1 Corinthians 8 Cross References - BSB

¹ Now about food sacrificed to idols: We know that we all have knowledge. Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up. ² The one who thinks he knows something does not yet know as he ought to know. ³ But the one who loves God is known by God. 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 God but one. ⁵ For even if there are so-called gods, whether in heaven or on earth (as there are many so-called gods and lords), ⁶ yet for us there is but one God, the Father, from whom all things came and for whom we exist. And there is but one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom all things came and through whom we exist. 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. ⁸ But food does not bring us closer to God: We are no worse if we do not eat, and no better if we do. ⁹ Be careful, however, that your freedom does not become a stumbling block to the weak. 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.

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

²¹ Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes and clever in their own sight.

¹⁰ You were secure in your wickedness; you said, ‘No one sees me.’ Your wisdom and knowledge led you astray; you told yourself, ‘I am, and there is none besides me.’

¹⁰ Now then, why do you test God by placing on the necks of the disciples a yoke that neither we nor our fathers have been able to bear?

¹⁹ It is my judgment, therefore, that we should not cause trouble for the Gentiles who are turning to God. ²⁰ Instead, we should write and tell them to abstain from food polluted by idols, from sexual immorality, from the meat of strangled animals, and from blood.

²⁹ You must abstain from food sacrificed to idols, from blood, from the meat of strangled animals, and from sexual immorality. You will do well to avoid these things. Farewell.

²⁵ As for the Gentile believers, we have written to them our decision that they must abstain from food sacrificed to idols, from blood, from the meat of strangled animals, and from sexual immorality.”

²⁵ I do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery, brothers, so that you will not be conceited: A hardening in part has come to Israel, until the full number of the Gentiles has come in.

¹⁶ Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but enjoy the company of the lowly. Do not be conceited.

³ The one who eats everything must not belittle the one who does not, and the one who does not eat everything must not judge the one who does, for God has accepted him.

¹⁰ Why, then, do you judge your brother? Or why do you belittle your brother? For we will all stand before God’s judgment seat.

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.

²² Keep your belief about such matters between yourself and God. Blessed is the one who does not condemn himself by what he approves.

¹⁴ I myself am convinced, my brothers, that you yourselves are full of goodness, brimming with knowledge, and able to instruct one another.

⁵ For in Him you have been enriched in every way, in all speech and all knowledge,

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.

¹⁸ Some of you have become arrogant, as if I were not coming to you.

² And you are proud! Shouldn’t you rather have been stricken with grief and have removed from your fellowship the man who did this?

⁶ Your boasting is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven works through the whole batch of dough?

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

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 God but one.

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.

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.

¹⁹ Am I suggesting, then, that food sacrificed to an idol is anything, or that 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?

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—

¹ If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a ringing gong or a clanging cymbal. 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. ³ If I give all I possess to the poor and exult in the surrender of my body, but have not love, I gain nothing. ⁴ Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. ⁵ It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no account of wrongs. ⁶ Love takes no pleasure in evil, but rejoices in the truth. ⁷ It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. ⁸ Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be restrained; where there is knowledge, it will be dismissed. ⁹ For we know in part and we prophesy in part, ¹⁰ but when the perfect comes, the partial passes away. ¹¹ When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I set aside childish ways. ¹² Now we see but a dim reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known. ¹³ And now these three remain: faith, hope, and love; but the greatest of these is love.

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

³⁴ Sober up as you ought, and stop sinning; for some of you are ignorant of God. I say this to your shame.

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.

¹⁸ Do not let anyone who delights in false humility and the worship of angels disqualify you with speculation about what he has seen. Such a person is puffed up without basis by his unspiritual mind.

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.

²⁰ But I have this against you: You tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess. By her teaching she misleads My servants to be sexually immoral and to eat food sacrificed to idols.

¹² Do you see a man who is wise in his own eyes? There is more hope for a fool than for him.

² Surely I am the most ignorant of men, and I lack the understanding of a man. ³ I have not learned wisdom, and I have no knowledge of the Holy One. ⁴ Who has ascended to heaven and come down? Who has gathered the wind in His hands? Who has bound up the waters in His cloak? Who has established all the ends of the earth? What is His name, and what is the name of His Son—surely you know!

¹⁸ Let no one deceive himself. If any of you thinks he is wise in this age, he should become a fool, so that he may become wise.

⁸ Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be restrained; where there is knowledge, it will be dismissed. ⁹ For we know in part and we prophesy in part,

¹² Now we see but a dim reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

³ If anyone thinks he is something when he is nothing, he deceives himself.

