The psalm's 'you have put all things under his feet' undergirds the early Christian conviction that all things belong to those in Christ. Paul's 'all things are yours' may draw on this dominion-over-all-things theology, but the connection is diffuse and contested here, lacking verbal markers in this pericope.

You make him ruler over the works of your hands. You have put all things under his feet:


Paul's claim that the Lord at his coming 'will bring to light the hidden things of darkness' echoes Daniel's praise that God 'reveals the deep and secret things; he knows what is in the darkness, and the light dwells with him.' The pairing of God revealing hidden things and darkness/light is verbally and conceptually close, and Daniel is a primary Second-Temple locus for divine disclosure of mysteries (mystērion), the very term Paul uses in v.1.

he reveals the deep and secret things; he knows what is in the darkness, and the light dwells with him.


'He uncovers deep things out of darkness, and brings out to light the shadow of death' supplies the same image Paul deploys: God exposing what is concealed in darkness. The verbal coherence (darkness brought to light) supports an echo, though the motif is widespread enough to be one of several converging texts rather than a single quotation.

He uncovers deep things out of darkness, and brings out to light the shadow of death.


Qoheleth's conclusion that 'God will bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether good or evil' parallels Paul's eschatological judgment that discloses the heart's hidden counsels so each receives praise. The shared structure of a final divine assize over hidden things gives this echo coherence with Paul's argument against premature human judgment.

For God will bring every work into judgment, with every hidden thing, whether it is good, or whether it is evil.


'I, Yahweh, search the mind, I try the heart, even to give every man according to his ways' grounds Paul's insistence that the Lord—not the Corinthians—judges, weighing hidden motives and rendering each his due. The heart-searching God who recompenses by inward reality coheres tightly with v.5's revelation of the counsels of the hearts.

I, Yahweh, search the mind, I try the heart, even to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his doings.


'You have set our iniquities before you, our secret sins in the light of your face' offers the secret-sins-exposed-to-divine-light motif underlying v.5. The echo is faint and one of a cluster, but it reinforces the heart-exposure theme; marked low for limited verbal volume.

You have set our iniquities before you, our secret sins in the light of your presence.


The psalm's God who searches and knows the psalmist, discerning his thoughts from afar, underlies Paul's confidence that the Lord alone reads the hidden counsels of the heart. A diffuse echo in the same heart-searching tradition as Jeremiah 17:10; low for lack of distinctive wording.

Yahweh, you have searched me, and you know me. You know my sitting down and my rising up. You perceive my thoughts from afar.


'Don't be wise in your own eyes' resonates with Paul's warning against being 'puffed up' beyond 'the things which are written.' The wisdom tradition's caution against self-inflated wisdom coheres with Paul's deflation of Corinthian boasting, though no verbal quotation is present.

Don’t be wise in your own eyes. Fear Yahweh, and depart from evil.


Jeremiah's command not to glory in wisdom, might, or riches but only in the Lord stands behind Paul's challenge in v.7: 'What do you have that you didn't receive? Why do you boast?' Paul elsewhere quotes this Jeremiah passage in the same letter (1:31), strengthening recurrence; here the un-derivative boasting Paul attacks is precisely the self-glory Jeremiah forbids.

Thus says Yahweh, Don’t let the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his might, don’t let the rich man glory in his riches; but let him who glories glory in this, that he has understanding, and knows me, that I am Yahweh who exercises loving kindness, justice, and righteousness, in the earth: for in these things I delight, says Yahweh.


Moses' warning that Israel must not say 'My power and the might of my hand has gotten me this wealth,' but remember it is the Lord who gives the power, matches Paul's logic that everything is received, leaving no ground for boasting. The gift-not-achievement theme coheres closely with v.7.

and lest you say in your heart, “My power and the might of my hand has gotten me this wealth.” But you shall remember Yahweh your God, for it is he who gives you power to get wealth; that he may establish his covenant which he swore to your fathers, as at this day.


David's prayer, 'all things come from you, and of your own have we given you,' captures the received-gift theology of v.7. A thematic echo of creaturely receipt undercutting self-glory; low because the connection is conceptual rather than verbal.

But who am I, and what is my people, that we should be able to offer so willingly as this? For all things come from you, and of your own have we given you.


'For your sake we are killed all day long; we are counted as sheep for the slaughter' underlies Paul's depiction of the apostles displayed 'like men sentenced to death,' a spectacle suffering for the gospel. Paul cites this very psalm in Romans 8:36, evidencing recurrence and a settled reading of the righteous-as-condemned motif.

Yes, for your sake we are killed all day long. We are regarded as sheep for the slaughter.


'You have made us an offscouring and refuse in the middle of the peoples' is verbally the closest OT analogue to Paul's 'we are made as the filth of the world, the dirt wiped off by all' (v.13). The rare offscouring/refuse imagery applied to a suffering people of God gives this high volume and coherence with Paul's catalogue of abasement.

You have made us an off-scouring and refuse in the midst of the peoples.


'I have become a reproach to them; when they see me, they shake their head' matches the reviling and defaming the apostles endure (vv.12-13) as the righteous-sufferer treated with contempt. Coheres with the lament-psalm pattern of the persecuted righteous that shapes Paul's hardship list.

I have also become a reproach to them. When they see me, they shake their head.


The Servant 'despised and rejected by men,' held of no account, stands behind Paul's portrait of apostolic dishonor, weakness, and being scorned as fools and scum. The figural assimilation of apostles to the Suffering Servant pattern is coherent with Paul's Christ-conformed weakness, though no direct citation occurs.

He was despised, and rejected by men; a man of suffering, and acquainted with disease. He was despised as one from whom men hide their face; and we didn’t respect him.


The Servant who gives his back to the smiters and does not hide from shame and spitting parallels the beaten, reviled apostles who bless when cursed (vv.11-12). A faint figural echo within the Servant-suffering field; low for absence of distinctive shared wording.

I gave my back to the strikers, and my cheeks to those who plucked off the hair; I didn’t hide my face from shame and spitting.


Job, 'a laughingstock to his neighbor,' the just man mocked, anticipates the apostles made 'fools for Christ's sake' and a spectacle (vv.9-10). The Joban figure of the righteous turned object of derision coheres with Paul's reversal motif; faint and one of several wisdom echoes.

I am like one who is a joke to his neighbor, I, who called on God, and he answered. The just, the blameless man is a joke.


'I have become a derision to all my people, their song all day long' reinforces the reviled-and-defamed apostle of vv.12-13 within the same Lamentations matrix that supplies the offscouring image of v.13. Low individually but strengthens the Lamentations recurrence.

