---
title: 1 Corinthians 10:21
url: https://jw-apologetics.app/verses/1-corinthians-10-21/
markdown: https://jw-apologetics.app/verses/1-corinthians-10-21.md
type: verse
perspective: Protestant (historic Nicene) response to Jehovah's Witness teaching
reference: 1 Corinthians 10:21
testament: NT
section: Letters
index: https://jw-apologetics.app/llms.txt
---

# 1 Corinthians 10:21

## Text (Berean Standard Bible)

> You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons too; you cannot partake in the table of the Lord and the table of demons too.

## NWT Wording of the Key Phrase

- NWT (2013 revision): "You cannot be drinking the cup of Jehovah and the cup of demons; you cannot be partaking of “the table of Jehovah” and the table of demons."

## Protestant Usage

"The table of the Lord" is Old Testament language for Jehovah's altar (Malachi 1:7, 12, "the table of Jehovah"), and "are we provoking the Lord to jealousy?" (10:22) echoes Deuteronomy 32:21, where Jehovah is "incited to fury with what is not a god." In context, though, the cup and table belong to Christ: "the cup of blessing... is it not a sharing in the blood of the Christ?" (10:16). A chapter later Paul calls the same meal "the Lord's Evening Meal" and speaks of "the cup of the Lord" and "the body and the blood of the Lord" (11:20, 27). Paul takes Jehovah's table and Jehovah's jealousy and applies them to the Lord Jesus, whose meal it is. Jealousy over worship is something Scripture ascribes to God alone (Exodus 34:14, "a God who requires exclusive devotion").

## NWT Issue

The Greek has kyrios ("Lord") in 10:21-22. The NWT renders it "Jehovah" ("the cup of Jehovah," "the table of Jehovah," "inciting Jehovah to jealousy"), yet renders the same meal "the Lord's Evening Meal" and "the cup of the Lord" in 11:20 and 11:27. Read together in the NWT, the table Paul calls Jehovah's is the meal of the Lord Jesus.

## Arguments Using This Verse

- [Jesus Delivered Israel from Egypt](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/jude5-jesus-delivered-israel.md) — Jude 5 [Deity of Christ]