Devine Scripture

1 Corinthians 10:5

What does 1 Corinthians 10:5 mean?

A plain-English look at 1 Corinthians 10:5 in WEB alongside six other public-domain English translations, with cross-references and chapter context.

What 1 Corinthians 10:5 means

Despite all the privileges, “with most of them God was not well pleased,” and they “were overthrown in the wilderness.” The emphasis is on “most”: a whole generation perished before entering the land because of unbelief and disobedience. This demolishes the notion that spiritual experiences or community standing secure a person against falling. God’s holiness and faithfulness demand a response of trust and obedience. For Corinth, the lesson is direct: enjoying Christian rites and blessings while tolerating idolatry or impurity invites discipline. The history of Israel is not a distant curiosity; it is a living warning that the God who saves also judges, and He will not be mocked by casual sin cloaked in presumed liberty.

Parallel translations

WEB

World English Bible · 2000

Howbeit with most of them God was not well pleased: for they were overthrown in the wilderness.

KJV

King James Version · 1611

But with many of them God was not well pleased: for they were overthrown in the wilderness.

ASV

American Standard Version · 1901

Howbeit with most of them God was not well pleased: for they were overthrown in the wilderness.

BBE

Bible in Basic English · 1949

But with most of them God was not pleased: for they came to their end in the waste land.

YLT

Young's Literal Translation · 1862

but in the most of them God was not well pleased, for they were strewn in the wilderness,

DRA

Douay-Rheims (Challoner) · 1752

But with most of them God was not well pleased: for they were overthrown in the desert.

DBY

Darby Bible · 1890

yetGod was not pleased with the most of them, for they were strewed in the desert.

Context

After rehearsing Israel’s gracious privileges, Paul pivots to their sobering outcome. Verse 5 provides the hinge from blessing to warning, proving his thesis that privilege without perseverance ends in ruin. This prepares the ground for verses 6–10, where Paul lists specific sins—lust, idolatry, fornication, testing the Lord, and grumbling—that brought judgment. The movement from general verdict to concrete examples helps the Corinthians connect their behavior with Israel’s, especially regarding idolatrous feasts.

v.4and did all drink the same spiritual drink: for they drank of a spiritual rock that followed them: and the rock was Christ.

v.5This passage

v.6Now these things were our examples, to the intent we should not lust after evil things, as they also lusted.

Cross references

Related passages from across Scripture, drawn from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge.

  • Psalms 78:32

    For all this they sinned still, And believed not in his wondrous works.

  • Numbers 14:11

    And Jehovah said unto Moses, How long will this people despise me? and how long will they not believe in me, for all the signs which I have wrought among them?

  • Numbers 14:28

    Say unto them, As I live, saith Jehovah, surely as ye have spoken in mine ears, so will I do to you:

  • Deuteronomy 1:34

    And Jehovah heard the voice of your words, and was wroth, and sware, saying,

  • Jude 1:5

    Now I desire to put you in remembrance, though ye know all things once for all, that the Lord, having saved a people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed them that believed not.

  • Psalms 95:11

    Wherefore I sware in my wrath, That they should not enter into my rest.

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