I am become a derision to all my people, and their song all the day.


Paul's 'we toil, working with our own hands' (v.12) faintly recalls the post-Edenic sentence of labor by the sweat of the brow. A diffuse echo of toil-as-creaturely-lot; low confidence and likely incidental.

By the sweat of your face will you eat bread until you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken. For you are dust, and to dust you shall return.”


'He who spares the rod hates his son, but he who loves him disciplines him diligently' undergirds Paul's father-to-children stance closing with the choice 'Shall I come to you with a rod, or in love?' (vv.14-21). The paternal-discipline rod is drawn from Proverbs' instruction tradition and coheres with Paul calling them his beloved children.

One who spares the rod hates his son, but one who loves him is careful to discipline him.


'The rod of discipline drives' folly far from a child reinforces the rod-of-paternal-correction image of v.21. A secondary wisdom echo alongside Proverbs 13:24; low because the single Proverbs locus already carries the allusion.

Folly is bound up in the heart of a child: the rod of discipline drives it far from him.


The messianic 'rod of iron' with which the king may break the nations could color Paul's threatened apostolic 'rod' (v.21), framing his authority in quasi-royal terms. Contested and faint: the immediate background is paternal/wisdom discipline, not royal judgment, so the Psalm 2 register is a possible overtone at best.

You shall break them with a rod of iron. You shall dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.”

Thou shalt rule them with a rod of iron; thou shalt dash them in pieces as a potter's vessel.


'He who loves his son will cause him to feel the rod often' restates the loving-father-with-rod ethic Paul invokes in v.21, evidencing the motif's currency in Second-Temple wisdom. Low and deuterocanonical, but it corroborates the availability of the disciplining-rod topos to Paul.

He that loves his son will continue to lay stripes upon him, That he may have joy of him in the end.


Paul's phrase 'one has his father's wife' verbally echoes the Levitical incest prohibition 'the nakedness of thy father's wife thou shalt not uncover.' High Volume (distinctive 'father's wife' formula) and strong Coherence with Paul's argument that the church surpasses even Gentile mores; the Holiness Code is the controlling intertext for the whole chapter.

“‘You shall not uncover the nakedness of your father’s wife. It is your father’s nakedness.


The immediately preceding verse frames the offense as uncovering 'the nakedness of thy father,' the broader Holiness-Code matrix from which 18:8 follows. Coherent with Paul's sense of a violation more fundamental than a single statute, though 18:8 is the closer verbal match.

“‘You shall not uncover the nakedness of your father, nor the nakedness of your mother: she is your mother. You shall not uncover her nakedness.


The capital-sanction parallel to 18:8: 'the man that lieth with his father's wife... both of them shall surely be put to death.' Its death penalty undergirds Paul's demand that the man 'be removed from among you,' linking the prohibition to communal expulsion. High Recurrence across Lev 18 and 20.

“‘The man who lies with his father’s wife has uncovered his father’s nakedness: both of them shall surely be put to death; their blood shall be upon them.


'Cursed be he that lieth with his father's wife' — the Deuteronomic curse-list naming the identical offense in nearly identical words. Strong Volume and Coherence; the covenantal curse motivates Paul's grief and call for removal rather than the Corinthians' boasting.

‘Cursed is he who lies with his father’s wife, because he dishonors his father’s bed.’ All the people shall say, ‘Amen.’


'A man shall not take his father's wife, nor discover his father's skirt' (LXX/Heb 23:1) restates the same prohibition in legislative form. Medium confidence because it overlaps Lev 18:8 and 27:20; included for Recurrence within the Torah's repeated condemnation of this exact union.

A man shall not take his father’s wife, and shall not uncover his father’s skirt.


'Deliver such a one to Satan for the destruction of the flesh' echoes the Lord handing Job over to the Satan 'in thine hand; but save his life' — affliction of the body permitted while the person is ultimately preserved. The structure of bodily harm under satanic agency with a saving limit gives moderate Coherence; the verbal link is conceptual rather than lexical.

Yahweh said to Satan, “Behold, he is in your hand. Only spare his life.”


The first delivery of Job's possessions into the Satan's power ('all that he hath is in thy power') reinforces the same handing-over schema. Low confidence and contested, included for Recurrence within the Job prologue's distinctive 'deliver to the Satan' motif behind Paul's formula.

Yahweh said to Satan, “Behold, all that he has is in your power. Only on himself don’t stretch out your hand.” So Satan went out from the presence of Yahweh.


'The destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved' may faintly resonate with the flesh/spirit duality of 'my spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh.' Faint and contested; offered for Availability within Israel's anthropology of mortal flesh versus enduring spirit.

Yahweh said, “My Spirit will not strive with man forever, because he also is flesh; so his days will be one hundred twenty years.”


'A little yeast leavens the whole lump... purge out the old yeast' draws directly on the Passover command to 'put away leaven out of your houses,' on pain of being 'cut off from Israel.' High Volume and Coherence: Paul reads the literal de-leavening as figural for purging the immoral man, and the cutting-off sanction matches 5:13.

“‘Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread; even the first day you shall put away yeast out of your houses, for whoever eats leavened bread from the first day until the seventh day, that soul shall be cut off from Israel.


'Seven days shall there be no leaven found in your houses' supplies the totality of leaven-removal behind 'leavens the whole lump' and 'purge out the old yeast.' Strong Recurrence within the Passover legislation that controls the pericope.

There shall be no yeast found in your houses for seven days, for whoever eats that which is leavened, that soul shall be cut off from the congregation of Israel, whether he be a foreigner, or one who is born in the land.


'Christ, our Passover, has been sacrificed' figurally identifies Jesus with the paschal lamb 'roast with fire, and unleavened bread' eaten that night. High Volume and Coherence: the lamb's sacrifice is the ground for keeping the feast 'with the unleavened bread of sincerity,' a paradigmatic figural reading of Exodus 12.

They shall eat the flesh in that night, roasted with fire, and unleavened bread. They shall eat it with bitter herbs.


The command that 'the whole assembly of Israel shall kill it' (the lamb) at twilight underlies 'Christ our Passover has been sacrificed.' Coherent with Paul's communal frame; the slaying of the paschal victim is the figural type fulfilled.

and you shall keep it until the fourteenth day of the same month; and the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it at evening.


'Unleavened bread shall be eaten... neither shall there be leaven seen with thee in all thy quarters' parallels 'keep the feast... with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.' Strong Coherence: the Feast of Unleavened Bread is the explicit referent of Paul's 'let us keep the feast.'

