1 Corinthians 10:17

Amplified Bible

Since there is one bread, we [believers] who are many are [united into] one body; for we all partake of the one bread [which represents the body of Christ].

Parallel Translations

English Standard Version
Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread.

Geneva Bible (1587)
For we that are many, are one bread and one body, because we all are partakers of one bread.

Christian Standard Bible®
Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, since all of us share the one bread.

Hebrew Names Version
Seeing that we, who are many, are one bread, one body; for we all partake of the one bread.

Darby Translation
Because we, [being] many, are one loaf, one body; for we all partake of that one loaf.

Easy-to-Read Version
There is one loaf of bread, so we who are many are one body, because we all share in that one loaf.

American Standard Version
seeing that we, who are many, are one bread, one body: for we all partake of the one bread.

Berean Standard Bible
Because there is one loaf, we who are many are one body; for we all partake of the one loaf.

Contemporary English Version
By sharing in the same loaf of bread, we become one body, even though there are many of us.

Complete Jewish Bible
Because there is one loaf of bread, we who are many constitute one body, since we all partake of the one loaf of bread.

International Standard Version
Because there is one loaf, we who are many are one body, because all of us partake of the one loaf.Romans 12:5; 1 Corinthians 12:27;">[xr]

Etheridge Translation
As, then, one is that bread, so are we one body: for all we that one bread receive.

Murdock Translation
As therefore that bread is one, so we are all one body; for we all take to ourselves from that one bread.

King James Version (1611)
For we being many are one bread, and one body: for we are all partakers of that one bread.

Bishop's Bible (1568)
For we that are many, are one bread and one body, in as much as we all are partakers of one bread.

English Revised Version
seeing that we, who are many, are one bread, one body: for we all partake of the one bread.

King James Version
For we being many are one bread, and one body: for we are all partakers of that one bread.

Lexham English Bible
Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all share from the one bread.

Literal Translation
Because we, the many, are one bread, one body, for we all partake of the one bread.

New Century Version
Because there is one loaf of bread, we who are many are one body, because we all share that one loaf.

New English Translation
Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all share the one bread.

New King James Version
For we, though many, are one bread and one body; for we all partake of that one bread.

New Living Translation
And though we are many, we all eat from one loaf of bread, showing that we are one body.

New Revised Standard
Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread.

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
Because, one loaf, one body, we, the many, are, for we, all, of the one loaf, partake.

Douay-Rheims Bible
For we, being many, are one bread, one body: all that partake of one bread.

George Lamsa Translation
For just as the loaf of bread is one, so we are all one body; for we are all partakers of that one bread.

Good News Translation
Because there is the one loaf of bread, all of us, though many, are one body, for we all share the same loaf.

Webster's Bible Translation
For we [being] many are one bread, [and] one body: for we are all partakers of that one bread.

World English Bible
Seeing that we, who are many, are one bread, one body; for we all partake of the one bread.

Wesley's New Testament (1755)
For we, being many, are one bread, and one body; for we are all partakers of the one bread.

Weymouth's New Testament
Since there is one loaf, we who are many are one body; we, all of us, share in that one loaf.

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
For we manye ben o breed and o bodi, alle we that taken part of o breed and of o cuppe.

Revised Standard Version
Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread.

Tyndale New Testament (1525)
because that we (though we be many) yet are one breed and one bodye in as moch as we all are partetakers of one breed.

Update Bible Version
seeing that we, who are many, are one bread, one body: for we all partake of the one bread.

Young's Literal Translation
because one bread, one body, are we the many -- for we all of the one bread do partake.

Bible in Basic English
Because we, being a number of persons, are one bread, we are one body: for we all take part in the one bread.

New American Standard Bible
Since there is one loaf, we who are many are one body; for we all partake of the one loaf.

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
The bred that we breake, is it not ye partakinge of ye body of Christ? For we many, are one bred & one body, in as moch as we all are partakers of one bred.

Mace New Testament (1729)
for the bread being one, as many as we are, we are one body: for we are all partakers of that one bread.

New Life Bible
There is one bread, and many of us Christians make up the body of Christ. All of us eat from that bread.

Simplified Cowboy Version
We all eat from the same loaf because we are all of the same body.

New American Standard Bible (1995)
Since there is one bread, we who are many are one body; for we all partake of the one bread.

Legacy Standard Bible
Since there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread.

Contextual Overview

¹⁵I am speaking as to wise and sensible people; judge [carefully and thoughtfully consider] for yourselves what I say. ¹⁶Is the cup of blessing which we bless [at the Lord's Supper] not a sharing in the blood of Christ? [Indeed it is.] Is the bread which we break not a sharing in the body of Christ? [Indeed it is.] ¹⁷Since there is one bread, we [believers] who are many are [united into] one body; for we all partake of the one bread [which represents the body of Christ].¹⁸Consider the people of Israel; are those who eat the sacrifices not partners of the altar [united in their worship of the same God]? [Indeed they are.] ¹⁹What do I mean then? That a thing offered to idols is anything [special or changed simply because it is offered], or that an idol is anything? ²⁰On the contrary, the things which the Gentiles (pagans) sacrifice, they sacrifice to demons [in effect], and not to God; and I do not want you to become partners with demons [by eating at feasts in pagan temples]. ²¹You cannot drink [both] the Lord's cup and the cup of demons. You cannot share in both the Lord's table and the table of demons [thereby becoming partners with them]. ²²Do we [really] provoke the Lord to jealousy [when we eat food sacrificed to handmade "gods" at pagan feasts]? Are we [spiritually] stronger than He? [Certainly not! He knows that the idols are nothing. But we deeply offend Him.]

