1 Corinthians 10:4 - Warnings from Israel's Past (2024)

Verse (Click for Chapter)

New International Version
and drank the same spiritual drink; for they drank from the spiritual rock that accompanied them, and that rock was Christ.New Living Translation
and all of them drank the same spiritual water. For they drank from the spiritual rock that traveled with them, and that rock was Christ.English Standard Version
and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the spiritual Rock that followed them, and the Rock was Christ.Berean Standard Bible
and drank the same spiritual drink; for they drank from the spiritual rock that accompanied them, and that rock was Christ.Berean Literal Bible
and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they were drinking from the spiritual rock accompanying them, and the rock was Christ.King James Bible
And did all drink the same spiritual drink: for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them: and that Rock was Christ.New King James Version
and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them, and that Rock was Christ.New American Standard Bible
and all drank the same spiritual drink, for they were drinking from a spiritual rock which followed them; and the rock was Christ.NASB 1995
and all drank the same spiritual drink, for they were drinking from a spiritual rock which followed them; and the rock was Christ.NASB 1977
and all drank the same spiritual drink, for they were drinking from a spiritual rock which followed them; and the rock was Christ.Legacy Standard Bible
and all drank the same spiritual drink, for they were drinking from a spiritual rock which followed them, and the rock was Christ.Amplified Bible
and all [of them] drank the same spiritual drink, for they were drinking from a spiritual rock which followed them; and the rock was Christ.Christian Standard Bible
and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the spiritual rock that followed them, and that rock was Christ.Holman Christian Standard Bible
and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from a spiritual rock that followed them, and that rock was Christ.American Standard Version
and did all drink the same spiritual drink: for they drank of a spiritual rock that followed them: and the rock was Christ.Aramaic Bible in Plain English
And they all drank of the one drink of The Spirit, for they were drinking from The Rock of The Spirit, which was with them, but that Rock was The Messiah.Contemporary English Version
and drank the same spiritual drink, which flowed from the spiritual rock that followed them. That rock was Christ. Douay-Rheims Bible
And all drank the same spiritual drink; (and they drank of the spiritual rock that followed them, and the rock was Christ.) English Revised Version
and did all drink the same spiritual drink: for they drank of a spiritual rock that followed them: and the rock was Christ.GOD'S WORD® Translation
and all of them drank the same spiritual drink. They drank from the spiritual rock that went with them, and that rock was Christ.Good News Translation
and drank the same spiritual drink. They drank from the spiritual rock that went with them; and that rock was Christ himself. International Standard Version
and drank the same spiritual drink, for they drank from the spiritual rock that went with them. That rock was the Messiah.Literal Standard Version
and all drank the same spiritual drink, for they were drinking of a spiritual rock following them, and the rock was the Christ;Majority Standard Bible
and drank the same spiritual drink; for they drank from the spiritual rock that accompanied them, and that rock was Christ.New American Bible
and all drank the same spiritual drink, for they drank from a spiritual rock that followed them, and the rock was the Christ.NET Bible
and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they were all drinking from the spiritual rock that followed them, and the rock was Christ.New Revised Standard Version
and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the spiritual rock that followed them, and the rock was Christ.New Heart English Bible
and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank of a spiritual rock that followed them, and the rock was Christ.Webster's Bible Translation
And all drank the same spiritual drink: (for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them: and that Rock was Christ.)Weymouth New Testament
and all drank the same spiritual drink; for they long drank the water that flowed from the spiritual rock that went with them--and that rock was the Christ.World English Bible
and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank of a spiritual rock that followed them, and the rock was Christ. Young's Literal Translation
and all the same spiritual drink did drink, for they were drinking of a spiritual rock following them, and the rock was the Christ;Additional Translations ...

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(4) That spiritual Rock that followed them.--There was a Jewish tradition that the Rock--i.e., a fragment broken off from the rock smitten by Moses--followed the Israelites through their journey, and St. Paul, for the purpose of illustration, adopts that account instead of the statement in Numbers 20:11. The emphatic repetition of the word "spiritual" before "drink" and "rock" reminds the reader that it is the spiritual and not the historic aspect of the fact which is present to St. Paul's mind. The traditional account of the Rock was a more complete illustration of the abiding presence of God, which was the point that the Apostle here desires to bring forward.

And that Rock was Christ.--As Christ was "God manifest in the flesh" in the New Dispensation, so God manifest in the Rock (the source of sustaining life) was the Christ of the Old Dispensation. The Jews had become familiar with the thought of God as a Rock. (See 1Samuel 2:2; Psalm 91:12; Isaiah 32:2.) Though the Jews may have recognised the Rock poetically as God, they knew not that it was, as a manifestation of God's presence, typical of the manifestation which was yet to be given in the Incarnation. Such seems to be the force of the statement and of the word "But" which emphatically introduces it. But though they thought it only a Rock, or applied the word poetically to Jehovah, that Rock was Christ.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 4. - The same spiritual drink. The water from the smitten rock might (Exodus 17:6; Numbers 20:11) be called a "spiritual" drink, both as being a miraculous gift (comp. Galatians 4:29, where Isaac is said to be "born after the spirit"), and as being a type of that "living water" which "springs up into everlasting life" (John 4:14; John 7:37), and of the blood of Christ in the Eucharist (John 6:55). These "waters in the wilderness" and "rivers in the desert" were a natural symbol of the grace of God (Isaiah 43:23; Isaiah 55:1), especially as bestowed in the sacrament through material signs. They drank; literally, they were drinking, implying a continuous gift. Of that spiritual Rock that followed them; rather, literally, of a spiritual following Rock. This is explained

(1) as a mere figure of speech, in which the natural rock which Moses smote is left out of sight altogether; and

(2) as meaning that not the rock, but the water from the rock, followed after them in their wanderings (Deuteronomy 9:21). There can, however, be little or no doubt that St. Paul refers to the common Jewish Hagadah, that the actual material rock did follow the Israelites in their wanderings. The rabbis said that it was round, and rolled itself up like a swarm of bees, and that, when the tabernacle was pitched, this rock came and settled in its vestibule, and began to flow when the princes came to it and sang, "Spring up, O well; sing ye unto it" (Numbers 21:17). It does not, of course, follow from this allusion that St. Paul, or even the rabbis, believed their Hagadah in other than a metaphorical sense. The Jewish Hagadoth - legends and illustrations and inferences of an imaginative Oriental people - are not to be taken au pied de la lettre. St. Paul obviates the laying of any stress on the mere legend by the qualifying word, "a spiritual Rock." And that Rock was Christ. The writings of Philo, and the Alexandrian school of thought in general, had familiarized all Jewish readers with language of this kind. They were accustomed to see types of God, or of the Word (Logos), in almost every incident of the deliverance from Egypt and the wanderings in the wilderness. Thus in Wisd. 10:15 and Wisdom 11:4 it is Wisdom - another form of the Logos - who leads and supports the Israelites. The frequent comparison, of God to a Rock in the Old Testament (Deuteronomy 32, passim; 1 Samuel 2:2; Psalm 91:12, etc.) would render the symbolism more easy, especially as in Exodus 17:6 we find, "Behold, I [Jehovah] will stand before thee there upon the rock in Horeb." Parallel Commentaries ...

Greek

and
καὶ (kai)
Conjunction
Strong's 2532: And, even, also, namely.

drank
ἔπιον (epion)
Verb - Aorist Indicative Active - 3rd Person Plural
Strong's 4095: To drink, imbibe. A prolonged form of pio, which poo occurs only as an alternate in certain tenses; to imbibe.

1 Corinthians 10:4 - Warnings from Israel's Past (2024)

References