Unleavened bread shall be eaten throughout the seven days; and no leavened bread shall be seen with you, neither shall yeast be seen with you, in all your borders.


'Thou shalt eat no leavened bread with it; seven days... even the bread of affliction' provides the Deuteronomic form of the unleavened-bread feast Paul invokes. High Recurrence alongside Exodus 12-13; reinforces the festal command behind 5:8.

You shall eat no leavened bread with it. You shall eat unleavened bread with it seven days, even the bread of affliction; for you came out of the land of Egypt in haste; that you may remember the day when you came out of the land of Egypt all the days of your life.


'There shall be no leaven seen with thee in all thy coast seven days' restates the total purge of leaven during the feast. Medium confidence because it duplicates Exod 13:7; included for Recurrence of the leaven-removal command.

No yeast shall be seen with you in all your borders seven days; neither shall any of the flesh, which you sacrifice the first day at evening, remain all night until the morning.


'Thou shalt keep the feast of unleavened bread... as I commanded thee' is a further iteration of the festal command Paul reworks in 'let us keep the feast.' Low confidence, offered for Availability and Recurrence within the Pentateuch's repeated feast legislation.

You shall observe the feast of unleavened bread. Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread, as I commanded you, at the time appointed in the month Abib (for in it you came out of Egypt), and no one shall appear before me empty.


'Put away the wicked man from among yourselves' quotes the Deuteronomic expulsion formula 'so thou shalt put the evil away from among you,' here closing the idolatry/false-witness statute. Highest Volume in the chapter (verbatim LXX clause) and capstone Coherence: the literal de-leavening of 5:7 is realized as covenantal purging of the offender.

The hand of the witnesses shall be first on him to put him to death, and afterward the hand of all the people. So you shall remove the evil from your midst.


'So shalt thou put the evil away from among you' recurs in the law of the false witness, one of several Deuteronomic occurrences of the formula Paul cites. Medium confidence as a parallel source for the same refrain; strong Recurrence supports its availability behind 5:13.

then you shall do to him as he had thought to do to his brother. So you shall remove the evil from your midst.


'So shalt thou put evil away from among you' concludes the sexual-purity statute on a bride found unchaste — thematically apt since Paul applies the formula to a sexual offender. Coherent pairing of the expulsion refrain with sexual sin strengthens the link.

then they shall bring out the young lady to the door of her father’s house, and the men of her city shall stone her to death with stones, because she has done folly in Israel, to play the prostitute in her father’s house. So you shall remove the evil from your midst.


The same 'put away evil from among you' caps the adultery law of vv.23-24, another sexual-sin instance of the refrain. Low confidence given heavy overlap with the other occurrences; listed for Recurrence.

then you shall bring them both out to the gate of that city, and you shall stone them to death with stones; the lady, because she didn’t cry, being in the city; and the man, because he has humbled his neighbor’s wife. So you shall remove the evil from your midst.


'So shalt thou put evil away from among you,' closing the law against man-stealing, is a further occurrence of the formula Paul draws on. Low confidence; included to document the full Recurrence pattern across Deuteronomy that establishes 5:13 as a stock covenantal citation.

If a man is found stealing any of his brothers of the children of Israel, and he deals with him as a slave, or sells him; then that thief shall die. So you shall remove the evil from your midst.


'So shalt thou put the evil away from the midst of thee,' closing the law against the idolatrous prophet, is especially apt since Paul's vice-list in 5:10-11 leads with idolaters. The idolatry context gives this occurrence of the refrain heightened Coherence with Paul's argument.

That prophet, or that dreamer of dreams, shall be put to death, because he has spoken rebellion against Yahweh your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, and redeemed you out of the house of bondage, to draw you aside out of the way which Yahweh your God commanded you to walk in. So you shall remove the evil from your midst.


'Not to associate... not even eat with such a person' faintly recalls the blessed man who walks 'not in the counsel of the ungodly' — separation from the wicked as the mark of the righteous community. Faint and contested; offered for the broad wisdom motif of avoiding fellowship with sinners.

Blessed is the man who doesn’t walk in the counsel of the wicked, nor stand on the path of sinners, nor sit in the seat of scoffers;


'He that toucheth pitch shall be defiled therewith' expresses the Second-Temple wisdom logic that contact with the wicked contaminates, undergirding Paul's 'have no company' and the leaven imagery. Low confidence, contested; valid by Availability as a deuterocanonical analogue to the contagion of sin.

He that touches pitch will be defiled; And he that has fellowship with a proud man will become like to him.


'Those who are outside, God judges' resonates with Abraham's 'Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?' — God as the universal judge over outsiders while the community judges its own. Faint, contested echo of the divine-judge motif.

Be it far from you to do things like that, to kill the righteous with the wicked, so that the righteous should be like the wicked. May that be far from you. Shouldn’t the Judge of all the earth do right?”


Paul's rhetorical 'the saints will judge the world' draws directly on the eschatological assize of Dan 7:22, where judgment is given to 'the saints of the Most High' who then possess the kingdom. Volume is high (the distinctive pairing of holy ones + judgment + world dominion), and the theme coheres with Paul's argument that believers should not need pagan courts now since they will judge the cosmos. Availability is secure as a canonical apocalyptic source.

until the ancient of days came, and judgment was given to the saints of the Most High, and the time came that the saints possessed the kingdom.


'They will judge nations and rule over peoples' provides a close Second-Temple parallel to the saints judging the world (v.2), framing the righteous as future judges/rulers in the age to come. Recurrence of this motif across Daniel, Wisdom, and 1 Enoch strengthens its availability, though Paul's wording is closer to Daniel; Wisdom supplies the wider tradition.

They will judge nations, and have dominion over peoples; And the Lord will reign over them for evermore.


The saints (hasidim) executing the written judgment upon the nations supplies a faint coherent backdrop to believers judging the world. Volume is low and verbal links are absent, but the motif of the holy ones as agents of eschatological judgment recurs in the same stream Paul taps.

Let the saints rejoice in honor. Let them sing for joy on their beds. May the high praises of God be in their mouths, and a two-edged sword in their hand; To execute vengeance on the nations, and punishments on the peoples; To bind their kings with chains, and their nobles with fetters of iron; to execute on them the written judgment. All his saints have this honor. Praise Yah!


The pseudepigraphal tradition of the holy ones gathered to enact judgment, and of judgment falling even upon angelic Watchers (1 En 10-16), undergirds Paul's startling claim that 'we will judge angels' (v.3). Cited only because the angel-judgment motif is otherwise unattested in the canonical OT and Availability rests on this Second-Temple stream.

