Your glorying is not good. Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump?
Parallel translations
- WEB Your boasting is not good. Don’t you know that a little yeast leavens the whole lump?
- BSB Your boasting is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven works through the whole batch of dough?
- NKJV Your glorying is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump?
- NASB Your boasting is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump of dough?
- NLT Your boasting about this is terrible. Don’t you realize that this sin is like a little yeast that spreads through the whole batch of dough?
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
Paul rebukes their boasting and warns that a little yeast spreads through the whole lump. It matters because unchecked sin, like leaven, corrupts the entire community.
Overview
Using a familiar proverb, Paul exposes the danger of tolerating sin: it does not stay contained but permeates and corrupts the whole congregation. Their misplaced pride ('boasting') ignores this reality. The image presses the church to act, lest one person's open sin infect the body's holiness.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 10
- Gal 5:9A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump.
- 1 Cor 15:33Be not deceived: evil communications corrupt good manners.
- Jas 4:16But now ye rejoice in your boastings: all such rejoicing is evil.
- 1 Cor 5:2And ye are puffed up, and have not rather mourned, that he that hath done this deed might be taken away from among you.
- 1 Cor 4:18–19Now some are puffed up, as though I would not come to you.
- 1 Cor 3:21Therefore let no man glory in men. For all things are yours;
- Luke 13:21It is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal, till the whole was leavened.
- 2 Tim 2:17And their word will eat as doth a canker: of whom is Hymenaeus and Philetus;
- Matt 13:33Another parable spake he unto them; The kingdom of heaven is like unto leaven, which a woman took, and hid in three measures of meal, till the whole was leavened.
- Matt 16:6–12Then Jesus said unto them, Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees.
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 5:6 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
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.