What Does 1 Corinthians 10:21 Mean in the King James?

Ye cannot drink the cup of the Lord, and the cup of devils: ye cannot be partakers of the Lord’s table, and of the table of devils.

1 Corinthians 10:21 · KJV

The analysis reads the King James wording.

King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.

This verse in the Selah Decoded Version

THE KEY

A partaker shares in a table’s source, so the verse makes communion an allegiance that cannot be split.

THE MEANING

This verse names a real incompatibility: the Lord’s cup and the demons’ cup bind participation to different sources. Sharing a table is not empty contact; it joins the participant to what the meal represents. Rival allegiances cannot be made interchangeable.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

It undoes the belief that sacred eating is only a private ritual, with no binding relation to what it honors.

THE ROOT

μετέχειν

metechein

GROWS FROM

μετέχω

metechō

To have a share with; to participate.

“partakers” in this verse is metechein. The verb carries the sense of having a share with something. Its related words name a partner and a shared participation, revealing that eating at a table can mean joining what that table represents.

ALSO GROWS

metochos: A partner or sharer.

μέτοχος

The participant is a partner in what the table serves.

metochē: Participation or a share.

μετοχή

This names the shared portion that makes the meal an act of communion.

THE PATTERN

Eating and drinking at a sacred table enact participation in the power or covenant that the table represents.

They joined themselves also unto Baal-peor, and ate the sacrifices of the dead.

Psalm 106:28 · KJVTheir joining to Baalpeor is expressed through eating the sacrifices, showing a meal embodying attachment to what it honors.

Behold Israel after the flesh: are not they which eat of the sacrifices partakers of the altar?

1 Corinthians 10:18 · KJVThose who eat the sacrifices are called partakers of the altar, making the meal a concrete form of participation.

The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ?

1 Corinthians 10:16 · KJVThe cup and bread are called communion in Christ’s blood and body, showing shared eating and drinking as a bond.

THE THREAD

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

1 Corinthians 10:17 · KJV

The same Greek verb for partaking appears here and in the warning: sharing a table makes participation real. Here the shared bread forms one body; the next verse presses the implication that the table’s source matters.

Read the SDV Bible.

Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.

Get Selah Verse

The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.

Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us