[source text not in the World English Bible]


'Do not say, I will repay evil; wait for the LORD' coheres tightly with Paul's 'Why not rather be wronged? Why not rather be defrauded?' (v.7), counseling the renunciation of self-vindication. The wisdom ethic of leaving redress to God, paired with the righteous-sufferer posture, gives medium volume coherence.

Don’t say, “I will pay back evil.” Wait for Yahweh, and he will save you.


'Do not say, I will do to him as he has done to me' parallels Paul's preference to suffer wrong rather than retaliate through litigation. A faint, coherent wisdom echo within the same proverbial cluster as 20:22.

Don’t say, “I will do to him as he has done to me; I will render to the man according to his work.”


The vice list's prohibition of men lying with men (arsenokoitai, v.9) is widely understood to be coined from the LXX of Lev 18:22 (meta arsenos ou koimethese koiten gynaikos). High volume via the rare compound term and strong coherence with the Holiness Code's catalog of exclusionary sins.

“‘You shall not lie with a man, as with a woman. That is detestable.


Lev 20:13 repeats the same LXX phrase (arsenos koiten gynaikos) and adds the death penalty, reinforcing the lexical derivation of arsenokoitai and the kingdom-exclusion logic. Recurrence across both Holiness-Code chapters strengthens the allusion.

“‘If a man lies with a male, as with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination: they shall surely be put to death; their blood shall be upon them.


The prohibition of the cult prostitute (qadesh/qedeshah) and the refusal of the 'wage of a dog' coheres with Paul's pairing of malakoi/pornoi and idolaters in a vice list, since cultic prostitution joined sexual sin to idolatry. Medium volume; thematic rather than verbal.

There shall be no prostitute of the daughters of Israel, neither shall there be a sodomite of the sons of Israel. You shall not bring the hire of a prostitute, or the wages of a male prostitute, into the house of Yahweh your God for any vow; for both of these are an abomination to Yahweh your God.


The inclusion of adulterers (moichoi) and thieves in the catalog echoes the Decalogue's prohibitions of adultery and theft, the foundational covenant ethic underlying Paul's roster of those excluded from the kingdom. Coherent but diffuse, as vice lists conventionally absorb Decalogue categories.


'You were washed' (v.11) resonates with Ezekiel's new-covenant promise, 'I will sprinkle clean water on you and you shall be clean,' joined there to sanctification and the gift of the Spirit, exactly the triad Paul deploys (washed, sanctified, justified, in the Spirit). Coherence is strong; the cleansing-plus-Spirit pairing supports the allusion.

I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you.


'Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean, remove the evil of your deeds' offers a prophetic moral-cleansing backdrop to 'you were washed' following a vice list. Faint and contested against the stronger ritual/Spirit cleansing of Ezek 36:25.

Wash yourselves, make yourself clean. Put away the evil of your doings from before my eyes. Cease to do evil.


'God raised up the Lord and will also raise us up by his power' (v.14) draws on the canonical hope of bodily resurrection first explicit in Dan 12:2 ('many who sleep in the dust shall awake'). Coherent with Paul's bodily theology against the slogan that the belly/body is destined for nothing; medium volume as the foundational OT resurrection text.

Many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.


The martyrs' confidence of being raised up by God supplies a Second-Temple parallel to Paul's resurrection assurance in v.14, attesting the availability of bodily-resurrection hope. Faint and supplementary to Dan 12:2.

And being come near to death he said thus: It is good to die at the hands of men and look for the hopes which are given by God, that we shall be raised up again by him; for as for you, you shall have no resurrection to life.


Paul explicitly cites Gen 2:24 with a citation formula ('For, he says, the two will become one flesh', v.16) to prove that union with a prostitute makes one body with her. High volume and an unambiguous LXX quotation; the creation text is wrenched into an argument it never anticipated, a paradigmatic Pauline use.

Therefore a man will leave his father and his mother, and will join with his wife, and they will be one flesh.


'He who is joined to the Lord is one spirit' (v.17) plays on the LXX language of cleaving/being joined (kollao) to the LORD found in Deut 10:20 ('him shall you cleave to'), the covenantal counter-image to illicit bodily union. Coherence is strong given the deliberate contrast Paul builds between the two kinds of joining.

You shall fear Yahweh your God; you shall serve him; and you shall cling to him, and you shall swear by his name.


Cleaving to the LORD as the source of life (LXX kollasthai) recurs here, reinforcing the covenantal 'joined to the Lord' motif of v.17. A faint recurrence within the Deuteronomic cleaving stream rather than a discrete source.

to love Yahweh your God, to obey his voice, and to cling to him; for he is your life, and the length of your days; that you may dwell in the land which Yahweh swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them.


'Flee sexual immorality!' (v.18) evokes the paradigm of Joseph who literally fled and left his garment to escape Potiphar's wife, the canonical exemplar of fleeing porneia. Coherent and recognized in Jewish moral tradition (cf. Wisdom-Joseph paraenesis); medium volume by motif.

She caught him by his garment, saying, “Lie with me!” He left his garment in her hand, and ran outside.


'Keep your way far from her, do not go near the door of her house' supplies the wisdom counsel to flee the adulteress lying behind Paul's imperative to flee porneia. Faint verbal contact but coherent within the same paraenetic tradition.

Remove your way far from her. Don’t come near the door of her house,


'Your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit' (v.19) figurally transfers the sanctuary motif, 'let them make me a sanctuary that I may dwell among them,' onto the believer's body as God's indwelt dwelling. The Spirit-indwelling makes the body holy space; medium volume as a figural reapplication of tabernacle theology.

Let them make me a sanctuary, that I may dwell among them.


'I will make my dwelling among you... and walk among you' undergirds the temple-of-the-Spirit image, the covenant promise of God's indwelling presence now located in the believer's body. A coherent but diffuse echo supplementing the Exodus sanctuary text.

I will set my tent among you, and my soul won’t abhor you. I will walk among you, and will be your God, and you will be my people.


'My dwelling place shall be with them' continues the indwelling-sanctuary stream Paul figurally applies to the Spirit-filled body in v.19. Faint and recurrent rather than a single discrete source.

My tent also shall be with them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.


'You were bought with a price' (v.20) evokes the redemption language of Isa 52:3 ('you were sold for nothing, and you shall be redeemed without money'), reframing the believer as God's purchased possession who is no longer his own. Coherent with the surrounding new-exodus redemption motif; medium volume by theme.

For thus says Yahweh, “You were sold for nothing; and you shall be redeemed without money.”