⁵ The goal of our instruction is the love that comes from a pure heart, a clear conscience, and a sincere faith. ⁶ Some have strayed from these ways and turned aside to empty talk. ⁷ They want to be teachers of the law, but they do not understand what they are saying or that which they so confidently assert.

³ If anyone teaches another doctrine and disagrees with the sound words of our Lord Jesus Christ and with godly teaching, ⁴ he is conceited and understands nothing. Instead, he has an unhealthy interest in controversies and semantics, out of which come envy, strife, abusive talk, evil suspicions,

¹² Then Moses said to the LORD, “Look, You have been telling me, ‘Lead this people up,’ but You have not let me know whom You will send with me. Yet You have said, ‘I know you by name, and you have found favor in My sight.’

¹⁷ So the LORD said to Moses, “I will do this very thing you have asked, for you have found favor in My sight, and I know you by name.”

⁶ For the LORD guards the path of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish.

³ You have tried my heart; You have visited me in the night. You have tested me and found no evil; I have resolved not to sin with my mouth.

¹ For the choirmaster. A Psalm of David. O LORD, You have searched me and known me. ² You know when I sit and when I rise; You understand my thoughts from afar.

⁵ “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I set you apart and appointed you as a prophet to the nations.”

⁷ The LORD is good, a stronghold in the day of distress; He cares for those who trust in Him.

²³ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you workers of lawlessness!’

¹⁴ I am the good shepherd. I know My sheep and My sheep know Me,

¹⁷ Jesus asked a third time, “Simon son of John, do you love Me?” Peter was deeply hurt that Jesus had asked him a third time, “Do you love Me?” “Lord, You know all things,” he replied. “You know I love You.” Jesus said to him, “Feed My sheep.

²⁸ And we know that God works all things 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.

² God did not reject His people, whom He foreknew. Do you not know what the Scripture says about Elijah, how he appealed to God against Israel:

⁹ Rather, as it is written: “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no heart has imagined, what God has prepared for those who love Him.”

⁹ But now that you know God, or rather are known by God, how is it that you are turning back to those weak and worthless principles? Do you wish to be enslaved by them all over again?

¹⁹ Nevertheless, God’s firm foundation stands, bearing this seal: “The Lord knows those who are His,” and, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord must turn away from iniquity.”

¹² Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, because when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love Him.

⁵ Listen, my beloved brothers: Has not God chosen the poor of this world to be rich in faith and to inherit the kingdom He promised those who love Him?

⁸ Though you have not seen Him, you love Him; and though you do not see Him now, you believe in Him and rejoice with an inexpressible and glorious joy,

¹⁹ We love because He first loved us.

² By this we know that we love the children of God: when we love God and keep His commandments. ³ For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome,

⁹ I know your affliction and your poverty—though you are rich! And I am aware of the slander of those who falsely claim to be Jews, but are in fact a synagogue of Satan.

¹³ I know where you live, where the throne of Satan sits. Yet you have held fast to My name and have not denied your faith in Me, even in the day when My faithful witness Antipas was killed among you, where Satan dwells.

¹⁹ I know your deeds—your love, your faith, your service, your perseverance—and your latter deeds are greater than your first.

⁸ I know your deeds. See, I have placed before you an open door, which no one can shut. For you have only a little strength, yet you have kept My word and have not denied My name. ⁹ Look at those who belong to the synagogue of Satan, who claim to be Jews but are liars instead. I will make them come and bow down at your feet, and they will know that I love you.

¹⁵ I know your deeds; you are neither cold nor hot. How I wish you were one or the other! ¹⁶ So because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to vomit you out of My mouth!

²⁴ “O Lord GOD, You have begun to show Your greatness and power to Your servant. For what god in heaven or on earth can perform such works and mighty acts as Yours?

³⁵ You were shown these things so that you would know that the LORD is God; there is no other besides Him.

³⁹ Know therefore this day and take to heart that the LORD is God in heaven above and on the earth below; there is no other.

⁴ Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is One.

³⁹ See now that I am He; there is no God besides Me. I bring death and I give life; I wound and I heal, and there is no one who can deliver from My hand.

⁴ Their idols are silver and gold, made by the hands of men. ⁵ They have mouths, but cannot speak; they have eyes, but cannot see; ⁶ they have ears, but cannot hear; they have noses, but cannot smell; ⁷ they have hands, but cannot feel; they have feet, but cannot walk; they cannot even clear their throats. ⁸ Those who make them become like them, as do all who trust in them.

¹⁶ “O LORD of Hosts, God of Israel, enthroned above the cherubim, You alone are God over all the kingdoms of the earth. You made the heavens and the earth.

²⁰ And now, O LORD our God, save us from his hand, so that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that You alone, O LORD, are God.”

