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1 Corinthians 10:5

Yet God was not pleased with most of them, and their bodies were scattered in the wilderness.
1 Corinthians 10:5 · New Living Translation
Parallel translations
  • WEB However with most of them, God was not well pleased, for they were overthrown in the wilderness.
  • KJV But with many of them God was not well pleased: for they were overthrown in the wilderness.
  • BSB Nevertheless, God was not pleased with most of them, for they were struck down in the wilderness.
  • NKJV But with most of them God was not well pleased, for their bodies were scattered in the wilderness.
  • NASB Nevertheless, with most of them God was not pleased; for their dead bodies were spread out in the wilderness.

Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org

Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Quick answer

Despite all these blessings, God was not pleased with most of them, and they were struck down in the wilderness. Spiritual privilege did not prevent their judgment for unbelief and sin.

Overview

Here is the sobering climax of the recital: though all Israel shared in the cloud, the sea, the manna, and Christ the rock, the vast majority died under God's displeasure for their rebellion (Num 14). This is Paul's pointed warning to the self-assured Corinthians. Outward participation in God's gracious provisions—then or now—is no guarantee of final salvation apart from persevering, obedient faith.

Cross-references & the web

Cross-references · 13

  • Heb 3:17With whom was he displeased forty years? Wasn’t it with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness?
  • Jude 1:5Now I desire to remind you, though you already know this, that the Lord, having saved a people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed those who didn’t believe.
  • Num 26:64–65But among these there was not a man of them who were counted by Moses and Aaron the priest, who counted the children of Israel in the wilderness of Sinai.
  • Num 14:37even those men who brought up an evil report of the land, died by the plague before Yahweh.
  • Num 14:11–12Yahweh said to Moses, “How long will this people despise me? and how long will they not believe in me, for all the signs which I have worked among them?
  • Ps 106:26Therefore he swore to them that he would overthrow them in the wilderness,
  • Ps 78:32–34For all this they still sinned, and didn’t believe in his wondrous works.
  • Num 14:28–35Tell them, ‘As I live, says Yahweh, surely as you have spoken in my ears, so will I do to you.
  • Deut 1:34–35Yahweh heard the voice of your words, and was angry, and swore, saying,
  • Ps 95:11Therefore I swore in my wrath, “They won’t enter into my rest.”
  • Deut 2:15–16Moreover Yahweh’s hand was against them, to destroy them from the middle of the camp, until they were consumed.
  • Ps 90:7–8For we are consumed in your anger. We are troubled in your wrath.
  • Ps 90:1A Prayer by Moses, the man of God. Lord, you have been our dwelling place for all generations.

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Christ at the center

Christ crucified is the wisdom and power of God; he is our Passover sacrificed for us, the firstfruits of resurrection, the foundation on which everything is built.

How 1 Corinthians 10:5 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.

Original language

Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Greek word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.