1 Corinthians 10:19
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?
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.
This was said to Israel at a particular time, so it is wise to read it together with the surrounding text. Do read the surrounding verses too, because the context often says more than a single verse.
Compare
- BSB
- Am I suggesting, then, that food sacrificed to an idol is anything, or that an idol is anything?
- KJV
- What say I then? that the idol is any thing, or that which is offered in sacrifice to idols is any thing?
- WEB
- What am I saying then? That a thing sacrificed to idols is anything, or that an idol is anything?
- ASV
- What say I then? that a thing sacrificed to idols is anything, or that an idol is anything?
- DARBY
- What then do I say? that what is sacrificed to an idol is anything, or that an idol is anything?
- BLB
- Then what do I say? That what is sacrificed to an idol is anything, or that an idol is anything?
- ÅB
- Hva mener jeg altså? at det er noe avguds-offer til? eller at det er noen avgud til?
- OTB
- Hva antyder jeg da? At mat ofret til avguder er noe, eller at en avgud er noe?
- B1930
- Hvad mener jeg altså? at det er noget avguds-offer til? eller at det er nogen avgud til?
Study notes (Tyndale)
Original text and word study
Cross references
1 Corinthians 8:4
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.
Read in contextIsaiah 41:29
See, they are all a delusion; their works amount to nothing; their images are as empty as the wind.
Read in context1 Corinthians 1:28
He chose the lowly and despised things of the world, and the things that are not, to nullify the things that are,
Read in contextDeuteronomy 32:21
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.
Read in context1 Corinthians 3:7
So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow.
Read in context1 Corinthians 13:2
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.
Read in contextIsaiah 40:17
All the nations are as nothing before Him; He regards them as nothingness and emptiness.
Read in context2 Corinthians 12:11
I have become a fool, 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.
Read in context