But this is what I have against you: you do not love me now as you did at first.

But this is what I have against you: you tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a messenger of God. By her teaching she misleads my servants into practicing sexual immorality and eating food that has been offered to idols.

Balaam said to Balak, "Now I am going back to my own people, but before I go, I am warning you what the people of Israel will do to your people in the future."

When the Israelites were camped at Acacia Valley, the men began to have sexual intercourse with the Moabite women who were there.

Baal of Peor. So the LORD was angry with them

including the five kings of Midian: Evi, Rekem, Zur, Hur, and Reba. They also killed Balaam son of Beor.

Remember that it was the women who followed Balaam's instructions and at Peor led the people to be unfaithful to the LORD. That was what brought the epidemic on the LORD's people.

Then the king of Moab, Balak son of Zippor, fought against you. He sent word to Balaam son of Beor and asked him to put a curse on you.

They have left the straight path and have lost their way; they have followed the path taken by Balaam son of Beor, who loved the money he would get for doing wrong

How terrible for them! They have followed the way that Cain took. For the sake of money they have given themselves over to the error that Balaam committed. They have rebelled as Korah rebelled, and like him they are destroyed.

The LORD says, "Let my people return to me. Remove every obstacle from their path! Build the road and make it ready!

And so I will make these people stumble and fall. Parents and children will die, and so will friends and neighbors."

"If someone truly good starts doing evil and I put him in a dangerous situation, he will die if you do not warn him. He will die because of his sins---I will not remember the good he did---and I will hold you responsible for his death.

But because they conducted the worship of idols for the people of Israel and in this way led the people into sin, I, the Sovereign LORD, solemnly swear that they must be punished.

How terrible for the world that there are things that make people lose their faith! Such things will always happen---but how terrible for the one who causes them!

And why not? Because they did not depend on faith but on what they did. And so they stumbled over the "stumbling stone"

And David says, "May they be caught and trapped at their feasts; may they fall, may they be punished!

So then, let us stop judging one another. Instead, you should decide never to do anything that would make others stumble or fall into sin.

The right thing to do is to keep from eating meat, drinking wine, or doing anything else that will make other believers fall.

As for us, we proclaim the crucified Christ, a message that is offensive to the Jews and nonsense to the Gentiles;

Be careful, however, not to let your freedom of action make those who are weak in the faith fall into sin.

And another scripture says, "This is the stone that will make people stumble, the rock that will make them fall." They stumbled because they did not believe in the word; such was God's will for them.

But this is what I have against you: you tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a messenger of God. By her teaching she misleads my servants into practicing sexual immorality and eating food that has been offered to idols.

Instead, we should write a letter telling them not to eat any food that is ritually unclean because it has been offered to idols; to keep themselves from sexual immorality; and not to eat any animal that has been strangled, or any blood.

For the Law of Moses has been read for a very long time in the synagogues every Sabbath, and his words are preached in every town."

eat no food that has been offered to idols; eat no blood; eat no animal that has been strangled; and keep yourselves from sexual immorality. You will do well if you take care not to do these things. With our best wishes."

But as for the Gentiles who have become believers, we have sent them a letter telling them we decided that they must not eat any food that has been offered to idols, or any blood, or any animal that has been strangled, and that they must keep themselves from sexual immorality."

So then, about eating the food offered to idols: we know that an idol stands for something that does not really exist; we know that there is only the one God.

yet there is for us only one God, the Father, who is the Creator of all things and for whom we live; and there is only one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom all things were created and through whom we live.

Food, however, will not improve our relation with God; we shall not lose anything if we do not eat, nor shall we gain anything if we do eat.

Suppose a person whose conscience is weak in this matter sees you, who have so-called "knowledge," eating in the temple of an idol; will not this encourage him to eat food offered to idols?

And in this way you will be sinning against Christ by sinning against other Christians and wounding their weak conscience.

Consider the people of Israel; those who eat what is offered in sacrifice share in the altar's service to God.

No! What I am saying is that what is sacrificed on pagan altars is offered to demons, not to God. And I do not want you to be partners with demons.

Or do we want to make the Lord jealous? Do we think that we are stronger than he?

None of you should be looking out for your own interests, but for the interests of others.

For, as the scripture says, "The earth and everything in it belong to the Lord."

But if someone tells you, "This food was offered to idols," then do not eat that food, for the sake of the one who told you and for conscience' sake---

If I thank God for my food, why should anyone criticize me about food for which I give thanks?"

But cowards, traitors, perverts, murderers, the immoral, those who practice magic, those who worship idols, and all liars---the place for them is the lake burning with fire and sulfur, which is the second death."

But outside the city are the perverts and those who practice magic, the immoral and the murderers, those who worship idols and those who are liars both in words and deeds.

Someone else will say, "Food is for the stomach, and the stomach is for food." Yes; but God will put an end to both. The body is not to be used for sexual immorality, but to serve the Lord; and the Lord provides for the body.

You know that your bodies are parts of the body of Christ. Shall I take a part of Christ's body and make it part of the body of a prostitute? Impossible!

But he who joins himself to the Lord becomes spiritually one with him.

But because there is so much immorality, every man should have his own wife, and every woman should have her own husband.

Marriage is to be honored by all, and husbands and wives must be faithful to each other. God will judge those who are immoral and those who commit adultery.