Bible Strands
1 Corinthians 10:9
We should not test Christ, as some of them did, and were killed by snakes.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Paul addresses the Corinthian church, embedding this warning in a series (vv. 1–11) that recasts Israel's wilderness failures as direct cautions for believers.
The words — ἐκπειρᾷζωμεν (ekpeirazōmen, "let us test") carries the prefix ἐκ-, marking a deliberate, probing challenge rather than a passive trial. Paul's use of Χριστόν (Christon) in place of the generic "God" applies the wilderness encounter to Christ specifically.
The thread — The immediate source is Numbers 21:5–9 (the bronze serpent); Psalms 78:18 and Hebrews 3:8 reuse the same "testing" language for the wilderness generation.
Why it lands — The verse presents testing God as a concrete act with a concrete death, not a metaphor, and pairs it with sexual immorality and complaining as sins that kill.
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 let us tempt Christ, as some of them also tempted, and were destroyed of serpents.
Cross-references
- Numbers 21:5 and spoke against God and against Moses: “Why have you led us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? There is no bread or water, and we detest this wretched food!”
- Psalms 78:18 They willfully tested God by demanding the food they craved.
- Hebrews 3:8 do not harden your hearts, as you did in the rebellion, in the day of testing in the wilderness,
- Exodus 17:2 So the people contended with Moses, “Give us water to drink.” “Why do you contend with me?” Moses replied. “Why do you test the LORD?”
- Exodus 17:7 He named the place Massah and Meribah because the Israelites quarreled, and because they tested the LORD, saying, “Is the LORD among us or not?”
- Deuteronomy 6:16 Do not test the LORD your God as you tested Him at Massah.
- Psalms 78:56 But they tested and disobeyed God Most High, for they did not keep His decrees.
- Exodus 23:20 Behold, I am sending an angel before you to protect you along the way and to bring you to the place I have prepared.
- Psalms 95:9 where your fathers tested and tried Me, though they had seen My work.
- Psalms 106:14 They craved intensely in the wilderness and tested God in the desert.