²⁴ Behold, you are nothing and your work is of no value. Anyone who chooses you is detestable.

⁶ Thus says the LORD, the King and Redeemer of Israel, the LORD of Hosts: “I am the first and I am the last, and there is no God but Me.

⁸ Do not tremble or fear. Have I not told you and declared it long ago? You are My witnesses! Is there any God but Me? There is no other Rock; I know not one.” ⁹ All makers of idols are nothing, and the things they treasure are worthless. Their witnesses fail to see or comprehend, so they are put to shame.

²⁴ Thus says the LORD, your Redeemer who formed you from the womb: “I am the LORD, who has made all things, who alone stretched out the heavens, who by Myself spread out the earth,

⁵ I am the LORD, and there is no other; there is no God but Me. I will equip you for battle, though you have not known Me,

¹⁴ This is what the LORD says: “The products of Egypt and the merchandise of Cush, along with the Sabeans, men of stature, will come over to you and will be yours; they will trudge behind you; they will come over in chains and bow down to you. They will confess to you: ‘God is indeed with you, and there is no other; there is no other God.’”

¹⁰ But the LORD is the true God; He is the living God and eternal King. The earth quakes at His wrath, and the nations cannot endure His indignation.

¹⁴ Every man is senseless and devoid of knowledge; every goldsmith is put to shame by his idols. For his molten images are a fraud, and there is no breath in them.

¹⁷ Every man is senseless and devoid of knowledge; every goldsmith is put to shame by his idols. For his molten images are a fraud, and there is no breath in them. ¹⁸ They are worthless, a work to be mocked. In the time of their punishment they will perish.

¹⁹ Woe to him who says to wood, ‘Awake!’ or to silent stone, ‘Arise!’ Can it give guidance? Behold, it is overlaid with gold and silver, yet there is no breath in it at all.” ²⁰ But the LORD is in His holy temple; let all the earth be silent before Him.

²⁹ Jesus replied, “This is the most important: ‘Hear O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is One.

¹⁵ “Men, why are you doing this? We too are only men, human like you. We are bringing you good news that you should turn from these worthless things to the living God, who made heaven and earth and sea and everything in them.

²⁶ And you can see and hear that not only in Ephesus, but in nearly the whole province of Asia, Paul has persuaded a great number of people to turn away. He says that man-made gods are no gods at all.

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

⁶ yet for us there is but one God, the Father, from whom all things came and for whom we exist. And there is but one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom all things came and through whom we exist. 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.

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?

¹⁹ Am I suggesting, then, that food sacrificed to an idol is anything, or that 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.

⁶ one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.

¹⁷ Now to the King eternal, immortal, and invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.

⁵ For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus,

²⁵ to the only God our Savior be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority through Jesus Christ our Lord before all time, and now, and for all eternity. Amen.

¹⁷ For the LORD your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great, mighty, and awesome God, showing no partiality and accepting no bribe.

¹¹ Has a nation ever changed its gods, though they are no gods at all? Yet My people have exchanged their Glory for useless idols.

²⁸ But where are the gods you made for yourselves? Let them rise up in your time of trouble and save you if they can; for your gods are as numerous as your cities, O Judah.

¹³ Your gods are indeed as numerous as your cities, O Judah; the altars of shame you have set up—the altars to burn incense to Baal—are as many as the streets of Jerusalem.’

⁴ As they drank the wine, they praised their gods of gold and silver, bronze and iron, wood and stone.

³⁴ Jesus replied, “Is it not written in your Law: ‘I have said you are gods’? ³⁵ If he called them gods to whom the word of God came—and the Scripture cannot be broken—

⁸ Formerly, when you did not know God, you were slaves to those who by nature are not gods.

⁴ He will oppose and exalt himself above every so-called god or object of worship. So he will seat himself in the temple of God, proclaiming himself to be God.

⁹ “I am a Hebrew,” replied Jonah. “I worship the LORD, the God of the heavens, who made the sea and the dry land.”

¹⁰ Do we not all have one Father? Did not one God create us? Why then do we break faith with one another so as to profane the covenant of our fathers?

²⁷ All things have been entrusted to Me by My Father. No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal Him.

¹⁸ Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Me.

³ Through Him all things were made, and without Him nothing was made that has been made.