The jubilee redemption-price legislation, where a person is bought back according to a reckoned price, supplies the legal-economic backdrop for 'bought with a price' and belonging now to another master. Faint and contested against the prophetic redemption of Isa 52:3.

If there are yet many years, according to them he shall give back the price of his redemption out of the money that he was bought for. If there remain but a few years to the year of jubilee, then he shall reckon with him; according to his years of service he shall give back the price of his redemption.


'Whom I created for my glory' provides a faint backdrop to 'glorify God in your body' (v.20), the redeemed belonging to God for his glory. Low volume; offered as a possible coherent echo of the purpose-of-redemption theme.

everyone who is called by my name, and whom I have created for my glory, whom I have formed, yes, whom I have made.’”


The mutual conjugal claim Paul articulates (neither spouse has authority over their own body) presupposes the one-flesh union of Gen 2:24, the foundational text Paul cites explicitly in the prior pericope (6:16). Coherence is high because Paul's entire marriage theology in this letter rests on the Genesis joining; the body-language of belonging to one another extends that figure. Volume is moderate since no words are shared, but recurrence in the immediate context strengthens it.


Paul's insistence that the husband render to the wife her due 'affection' (conjugal duty) and that neither defraud the other echoes the Torah's protection of a wife's marital rights in Ex 21:10, where a man may not diminish her food, clothing, or conjugal rights (onah). Second-Temple and rabbinic readings made onah a fixed marital obligation; coherence with Paul's reciprocal duty-language is strong. Volume is low (no quotation) but the legal concept is distinctive and available.

If he takes another wife to himself, he shall not diminish her food, her clothing, and her marital rights.


Paul permits temporary abstinence 'by consent for a season, that you may give yourselves to prayer'—the only sanctioned reason to interrupt conjugal duty—which mirrors Moses' command before Sinai to abstain from sexual relations to be ready to meet God ('do not go near a woman'). The pattern of cultic abstinence preparatory to encounter with God is the available precedent. Coherence is high; volume rests on the shared logic rather than wording, so confidence is medium.

He said to the people, “Be ready by the third day. Don’t have sexual relations with a woman.”


The pairing of communal fasting/prayer with the temporary suspension of marital intimacy faintly recalls Joel's summons in which even bride and bridegroom leave their chamber for the solemn assembly. The link is thematic (devotion overriding the marriage bed for a set time) rather than verbal. Contested and faint; the cultic-abstinence motif may equally derive from Ex 19.

Gather the people. Sanctify the assembly. Assemble the elders. Gather the children, and those who nurse from breasts. Let the bridegroom go out of his room, and the bride out of her room.


Paul warns that prolonged abstinence may let Satan tempt them 'because of your lack of self-control,' invoking the Adversary as a tester of human fidelity—the role the satan plays in Job 1-2. Availability is secure (the satan as tester is a Second-Temple commonplace). Volume is low and the figure is generic, so the echo is faint and contested.

Then Satan answered Yahweh, and said, “Does Job fear God for nothing? Haven’t you made a hedge around him, and around his house, and around all that he has, on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his substance is increased in the land. But stretch out your hand now, and touch all that he has, and he will renounce you to your face.” Yahweh said to Satan, “Behold, all that he has is in your power. Only on himself don’t stretch out your […]


Paul's maxim 'better to marry than to burn' uses the fire-of-desire image that Proverbs deploys for illicit passion ('Can a man carry fire in his bosom and his clothes not be burned?'). The metaphor of sexual desire as a consuming fire is the available sapiential trope. Volume is low (a single shared image, not a citation), and Paul's turn is positive (marriage as remedy), so the echo is faint and contested.

Can a man scoop fire into his lap, and his clothes not be burned? Or can one walk on hot coals, and his feet not be scorched?


Ben Sira describes the man of burning lust (the 'hot soul' kindled like a fire) who will not stop till consumed, the deuterocanonical development of desire-as-fire that lies behind Paul's 'better to marry than to burn.' Availability and coherence with Paul's self-control theme are good; volume is low. Contested as a faint conceptual echo rather than allusion.

Two sorts of men multiply sins, And the third will bring wrath: A hot mind, as a burning fire, will not be quenched till it be consumed: A fornicator in the body of his flesh will never cease till he has burned out the fire. All bread is sweet to a fornicator: He will not leave off till he die.


Paul's dominical prohibition of divorce ('the wife not leave her husband... the husband not leave his wife') is grounded in the one-flesh permanence of Gen 2:24, the very text Jesus cited against divorce in the tradition Paul invokes ('not I, but the Lord'). Coherence is high; the indissolubility logic flows directly from the Genesis joining. Volume is conceptual rather than verbal, hence medium.

Therefore a man will leave his father and his mother, and will join with his wife, and they will be one flesh.


Paul's command that spouses not separate echoes the prophetic denunciation of divorce in Mal 2:16 ('I hate divorce, says the Lord'), the strongest OT statement against putting away one's wife. Coherence is high with Paul's appeal to the Lord's authority on marital permanence. Volume is thematic, not lexical; the prophetic source is available and distinctive, so confidence is medium.

For I hate divorce”, says Yahweh, the God of Israel, “and him who covers his garment with violence!” says Yahweh of Armies. “Therefore take heed to your spirit, that you don’t deal treacherously.


Paul reverses the logic of Ezra-Nehemiah's covenant purity crisis: there the 'holy seed' was defiled by mixed marriage and foreign wives had to be put away, whereas Paul declares the unbelieving spouse sanctified and the children holy, so the believer must not separate. The figural inversion presupposes the Ezra paradigm of holiness-by-contagion through marriage. Coherence and availability are high; this is a deliberate counter-reading, hence figural.

Now when these things were done, the princes drew near to me, saying, “The people of Israel, and the priests and the Levites, have not separated themselves from the peoples of the lands, following their abominations, even those of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Jebusites, the Ammonites, the Moabites, the Egyptians, and the Amorites. For they have taken of their daughters for themselves and for their sons, so that the holy seed have […]


Paul's concern that the children of a mixed marriage are 'holy' rather than 'unclean' resonates with Mal 2:15, where God seeks 'godly offspring' from the marriage union as the reason for fidelity. The shared interest in the covenantal status of children of marriage gives coherence; volume is low and the connection conceptual. Contested as a faint background echo.

Did he not make you one, although he had the residue of the Spirit? Why one? He sought a godly seed. Therefore take heed to your spirit, and let no one deal treacherously against the wife of his youth.


