¹I want you to know, brothers and sisters, that all our ancestors ⸤who left Egypt⸥ were under the cloud, and they all went through the sea. ²They were all united with Moses by baptism in the cloud and in the sea. ³All of them ate the same spiritual food, ⁴and all of them drank the same spiritual drink. They drank from the spiritual rock that went with them, and that rock was Christ. ⁵Yet, God was not pleased with most of them, so their dead bodies were scattered over the desert.

⁶These things have become examples for us so that we won’t desire what is evil, as they did. ⁷So don’t worship false gods as some of them did, as Scripture says, “The people sat down to a feast which turned into an orgy.” ⁸We shouldn’t sin sexually as some of them did. Twenty-three thousand of them died on one day. ⁹We shouldn’t put the Lord^ato the test as some of them did. They were killed by snakes. ¹⁰Don’t complain as some of them did. The angel of death destroyed them. ¹¹These things happened to make them an example for others. These things were written down as a warning for us who are living in the closing days of history. ¹²So, people who think they are standing firmly should be careful that they don’t fall.

¹³There isn’t any temptation that you have experienced which is unusual for humans. God, who faithfully keeps his promises, will not allow you to be tempted beyond your power to resist. But when you are tempted, he will also give you the ability to endure the temptation as your way of escape.

Stay Away from Worshiping False Gods

¹⁴Therefore, my dear friends, get as far away from the worship of false gods as you can.

¹⁵I’m talking to intelligent people. Judge for yourselves what I’m saying. ¹⁶When we bless the cup of blessing aren’t we sharing the blood of Christ? When we break the bread aren’t we sharing the body of Christ? ¹⁷Because there is one loaf, we are one body, although we are many individuals. All of us share one loaf.

¹⁸Look at the people of Israel from a human point of view. Don’t those who eat the sacrifices share what is on the altar? ¹⁹Do I mean that an offering made to a false god is anything, or that a false god itself is anything? ²⁰Hardly! What I am saying is that these sacrifices which people make are made to demons and not to God. I don’t want you to be partners with demons. ²¹You cannot drink the Lord’s cup and the cup of demons. You cannot participate at the table of the Lord and at the table of demons. ²²Are we trying to make the Lord jealous? Are we stronger than he is?

²³Someone may say, “I’m allowed to do anything,” but not everything is helpful. I’m allowed to do anything, but not everything encourages growth. ²⁴People should be concerned about others and not just about themselves. ²⁵Eat anything that is sold in the market without letting your conscience trouble you. ²⁶Certainly, “The earth is the Lord’s and everything it contains is his.” ²⁷If an unbeliever invites you ⸤to his house for dinner⸥, and you wish to go, eat anything he serves you without letting your conscience trouble you. ²⁸However, if someone says to you, “This was sacrificed to a god,” don’t eat it because of the one who informed you and because of conscience. ²⁹I’m not talking about your conscience but the other person’s conscience. Why should my freedom be judged by someone else’s conscience? ³⁰If I give thanks to God for the food I eat, why am I condemned for that? ³¹So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do everything to the glory of God. ³²Don’t cause others to stumble, whether they are Jewish, Greek, or members of God’s church. ³³I try to please everyone in every way. I don’t think about what would be good for me but about what would be good for many people so that they might be saved. ¹Imitate me as I imitate Christ.

11TH CHAPTER

Advice about Worship

²I praise you for always thinking about me and for carefully following the traditions that I handed down to you.

³However, I want you to realize that Christ has authority over every man, a husband has authority over his wife, and God has authority over Christ. ⁴Every man who covers his head when he prays or speaks what God has revealed dishonors the one who has authority over him. ⁵Every woman who prays or speaks what God has revealed and has her head uncovered while she speaks dishonors the one who has authority over her. She is like the woman who has her head shaved. ⁶So if a woman doesn’t cover her head, she should cut off her hair. If it’s a disgrace for a woman to cut off her hair or shave her head, she should cover her head. ⁷A man should not cover his head. He is God’s image and glory. The woman, however, is man’s glory. ⁸Clearly, man wasn’t made from woman but woman from man. ⁹Man wasn’t created for woman but woman for man. ¹⁰Therefore, a woman should wear something on her head to show she is under ⸤someone’s⸥ authority, out of respect for the angels.

¹¹Yet, as believers in the Lord, women couldn’t exist without men and men couldn’t exist without women. ¹²As a woman came into existence from a man, so men come into existence by women, but everything comes from God.

¹³Judge your own situation. Is it proper for a woman to pray to God with her head uncovered? ¹⁴Doesn’t nature itself teach you that it is disgraceful for a man to have long hair? ¹⁵Doesn’t it teach you that it is a woman’s pride to wear her hair long? Her hair is given to her in place of a covering. ¹⁶If anyone wants to argue about this ⸤they can’t, because⸥ we don’t have any custom like this—nor do any of the churches of God.

¹⁷I have no praise for you as I instruct you in the following matter: When you gather, it results in more harm than good. ¹⁸In the first place, I hear that when you gather as a church you split up into opposing groups. I believe some of what I hear. ¹⁹Factions have to exist in order to make it clear who the genuine believers among you are.

²⁰When you gather in the same place, you can’t possibly be eating the Lord’s Supper. ²¹Each of you eats his own supper ⸤without waiting for each other⸥. So one person goes hungry and another gets drunk. ²²Don’t you have homes in which to eat and drink? Do you despise God’s church and embarrass people who don’t have anything to eat? What can I say to you? Should I praise you? I won’t praise you for this. ²³After all, I passed on to you what I had received from the Lord.

On the night he was betrayed, the Lord Jesus took bread ²⁴and spoke a prayer of thanksgiving. He broke the bread and said, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this to remember me.” ²⁵When supper was over, he did the same with the cup. He said, “This cup is the new promise^amade with my blood. Every time you drink from it, do it to remember me.” ²⁶Every time you eat this bread and drink from this cup, you tell about the Lord’s death until he comes.

²⁷Therefore, whoever eats the bread or drinks from the Lord’s cup in an improper way will be held responsible for the Lord’s body and blood. ²⁸With this in mind, individuals must determine whether what they are doing is proper when they eat the bread and drink from the cup. ²⁹Anyone who eats and drinks is eating and drinking a judgment against himself when he doesn’t recognize the Lord’s body.

³⁰This is the reason why many of you are weak and sick and quite a number ⸤of you⸥ have died. ³¹If we were judging ourselves correctly, we would not be judged. ³²But when the Lord judges us, he disciplines us so that we won’t be condemned along with the rest of the world.

³³Therefore, brothers and sisters, when you gather to eat, wait for each other. ³⁴Whoever is hungry should eat at home so that you don’t have a gathering that brings judgment on you.

I will give directions concerning the other matters when I come.

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Footnotes

a 10:9 Some manuscripts and translations; other manuscripts and translations “Christ.”
a 11:25 Or “testament,” or “covenant.”