1 Corinthians 11:17-34

Easy-to-Read Version

The Lord’s Supper

¹⁷ In the things I tell you now I don’t praise you. Your meetings hurt you more than they help you. ¹⁸ First, I hear that when you meet together as a church you are divided. And this is not hard to believe ¹⁹ because of your idea that you must have separate groups to show who the real believers are!

²⁰ When you all come together, it is not really the Lord’s Supper^[a] you are eating. ²¹ I say this because when you eat, each one eats without waiting for the others. Some people don’t get enough to eat or drink, while others have too much.^{[b] 22} You can eat and drink in your own homes. It seems that you think God’s church is not important. You embarrass those who are poor. What can I say? Should I praise you? No, I cannot praise you for this.

²³ The teaching I gave you is the same that I received from the Lord: On the night when the Lord Jesus was handed over to be killed, he took bread ²⁴ and gave thanks for it. Then he divided the bread and said, “This is my body; it is for you. Eat this to remember me.” ²⁵ In the same way, after they ate, Jesus took the cup of wine. He said, “This cup represents the new agreement from God, which begins with my blood sacrifice. When you drink this, do it to remember me.” ²⁶ This means that every time you eat this bread and drink this cup, you are telling others about the Lord’s death until he comes again.

²⁷ So if you eat the bread or drink the cup of the Lord in a way that does not fit its meaning, you are sinning against the body and the blood of the Lord. ²⁸ Before you eat the bread and drink the cup, you should examine your own attitude. ²⁹ If you eat and drink without paying attention to those who are the Lord’s body, your eating and drinking will cause you to be judged guilty. ³⁰ That is why many in your group are sick and weak, and many have died. ³¹ But if we judged ourselves in the right way, then God would not judge us. ³² But when the Lord judges us, he punishes us to show us the right way. He does this so that we will not be condemned with the world.

³³ So, my brothers and sisters, when you come together to eat, wait for each other. ³⁴ If some are too hungry to wait, they should eat at home. Do this so that your meeting together will not bring God’s judgment on you. I will tell you what to do about the other things when I come.