Paul's sanctification language assumes holiness is communicable through the marriage bond (the unbelieving spouse is made holy, the children holy), inverting the priestly ruling in Hag 2:11-13 that uncleanness spreads by contact but holiness does not. The cultic transmission-of-holiness/defilement framework is the available conceptual matrix. Volume is low and the link contested.

“Thus says Yahweh of Armies: Ask now the priests concerning the law, saying, ‘If someone carries holy meat in the fold of his garment, and with his fold touches bread, stew, wine, oil, or any food, will it become holy?’” The priests answered, “No.” Then Haggai said, “If one who is unclean by reason of a dead body touch any of these, will it be unclean?” The priests answered, “It will be unclean.”


The contrast of 'unclean' versus 'holy' applied to the household faintly recalls the holiness/uncleanness boundary language of Isa 52:1 ('no more shall the uncircumcised and the unclean enter you'). The link is lexical-thematic only (clean/unclean, holy) and very faint; contested.

Awake, awake, put on your strength, Zion; put on your beautiful garments, Jerusalem, the holy city: for henceforth there shall no more come into you the uncircumcised and the unclean.


Paul's closing principle that 'God has called us in peace' (permitting separation when the unbeliever departs) echoes the sapiential-psalmic imperative to 'seek peace and pursue it.' The peace motif is generic and available; volume is low. Contested and faint.

Depart from evil, and do good. seek peace, and pursue it.


Paul's relativizing of physical circumcision ('Circumcision is nothing, and uncircumcision is nothing, but the keeping of the commandments of God') stands in the prophetic-Deuteronomic tradition that subordinates the bodily rite to the 'circumcision of the heart' and obedience (Deut 10:16). Coherence is high: Paul keeps the command-keeping while voiding the flesh-mark, exactly the Deuteronomic move. Volume is conceptual; the source is distinctive and available.

Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart, and be no more stiff-necked.


Paul's claim that what counts is keeping God's commandments, not the circumcised flesh, draws on Deut 30:6, where the Lord himself circumcises the heart so that Israel will love and obey him—internalized obedience displacing the external sign. Coherence with Paul's argument is strong. Recurrence of the heart-circumcision motif across Deuteronomy and the prophets reinforces availability; medium confidence.

Yahweh your God will circumcise your heart, and the heart of your seed, to love Yahweh your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, that you may live.


Jeremiah's command to 'circumcise yourselves to the Lord, remove the foreskin of your hearts' is part of the prophetic tradition that makes literal circumcision insufficient apart from obedience—the background to Paul's 'circumcision is nothing.' Coherence and availability are high; the link is thematic rather than verbal, hence allusion at medium confidence.

Circumcise yourselves to Yahweh, and take away the foreskins of your heart, you men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem; lest my wrath go out like fire, and burn so that no one can quench it, because of the evil of your doings.


Jer 9:25-26 announces judgment on those 'circumcised yet uncircumcised' in heart, lumping circumcised Israel with the uncircumcised nations—dissolving the very distinction Paul flattens ('neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts'). The distinctive prophetic leveling of the two states is the available precedent. Coherence is high; volume conceptual, medium confidence.

Behold, the days come, says Yahweh, that I will punish all those who are circumcised in uncircumcision: Egypt, and Judah, and Edom, and the children of Ammon, and Moab, and all that have the corners of their hair cut off, who dwell in the wilderness; for all the nations are uncircumcised, and all the house of Israel are uncircumcised in heart.


Paul's summation that 'the keeping of the commandments of God' is the one thing that counts closely matches Qoheleth's epilogue: 'Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man.' The phrase 'keep the commandments' is shared and the sapiential reduction-to-essentials coheres with Paul's move. Volume is moderate but the phrase is common in the LXX, so the echo is real yet contested.

This is the end of the matter. All has been heard. Fear God, and keep his commandments; for this is the whole duty of man.


Paul's 'You were bought with a price; do not become bondservants of men' rests on the Levitical principle that Israelites are God's own servants ('they are my servants, whom I brought out of Egypt; they shall not be sold as slaves'), so their ultimate ownership belongs to God, not human masters. Coherence with Paul's slave/free argument is strong. The redemption-from-slavery theology is distinctive and available; medium confidence.

For they are my servants, whom I brought out of the land of Egypt. They shall not be sold as slaves.


Paul's redemption formula 'you were bought with a price' inverts Isa 52:3, 'you were sold for nothing, and you shall be redeemed without money'—the prophetic image of God reclaiming his enslaved people. The buying/redeeming-from-bondage motif coheres exactly with Paul's exhortation to slaves and freedmen. Volume is conceptual; the distinctive redemption language makes it a plausible allusion at medium confidence.

For thus says Yahweh, “You were sold for nothing; and you shall be redeemed without money.”


The premise that the redeemed belong to God and therefore should not become slaves of men ('to me the people of Israel are servants') reinforces 7:23 and is part of the same Jubilee slave-law complex as Lev 25:42. Listed as a faint, recurring background echo to the bought-with-a-price logic; contested.

For to me the children of Israel are servants; they are my servants whom I brought out of the land of Egypt. I am Yahweh your God.


Paul's declaration that 'the mode of this world passes away' and his counsel to hold possessions loosely echo Qoheleth's vision of generations and the world in ceaseless passing under the sun, where buying, weeping, and rejoicing are all hevel. Coherence is high: the 'as though not' detachment from marriage, mourning, joy, and commerce mirrors Ecclesiastes' relativizing of all worldly engagements. Volume is thematic; medium.

One generation goes, and another generation comes; but the earth remains forever.


Paul's claim that 'the present form of this world is passing away' stands in the prophetic tradition of Isa 40:6-8, where 'all flesh is grass' and the world's glory withers while God's word stands—the contrast of transient world and enduring divine order that grounds Paul's eschatological detachment. Coherence and availability are high. Volume conceptual; medium confidence.

The voice of one saying, “Cry!” One said, “What shall I cry?” “All flesh is like grass, and all its glory is like the flower of the field. The grass withers, the flower fades, because Yahweh’s breath blows on it. Surely the people are like grass. The grass withers, the flower fades; but the word of our God stands forever.”


Paul's 'those who buy as though they did not possess' and the fleeting 'form of this world' closely match Ps 39:6: 'man goes about as a shadow; he heaps up wealth and does not know who will gather it.' The shared image of buying/possessing as vain because life and world are transient is distinctive. Coherence with Paul's 'as though not' is strong; medium.

Behold, you have made my days hand breadths. My lifetime is as nothing before you. Surely every man stands as a breath.” Selah. “Surely every man walks like a shadow. Surely they busy themselves in vain. He heaps up, and doesn’t know who shall gather.


