Food Offered to Idols

8 Now concerning^{[a] (A)}food offered to idols: we know that ^(B)“all of us possess knowledge.” This “knowledge” ^(C)puffs up, ^(D)but love builds up. ^2 (E)If anyone imagines that he knows something, ^(F)he does not yet know as he ought to know. ³ But if anyone loves God, ^(G)he is known by God.^[b]

⁴ Therefore, as to the eating of food offered to idols, we know that ^(H)“an idol has no real existence,” and that ^(I)“there is no God but one.” ⁵ For although there may be ^(J)so-called gods in heaven or on earth—as indeed there are many “gods” and many “lords”— ⁶ yet ^(K)for us there is one God, the Father, ^(L)from whom are all things and for whom we exist, and ^(M)one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and ^(N)through whom we exist.

⁷ However, not all possess this knowledge. But some, ^(O)through former association with idols, eat food as really offered to an idol, and ^(P)their conscience, being weak, is defiled.

³⁷ But he answered them, ^(A)“You give them something to eat.” And ^(B)they said to him, ^(C)“Shall we go and buy two hundred denarii^[a] worth of bread and give it to them to eat?”

⁵ When he opened the third seal, I heard the ^(A)third living creature say, “Come!” And I looked, and behold, ^(B)a black horse! And its rider had a pair of scales in his hand. ⁶ And I heard what seemed to be a voice in the midst of the four living creatures, saying, ^(C)“A quart^[a] of wheat for a denarius,^[b] and three quarts of barley for a denarius, and ^(D)do not harm the oil and wine!”

⁷ When he opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of ^(E)the fourth living creature say, “Come!”

¹⁰ and said to him, “Everyone serves the good wine first, and when people have drunk freely, then the poor wine. But you have kept the good wine until now.”

³⁵ And ^(A)the people stood by, watching, ^(B)but ^(C)the rulers ^(D)scoffed at him, saying, ^(E)“He saved others; ^(F)let him save himself, ^(G)if he is ^(H)the Christ of God, ^(I)his Chosen One!” ³⁶ The soldiers also mocked him, coming up and ^(J)offering him sour wine