1 Corinthians 10:32

10:32 Do not give offense to Jews or Greeks or to the church of God,

Leviticus 19:14

19:14 You must not curse a deaf person or put a stumbling block in front of a blind person. ¹  You must fear ²  your God; I am the Lord.

Isaiah 57:14

57:14 He says, ³ 

“Build it! Build it! Clear a way!

Remove all the obstacles out of the way of my people!”

Ezekiel 14:3

14:3 “Son of man, these men have erected their idols in their hearts and placed the obstacle leading to their iniquity ⁴  right before their faces. Should I really allow them to seek ⁵  me?

Ezekiel 44:12

44:12 Because they used to minister to them before their idols, and became a sinful obstacle ⁶  to the house of Israel, consequently I have made a vow ⁷  concerning them, declares the sovereign Lord, that they will be responsible ⁸  for their sin.

Romans 14:13-15

Exhortation for the Strong not to Destroy the Weak

14:13 Therefore we must not pass judgment on one another, but rather determine never to place an obstacle or a trap before a brother or sister. ⁹  14:14 I know and am convinced in the Lord Jesus that there is nothing unclean in itself; still, it is unclean to the one who considers it unclean. 14:15 For if your brother or sister ¹⁰  is distressed because of what you eat, ¹¹  you are no longer walking in love. ¹²  Do not destroy by your food someone for whom Christ died.

Romans 14:20

14:20 Do not destroy the work of God for the sake of food. For although all things are clean, ¹³  it is wrong to cause anyone to stumble by what you eat.

Galatians 5:13

Practice Love

5:13 For you were called to freedom, brothers and sisters; ¹⁴  only do not use your freedom as an opportunity to indulge your flesh, ¹⁵  but through love serve one another. ¹⁶ 

Revelation 2:14

2:14 But I have a few things against you: You have some people there who follow the teaching of Balaam, ¹⁷  who instructed Balak to put a stumbling block ¹⁸  before the people ¹⁹  of Israel so they would eat food sacrificed to idols and commit sexual immorality. ²⁰ 

[19:14]  ¹ tn Heb “You shall not curse a deaf [person] and before a blind [person] you shall not put a stumbling block.”

[19:14]  ² tn Heb “And you shall fear.” Many English versions (e.g., KJV, ASV, NAB, NASB, NIV) regard the Hebrew conjunction ו (vav, “and”) as adversative in force here (“but”).

[57:14]  ³ tn Since God is speaking throughout this context, perhaps we should emend the text to “and I say.” However, divine speech is introduced in v. 15.

[14:3]  ⁴ tn Heb “the stumbling block of their iniquity.” This phrase is unique to the prophet Ezekiel.

[14:3]  ⁵ tn Or “I will not reveal myself to them.” The Hebrew word is used in a technical sense here of seeking an oracle from a prophet (2 Kgs 1:16; 3:11; 8:8).

[44:12]  ⁶ tn Heb “a stumbling block of iniquity.” This is a unique phrase of the prophet Ezekiel (cf. also Ezek 7:19; 14:3, 4, 7; 18:30).

[44:12]  ⁷ tn Heb “I lifted up my hand.”

[44:12]  ⁸ tn Heb “will bear.”

[14:13]  ⁹ tn Grk “brother.”

[14:15]  ¹⁰ tn Grk “brother.”

[14:15]  ¹¹ tn Grk “on account of food.”

[14:15]  ¹² tn Grk “according to love.”

[14:20]  ¹³ sn Here clean refers to food being ceremonially clean.

[5:13]  ¹⁴ tn Grk “brothers.” See note on the phrase “brothers and sisters” in 1:11.

[5:13]  ¹⁵ tn Grk “as an opportunity for the flesh”; BDAG 915 s.v. σάρξ 2.c.α states: “In Paul’s thought esp., all parts of the body constitute a totality known as σ. or flesh, which is dominated by sin to such a degree that wherever flesh is, all forms of sin are likew. present, and no good thing can live in the σάρξ…Gal 5:13, 24;…Opp. τὸ πνεῦμα…Gal 3:3; 5:16, 17ab; 6:8ab.”

[5:13]  ¹⁶ tn It is possible that the verb δουλεύετε (douleuete) should be translated “serve one another in a humble manner” here, referring to the way in which slaves serve their masters (see L&N 35.27).

[2:14]  ¹⁷ sn See Num 22-24; 31:16.

[2:14]  ¹⁸ tn That is, a cause for sinning. An alternate translation is “who instructed Balak to cause the people of Israel to sin by eating food sacrificed to idols…”

[2:14]  ¹⁹ tn Grk “sons,” but the expression υἱοὶ ᾿Ισραήλ (Juioi Israhl) is an idiom for the people of Israel as an ethnic entity (see L&N 11.58).

[2:14]  ²⁰ tn Due to the actual events in the OT (Num 22-24; 31:16), πορνεῦσαι (porneusai) is taken to mean “sexual immorality.” BDAG 854 s.v. πορνεύω 1 states, “engage in illicit sex, to fornicate, to whore…W. φαγεῖν εἰδωλόθυτα ‘eat meat offered to idols’ Rv 2:14, 20.”