Paul's sense that 'the time has grown short' and 'distress is upon us' echoes the prophetic announcement that the Day of the Lord is near and at hand (Zeph 1:7, 14), with its imminence relativizing ordinary life and commerce. Availability is secure; volume is low and the imminence motif is widespread, so the specific echo is contested.

Be silent at the presence of the Lord Yahweh, for the day of Yahweh is at hand. For Yahweh has prepared a sacrifice. He has consecrated his guests.


Paul's catalogue 'those who weep as though they did not weep, those who rejoice as though they did not rejoice' faintly recalls Qoheleth's 'a time to weep and a time to laugh,' the sapiential relativizing of the emotional seasons of life. The link is thematic and the wording diverges; faint and contested.

a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance;


Paul's reference to the present 'distress' and the foreshortened time may draw on Danielic expectation of a time of unparalleled distress before the end (Dan 12:1) and the apocalyptic notion of an appointed time cut short. Availability is good in a Second-Temple frame; volume is low and generic, so this is a faint contested echo.

“At that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince who stands for the children of your people; and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time: and at that time your people shall be delivered, everyone who shall be found written in the book.


Paul's wish that believers be 'free from cares' (anxieties) and devoted to the Lord faintly echoes the psalmic counsel to 'cast your burden on the Lord.' The anxiety/care language is generic, and Paul's point (undistracted devotion) is his own; the echo is faint and contested.

Cast your burden on Yahweh, and he will sustain you. He will never allow the righteous to be moved.


Paul's ideal of attending to the Lord 'without distraction'—the unmarried devoted to the things of the Lord—resonates with the psalmist's single desire 'to dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon his beauty.' The undivided-devotion motif coheres; volume is low and conceptual. Contested.

One thing I have asked of Yahweh, that I will seek after, that I may dwell in Yahweh’s house all the days of my life, to see Yahweh’s beauty, and to inquire in his temple.


Paul's scenario of a man anxious about his virgin (daughter or betrothed) 'past the flower of her age' and deciding whether to give her in marriage closely matches Ben Sira's portrait of the father's sleepless anxiety over an unmarried daughter, lest she pass her prime and not be given away. The shared cultural concern—a guardian's responsibility over a maturing virgin's marriage—is distinctive and available. Coherence is strong; medium confidence.

A daughter is a secret cause of wakefulness to a father; And the care for her puts away sleep; In her youth, lest she pass the flower of her age; And when she is married, lest she should be hated: In her virginity, lest she should be defiled And be with child in her father’s house; And when she has a husband, lest she should transgress; And when she is married, lest she should be barren. Keep a strict watch over a headstrong daughter, Lest she make you a […]


Paul's rule that 'a wife is bound by law as long as her husband lives' but is freed at his death restates the lifelong one-flesh bond of Gen 2:24 in legal terms. Coherence with Paul's recurrent use of the Genesis joining throughout the chapter is good; volume here is conceptual and the legal formulation generic, so the echo is faint.

Therefore a man will leave his father and his mother, and will join with his wife, and they will be one flesh.


Paul's statement that a widow 'is free to be married to whomever she desires' parallels the Torah's treatment of the widow as released from the binding obligations she bore while her husband lived (Num 30:9, where a widow's vow stands precisely because she is no longer under a husband). The shared legal logic of the husband's death releasing the wife from binding is the available background; faint and contested.

“But the vow of a widow, or of her who is divorced, everything with which she has bound her soul, shall stand against her.


Paul's "if anyone loves God, the same is known by him" inverts the human-knows-God expectation toward God's prior knowing, echoing the LORD's word to Moses, "I know you by name." The motif of God's elective knowledge of a person is the Septuagintal idiom Paul draws on; the verbal link is the divine "knowing" of the favored one. Coherence is strong with Paul's wider theology of being foreknown.

Moses said to Yahweh, “Behold, you tell me, ‘Bring up this people:’ and you haven’t let me know whom you will send with me. Yet you have said, ‘I know you by name, and you have also found favor in my sight.’


"You have found favor in my sight, and I know you by name" supplies the same pattern of God knowing the one who loves/serves him that Paul reuses to relativize human knowledge. Recurrence with Exod 33:12 strengthens the case for a Mosaic backdrop. Marked echo rather than quotation because Paul reworks it into a general maxim.

Yahweh said to Moses, “I will do this thing also that you have spoken; for you have found favor in my sight, and I know you by name.”


"The LORD is good... and he knows those who take refuge in him" parallels Paul's "is known by him," the divine knowing of those who love God. The thematic coherence is real but the volume is faint and the wording divergent. Offered as a plausible secondary resonance.

Yahweh is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble; and he knows those who take refuge in him.


"The LORD knows the way of the righteous" is the wisdom-tradition counterpart to Paul's claim that the one who loves God is known by him. Faint volume; offered as a candidate for the OT idiom of God's saving knowledge of the righteous. Contested because no verbal contact beyond the verb "know."

For Yahweh knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked shall perish.


Jeremiah contrasts boasting in wisdom with knowing the LORD, exactly Paul's move against knowledge that "puffs up." Paul cites this passage explicitly at 1 Cor 1:31, making its availability and recurrence in this letter strong, so the contrast of human gnosis vs. knowing/being known by God plausibly stands behind 8:1-3 as well. Coherence with Paul's anti-boasting theme is high.

Thus says Yahweh, Don’t let the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his might, don’t let the rich man glory in his riches; but let him who glories glory in this, that he has understanding, and knows me, that I am Yahweh who exercises loving kindness, justice, and righteousness, in the earth: for in these things I delight, says Yahweh.


"There is no God but one" (v.4) and "to us there is one God" (v.6) directly rework the Shema, "the LORD our God, the LORD is one." Paul splits the one kyrios-theos confession into "one God, the Father" and "one Lord, Jesus Christ," a christological re-reading of the foundational monotheistic creed. High volume, high coherence, and the Shema's universal availability make this the controlling OT text of the pericope.

Hear, Israel: Yahweh is our God. Yahweh is one.


The Shema's command to love the LORD continues into Paul's framing, linking 8:3 ("if anyone loves God") to the one-God confession of 8:4-6. The pairing of loving God and confessing one God reproduces the Deuteronomic sequence. Marked as echo since v.5 is implied by Paul's use of the whole Shema unit.

You shall love Yahweh your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your might.