²⁰ The Father loves the Son and shows Him all He does. And to your amazement, He will show Him even greater works than these. ²¹ For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so also the Son gives life to whom He wishes. ²² Furthermore, the Father judges no one, but has assigned all judgment to the Son, ²³ so that all may honor the Son just as they honor the Father. Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent Him. ²⁴ Truly, truly, I tell you, whoever hears My word and believes Him who sent Me has eternal life and will not come under judgment. Indeed, he has crossed over from death to life. ²⁵ Truly, truly, I tell you, the hour is coming and has now come when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live. ²⁶ For as the Father has life in Himself, so also He has granted the Son to have life in Himself. ²⁷ And He has given Him authority to execute judgment, because He is the Son of Man. ²⁸ Do not be amazed at this, for the hour is coming when all who are in their graves will hear His voice ²⁹ and come out—those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment.

³⁰ I and the Father are one.”

¹³ You call Me Teacher and Lord, and rightly so, because I am.

⁹ Jesus replied, “Philip, I have been with you all this time, and still you do not know Me? Anyone who has seen Me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? ¹⁰ Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in Me? The words I say to you, I do not speak on My own. Instead, it is the Father dwelling in Me, performing His works.

²⁰ On that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you are in Me, and I am in you.

³ Now this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom You have sent.

²¹ that all of them may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I am in You. May they also be in Us, so that the world may believe that You sent Me. ²² I have given them the glory You gave Me, so that they may be one as We are one— ²³ I in them and You in Me—that they may be perfectly united, so that the world may know that You sent Me and have loved them just as You have loved Me.

¹⁷ “Do not cling to Me,” Jesus said, “for I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go and tell My brothers, ‘I am ascending to My Father and your Father, to My God and your God.’”

³⁶ Therefore let all Israel know with certainty that God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ!”

³¹ God exalted Him to His right hand as Prince and Savior, in order to grant repentance and forgiveness of sins to Israel.

²⁸ ‘For in Him we live and move and have our being.’ As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are His offspring.’

³⁶ For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever! Amen.

² To the church of God in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus and called to be holy, together with all those everywhere who call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, their Lord and ours:

¹³ “Food for the stomach and the stomach for food,” but God will destroy them both. The body is not intended for sexual immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body.

³ Therefore I inform you that no one who is speaking by the Spirit of God says, “Jesus be cursed,” and no one can say, “Jesus is Lord,” except by the Holy Spirit.

³ Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms.

²⁰ which He exerted in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly realms, ²¹ far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. 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.

¹⁴ ... for this reason I bow my knees before the Father,

⁵ one Lord, one faith, one baptism; ⁶ one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.

⁹ Therefore God exalted Him to the highest place and gave Him the name above all names, ¹⁰ that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, ¹¹ and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

⁶ that has come to you. All over the world this gospel is bearing fruit and growing, just as it has been doing among you since the day you heard it and truly understood the grace of God.

¹⁶ For in Him all things were created, things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities. All things were created through Him and for Him. ¹⁷ He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.

⁵ For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, ⁶ who gave Himself as a ransom for all—the testimony that was given at just the right time.

² But in these last days He has spoken to us by His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, and through whom He made the universe. ³ The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of His nature, upholding all things by His powerful word. After He had provided purification for sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high.

² according to the foreknowledge of God the Father and sanctified by the Spirit for obedience to Jesus Christ and sprinkling by His blood: Grace and peace be yours in abundance. ³ Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! By His great mercy He has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,

²¹ Through Him you believe in God, who raised Him from the dead and glorified Him; and so your faith and hope are in God.

¹⁸ the Living One. I was dead, and behold, now I am alive forever and ever! And I hold the keys of Death and of Hades.

²² Keep your belief about such matters between yourself and God. Blessed is the one who does not condemn himself by what he approves. ²³ But the one who has doubts is condemned if he eats, because his eating is not from faith; and everything that is not from faith is sin.

¹⁰ I appeal to you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree together, so that there may be no divisions among you and that you may be united in mind and conviction. ¹¹ My brothers, some from Chloe’s household have informed me that there are quarrels among you.

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

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— ²⁹ the other one’s conscience, I mean, not your own. For why should my freedom be determined by someone else’s conscience?

¹⁷ For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit.

²⁰ If you have died with Christ to the spiritual forces of the world, why, as though you still belonged to the world, do you submit to its regulations: ²¹ “Do not handle, do not taste, do not touch!”? ²² These will all perish with use, because they are based on human commands and teachings. ²³ Such restrictions indeed have an appearance of wisdom, with their self-prescribed worship, their false humility, and their harsh treatment of the body; but they are of no value against the indulgence of the flesh.

⁹ Do not be carried away by all kinds of strange teachings, for it is good for the heart to be strengthened by grace and not by foods of no value to those devoted to them.

¹⁴ You must not curse the deaf or place a stumbling block before the blind, but you shall fear your God. I am the LORD.

³ Strengthen the limp hands and steady the feeble knees!

