Bible Strands
1 Corinthians 10:10
And do not complain, as some of them did, and were killed by the destroying angel.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Paul writes to the Corinthian church, mid-series (vv. 1–11), drawing explicit parallels between Israel's wilderness generation and believers under the new covenant.
The words — γογγύζω (gongyzō) appears twice: as imperative (v. 10, "do not grumble") and aorist indicative ("they grumbled"), marking the shift from command to reported fact. The BSB's "complain" softens the term; the Greek carries the sense of a low, persistent, corrosive muttering rather than a single outburst.
The thread — Numbers 14:2 and 16:41 record the grumbling that immediately preceded the plague in Numbers 14:37, where the "bad reporters" were struck down before the LORD. Paul compresses that sequence into a single warning clause.
Why it lands — The verse pairs a prohibition with a lethal consequence, treating sustained discontent not as a minor attitude but as an offense that, in the biblical narrative, God answers with death.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Greek words
King James Version
Neither murmur ye, as some of them also murmured, and were destroyed of the destroyer.
Cross-references
- Numbers 14:2 All the Israelites grumbled against Moses and Aaron, and the whole congregation said to them, “If only we had died in the land of Egypt, or if only we had died in this wilderness!
- Numbers 16:41 The next day the whole congregation of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron, saying, “You have killed the LORD’s people!”
- Numbers 14:37 those men who had brought out the bad report about the land—were struck down by a plague before the LORD.
- Philippians 2:14 Do everything without complaining or arguing,
- 1 Chronicles 21:15 Then God sent an angel to destroy Jerusalem, but as the angel was doing so, the LORD saw it and relented from the calamity, and He said to the angel who was destroying the people, “Enough! Withdraw your hand now!” At that time the angel of the LORD was standing by the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite.
- 2 Samuel 24:16 But when the angel stretched out his hand to destroy Jerusalem, the LORD relented from the calamity and said to the angel who was destroying the people, “Enough! Withdraw your hand now!” At that time the angel of the LORD was by the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.
- Psalms 106:25 They grumbled in their tents and did not listen to the voice of the LORD.
- Exodus 12:23 When the LORD passes through to strike down the Egyptians, He will see the blood on the top and sides of the doorframe and will pass over that doorway; so He will not allow the destroyer to enter your houses and strike you down.
- Jude 1:16 These men are discontented grumblers, following after their own lusts; their mouths spew arrogance; they flatter others for their own advantage.
- Exodus 15:24 So the people grumbled against Moses, saying, “What are we to drink?”