1 Corinthians 9:24–10:13

²⁴Do you not know that in a race the runners all compete, but only one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may win it.^{* 25}Athletes exercise self-control in all things; they do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable one.^{* 26}So I do not run aimlessly, nor do I box as though beating the air, ²⁷but I punish my body and enslave it, so that after proclaiming to others I myself should not be disqualified.^*

Warnings from Israel’s History

¹⁰I do not want you to be ignorant, brothers and sisters, that our ancestors were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea,^{* 2}and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, ³and all ate the same spiritual food,^{* 4}and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the spiritual rock that followed them, and the rock was Christ.^{* 5}Nevertheless, God was not pleased with most of them, and they were struck down in the wilderness.^*

⁶Now these things occurred as examples for us, so that we might not desire evil as they did.^{* 7}Do not become idolaters as some of them did, as it is written, “The people sat down to eat and drink, and they rose up to play.”^{* 8}We must not engage in sexual immorality, as some of them did, and twenty-three thousand fell in a single day.^{* 9}We must not put Christⁿ to the test, as some of them did, and were destroyed by serpents.^{* 10}And do not complain, as some of them did, and were destroyed by the destroyer.^{* 11}These things happened to them to serve as an example, and they were written down to instruct us, on whom the ends of the ages have come.^{* 12}So if you think you are standing, watch out that you do not fall. ¹³No testing has overtaken you that is not common to everyone. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tested beyond your strength, but with the testing he will also provide the way out so that you may be able to endure it.^*