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

we being: 1 Corinthians 12:12, 1 Corinthians 12:27, Romans 12:5, Galatians 3:26-28, Ephesians 1:22, Ephesians 1:23, Ephesians 2:15, Ephesians 2:16, Ephesians 3:6, Ephesians 4:12, Ephesians 4:13, Ephesians 4:25, Colossians 2:19, Colossians 3:11, Colossians 3:15

that: 1 Corinthians 10:3, 1 Corinthians 10:4, 1 Corinthians 10:21, 1 Corinthians 11:26-28

Reciprocal: Matthew 26:26 - and brake Mark 14:22 - as John 6:48 - General Acts 2:42 - in breaking 1 Corinthians 5:7 - ye may 1 Corinthians 11:24 - this Ephesians 4:4 - one body Hebrews 3:1 - partakers Hebrews 3:14 - we are Hebrews 13:10 - an altar

Cross-References

Genesis 34:2
When Shechem the son of Hamor the Hivite, prince (sheik) of the land, saw her, he kidnapped her and lay [intimately] with her by force [humbling and offending her].

Gill's Notes on the Bible

For we being many, are one bread and one body,.... The several members of the church of Christ; particular believers are indeed many, considered in themselves, in their own persons; yet by virtue of their union to Christ, which is manifested by their communion with him, they are one bread with him, the bread of life, and one body with his, signified by the bread; they are of one and the same mass and lump, they are incorporated together, they are flesh of his flesh, and one spirit with him: or they are one bread and body among themselves; as bread consists of many grains of corn which have been ground and kneaded together, and make up one loaf; and as the members of an human body are many, and make up one body; so believers, though they are many, yet are one body, of which Christ is the head; one in union with him and one another, and one in their communion together at the Lord's table; and so the Syriac, Arabic, and Ethiopic versions read, "as therefore the bread is one, so we all are one body"; having communion with Christ and one another:

for we are all partakers of that one bread; in the supper, which is all of the same nature and kind, and is a symbol of the body of Christ, and our fellowship with him and each other. The application designed is this, that as believers, by partaking of the same bread, appear to be the same body, and of the same mass and lump with one another; so such as eat things sacrificed unto idols, appear to be of the same mass and lump with Heathen idolaters: Dr. Lightfoot has very pertinently produced some passages out of Maimonides, concerning mixing, associating, or communion of neighbours in courts on sabbath eves, that so they may enter into each other's houses on the sabbath day, for the illustration of this passage; of which mixing the Jews have a whole treatise in their Misna and Talmud, which they call Erubin; and of which they say h

"but how is this mixture or association? it is thus, they mix together, במאכל אחד, "in one food", which they prepare on the eve of the sabbath; and it is as if they should say, for we are all mixed together, and have all one food; nor does anyone of us divide the right from his neighbour--they do not mix in courts, but בפת שלימה "with a whole loaf" only; though the mass or lump baked may be the quantity of a "seah", yet if it is broken, they do not associate with it; but if it is whole, though it be but the value of a farthing, they mix with it--how do they mix or associate together in the courts? they collect

הלה אחת שלימה, "one whole cake", out of every house, and put all in one vessel, in one of the houses of the court--and the whole association being gathered together, blesses the Lord--and eats:''

upon which the above learned writer observes, that if it were customary among the Israelites, to join together in one political or economical body, by the eating of many loaves collected from this, and that, and the other man; we are much more associated together into one body, by eating one and the same bread, appointed us by our Saviour.

h Maimon. Hilch. Erubin, c. 1. sect. 6, 8, 16.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

For we - We Christians. “Being many.” Greek “The many” (οἱ πολλοί hoi polloi). This idea is not, as our translation would seem to indicate, that Christians were numerous, but that “all” (for οἱ πολλοί hoi polloi is here evidently used in the sense of παντες pantes, “all”) were united, and constituted one society.

Are one bread - One loaf; one cake. That is, we are united, or are one. There is evident allusion here to the fact that the loaf or cake was composed of many separate grains of wheat, or portions of flour united in one; or, that as one loaf was broken and partaken by all, it was implied that they were all one. We are all one society; united as one, and for the same object. Our partaking of the same bread is an emblem of the fact that we are one. In almost all nations the act of eating together has been regarded as a symbol of unity or friendship.

And one body - One society; united together.

For we are all partakers ... - And we thus show publicly that we are united, and belong to the same great family. The argument is, that if we partake of the feasts in honor of idols with their worshippers, we shall thus show that we are a part of their society.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse 17. For we, being many, are one bread — The original would be better translated thus: Because there is one bread, or loaf; we, who are many, are one body. As only one loaf was used at the passover, and those who partook of it were considered to be one religious body; so we who partake of the eucharistical bread and wine, in commemoration of the sacrificial death of Christ, are one spiritual society, because we are all made partakers of that one Christ whose blood was shed for us to make an atonement for our sins; as the blood of the paschal lamb was shed and sprinkled in reference to this of which it was the type.