These things happened as a warning to us, so that we would not crave evil things as they did,
Parallel translations
- WEB Now these things were our examples, to the intent we should not lust after evil things, as they also lusted.
- KJV Now these things were our examples, to the intent we should not lust after evil things, as they also lusted.
- BSB These things took place as examples to keep us from craving evil things as they did.
- NKJV Now these things became our examples, to the intent that we should not lust after evil things as they also lusted.
- NASB Now these things happened as examples for us, so that we would not crave evil things as they indeed craved them.
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
These events happened as examples to warn us not to crave evil things as Israel did. Their failures are written to keep us from the same sins.
Overview
Paul states the purpose of his historical review: Israel's wilderness sins serve as warning examples for the church. Their craving after evil—idolatry, immorality, grumbling (detailed in vv. 7-10)—must not be repeated by those who now belong to Christ. This shows how the Old Testament instructs believers (cf. Rom 15:4), and it reinforces the call to vigilant, self-controlled faith lest, like Israel, the privileged fall into judgment.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 12
- Jude 1:7Even as Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities around them, having, in the same way as these, given themselves over to sexual immorality and gone after strange flesh, are shown as an example, suffering the punishment of eternal fire.
- 2 Pet 2:6and turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes, condemned them to destruction, having made them an example to those who would live ungodly;
- 1 Cor 10:11Now all these things happened to them by way of example, and they were written for our admonition, on whom the ends of the ages have come.
- Heb 4:11Let us therefore give diligence to enter into that rest, lest anyone fall after the same example of disobedience.
- Zeph 3:6–7I have cut off nations. Their battlements are desolate. I have made their streets waste, so that no one passes by. Their cities are destroyed, so that there is no man, so that there is no inhabitant.
- Num 11:4The mixed multitude that was among them lusted exceedingly: and the children of Israel also wept again, and said, “Who will give us meat to eat?
- Num 11:31–34A wind from Yahweh went out and brought quails from the sea, and let them fall by the camp, about a day’s journey on this side, and a day’s journey on the other side, around the camp, and about two cubits above the surface of the earth.
- Ps 106:14–15but gave in to craving in the desert, and tested God in the wasteland.
- 1 Pet 3:21This is a symbol of baptism, which now saves you — not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ,
- Ps 78:27–31He rained also meat on them as the dust; winged birds as the sand of the seas.
- Rom 5:14Nevertheless death reigned from Adam until Moses, even over those whose sins weren’t like Adam’s disobedience, who is a foreshadowing of him who was to come.
- Heb 9:24For Christ hasn’t entered into holy places made with hands, which are representations of the true, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us;
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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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 10:6 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
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