destroyed by your knowledge.

⁷But 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.

¹⁵If 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.

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

³¹Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’

³²For the Gentiles strive after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them.

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

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

¹⁵If 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.

¹⁶Do not allow what you consider good, then, to be spoken of as evil.

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

¹⁰For 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?

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

²¹For 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.

²²Abstain from every form of evil.

⁶He who observes a special day does so to the Lord; 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.

³They 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.

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

¹⁷And 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.

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

¹¹If 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.

⁷There, 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.

¹⁸Instead, 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,

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?

⁶And when you were eating and drinking, were you not doing so simply for yourselves?

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

³³as 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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

²⁰To the Jews I became like a Jew, to win the Jews. To those under the law I became like one under the law (though I myself am not under the law), to win those under the law.

²Each of us should please his neighbor for his good, to build him up.

³For even Christ did not please Himself, but as it is written: “The insults of those who insult You have fallen on Me.”

¹⁹Have 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.

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