¹⁴ And it will be said, “Build it up, build it up, prepare the way, take every obstacle out of the way of My people.”

³ “Son of man, these men have set up idols in their hearts and put wicked stumbling blocks before their faces. Should I consult with them in any way?

¹² Because they ministered before their idols and became a stumbling block of iniquity to the house of Israel, therefore I swore with an uplifted hand concerning them that they would bear the consequences of their iniquity, declares the Lord GOD.

⁶ But if anyone causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to stumble, it would be better for him to have a large millstone hung around his neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea. ⁷ Woe to the world for the causes of sin. These stumbling blocks must come, but woe to the man through whom they come!

¹⁰ See that you do not look down on any of these little ones. For I tell you that their angels in heaven always see the face of My Father in heaven.

¹ Jesus said to His disciples, “It is inevitable that stumbling blocks will come, but woe to the one through whom they come! ² It would be better for him to have a millstone hung around his neck and to be thrown into the sea than to cause one of these little ones to stumble.

¹ Accept him whose faith is weak, without passing judgment on his opinions. ² For one person has faith to eat all things, while another, who is weak, eats only vegetables.

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. 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. 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.

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.

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

¹² By sinning against your brothers in this way and wounding their weak conscience, you sin against Christ.

²² To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all people so that by all possible means I might save some.

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

²⁹ the other one’s conscience, I mean, not your own. For why should my freedom be determined by someone else’s conscience?

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

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.

¹³ For you, brothers, were called to freedom; but do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh. Rather, serve one another in love.

¹⁶ Live in freedom, but do not use your freedom as a cover-up for evil; live as servants of God.

¹⁹ They promise them freedom, while they themselves are slaves to depravity. For a man is a slave to whatever has mastered him.

²⁷ And after they had gone out into the fields, gathered grapes from their vineyards, and trodden them, they held a festival and went into the house of their god; and as they ate and drank, they cursed Abimelech.

⁸ They lie down beside every altar on garments taken in pledge. And in the house of their God, they drink wine obtained through fines.

²³ But the one who has doubts is condemned if he eats, because his eating is not from faith; and everything that is not from faith is sin.

¹ Now about food sacrificed to idols: We know that we all have knowledge. Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up. ² The one who thinks he knows something does not yet know as he ought to know.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

⁹ Then Abimelech called Abraham and asked, “What have you done to us? How have I sinned against you, that you have brought such tremendous guilt upon me and my kingdom? You have done things to me that should not be done.”

²² And Reuben responded, “Didn’t I tell you not to sin against the boy? But you would not listen. Now we must account for his blood!”

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.”

²¹ “What did this people do to you,” Moses asked Aaron, “that you have led them into so great a sin?”

²⁵ If a man sins against another man, God can intercede for him; but if a man sins against the LORD, who can intercede for him?” But they would not listen to their father, since the LORD intended to put them to death.

⁴ Then Jonathan spoke well of David to his father Saul and said to him, “The king should not sin against his servant David; he has not sinned against you. In fact, his actions have been highly beneficial to you. ⁵ He took his life in his hands when he struck down the Philistine, and the LORD worked a great salvation for all Israel. You saw it and rejoiced, so why would you sin against innocent blood by killing David for no reason?”

¹¹ See, my father, look at the corner of your robe in my hand. For I cut it off, but I did not kill you. See and know that there is no evil or rebellion in my hands. I have not sinned against you, even though you are hunting me down to take my life.

⁴⁹ Pointing to His disciples, He said, “Here are My mother and My brothers. ⁵⁰ For whoever does the will of My Father in heaven is My brother and sister and mother.”

⁶ But if anyone causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to stumble, it would be better for him to have a large millstone hung around his neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea.

²¹ Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, “Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother who sins against me? Up to seven times?”

⁴⁰ And the King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of Mine, you did for Me.’

⁴⁵ Then the King will answer, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for Me.’

⁴ He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute Me?” ⁵ “Who are You, Lord?” Saul asked. “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,” He replied.

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.

²¹ It is better not to eat meat or drink wine or to do anything to cause your brother to stumble.

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

¹² If others have this right to your support, shouldn’t we have it all the more? But we did not exercise this right. Instead, we put up with anything rather than hinder the gospel of Christ.

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 (though I myself am not 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 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 all this for the sake of the gospel, so that I may share in its blessings.

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

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

²⁹ Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is led into sin, and I do not burn with grief?

⁸ Just as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so also these men oppose the truth. They are depraved in mind and disqualified from the faith. ⁹ But they will not advance much further. For just like Jannes and Jambres, their folly will be plain to everyone.