"The LORD is God; there is no other besides him" is the explicit monotheistic formula Paul restates as "there is no other God but one." The negation "no other" matches closely. High volume and direct coherence with the chapter's argument that idols are nothing.

It was shown to you so that you might know that Yahweh is God. There is no one else besides him.


"The LORD is God in heaven above and on the earth beneath; there is no other" supplies both the exclusive monotheism and the heaven/earth merism Paul uses in v.5 ("in the heavens or on earth"). The spatial double phrase strengthens the link beyond generic monotheism. Coherence high.

Know therefore this day, and lay it to your heart, that Yahweh himself is God in heaven above and on the earth beneath. There is no one else.


"I am the first and the last; besides me there is no God" is a prime Deutero-Isaianic monotheistic declaration that Paul condenses into "no God but one." Isaiah 40-48 is Paul's deep well for monotheism-against-idolatry, supplying both the creed and the idol polemic of this chapter. High recurrence across Isaiah strengthens availability.

This is what Yahweh, the King of Israel, and his Redeemer, Yahweh of Armies, says: “I am the first, and I am the last; and besides me there is no God.


"Is there a God besides me? There is no Rock; I know not any" reinforces the exclusive monotheism Paul affirms in v.4. Part of the same oracle as 44:6, contributing to a cumulative Isaianic backdrop. Echo rather than quotation due to paraphrase.

Don’t fear, neither be afraid. Haven’t I declared it to you long ago, and shown it? You are my witnesses. Is there a God besides me? Indeed, there is not. I don’t know any other Rock.”


"I am the LORD, and there is no other; besides me there is no God" is among the clearest sources for Paul's "no God but one." The repeated Isaianic "none besides me" formula directly grounds the confession of v.4. High volume and coherence.

I am Yahweh, and there is no one else. Besides me, there is no God. I will strengthen you, though you have not known me;


The classic idol-polemic — idols are silver and gold, the work of human hands, that cannot see, speak, or act — underwrites Paul's "no idol is anything in the world." Psalm 115 reduces idols to nothing, exactly Paul's premise. The chapter's whole "food sacrificed to idols" logic rests on this conviction of idols' non-existence; high coherence and recurrence with the Isaianic polemic.

Their idols are silver and gold, the work of men’s hands. They have mouths, but they don’t speak. They have eyes, but they don’t see. They have ears, but they don’t hear. They have noses, but they don’t smell. They have hands, but they don’t feel. They have feet, but they don’t walk, neither do they speak through their throat. Those who make them will be like them; yes, everyone who trusts in them.


A near-doublet of Psalm 115's idol satire (idols of silver and gold, work of human hands, mouths that cannot speak) reinforcing that idols are nothing. Recurrence with Ps 115 raises the volume of the idols-as-nothing theme behind v.4. Echo because Paul does not quote, only assumes the conclusion.

The idols of the nations are silver and gold, the work of men’s hands. They have mouths, but they can’t speak. They have eyes, but they can’t see. They have ears, but they can’t hear; neither is there any breath in their mouths. Those who make them will be like them; yes, everyone who trusts in them.


Isaiah's extended mockery of the idol-maker who fashions a god from a leftover log establishes that an idol "is nothing in the world," the very phrase-idea Paul uses in v.4. This is the locus classicus of idol-nothingness in the prophets and coheres tightly with Paul's argument. Allusion rather than quotation since Paul presupposes its conclusion.

Everyone who makes an engraved image is vain. The things that they delight in will not profit. Their own witnesses don’t see, nor know, that they may be disappointed. Who has fashioned a god, or molds an image that is profitable for nothing? Behold, all his fellows will be disappointed; and the workmen are mere men. Let them all be gathered together. Let them stand up. They will fear. They will be put to shame together. The blacksmith takes an ax, works […]


"They are like a scarecrow... they cannot speak... neither is it in them to do good" — idols as powerless non-entities supports Paul's denial that any idol is anything. Part of the same prophetic idol-polemic stream as Isaiah 44 and Psalm 115. Faint-to-moderate volume; flagged as a recurring tradition.

For the customs of the peoples are vanity; for one cuts a tree out of the forest, the work of the hands of the workman with the ax. They deck it with silver and with gold; they fasten it with nails and with hammers, that it not move. They are like a palm tree, of turned work, and don’t speak: they must be carried, because they can’t go. Don’t be afraid of them; for they can’t do evil, neither is it in them to do good.”


"Have we not all one Father? Has not one God created us?" supplies Paul's distinctive pairing of one God with fatherhood and creation ("one God, the Father, of whom are all things") in v.6. The combination of "one Father" and "one God" who creates is rare and matches Paul's formulation closely. Coherence with the Shema-expansion is strong.

Don’t we all have one father? Hasn’t one God created us? Why do we deal treacherously every man against his brother, profaning the covenant of our fathers?


"The LORD your God is God of gods and Lord of lords" stands behind Paul's concession in v.5 that there are "many gods and many lords" while affirming the one God and one Lord. The god-of-gods/lord-of-lords formula frames the polemic of relative vs. true deity. Echo, since Paul redeploys rather than cites it.

For Yahweh your God, he is God of gods, and Lord of lords, the great God, the mighty, and the awesome, who doesn’t respect persons, nor takes reward.


"Give thanks to the God of gods... the Lord of lords" parallels Paul's "many gods and many lords" / "one God... one Lord" antithesis in vv.5-6. Faint verbal contact through the gods/lords pairing; offered as a secondary resonance to Deut 10:17. Contested because the link is conceptual.

Give thanks to the God of gods; for his loving kindness endures forever. Give thanks to the Lord of lords; for his loving kindness endures forever:


"The LORD will be king over all the earth; on that day the LORD will be one and his name one" is an eschatological echo of the Shema that, like Paul, projects the one-LORD confession onto all reality. Coheres with Paul's universalizing "of whom are all things" in v.6. Echo, marked for its Shema reworking.

Yahweh will be King over all the earth. In that day Yahweh will be one, and his name one.


"God is in you only, and there is no other, no god besides him" reinforces the exclusive-monotheism cluster behind v.4. Faint additional witness within Isaiah's monotheistic oracles. Low volume; included for the maximal sweep.

Thus says Yahweh: “The labor of Egypt, and the merchandise of Ethiopia, and the Sabeans, men of stature, shall come over to you, and they shall be yours. They will go after you. They shall come over in chains; and they will bow down to you. They will make supplication to you: ‘Surely God is in you; and there is no one else. There is no other god.


Paul's "one Lord... through whom are all things" assigns to Christ the mediating role of Wisdom present at creation, by whom all things were made. The Wisdom-as-agent-of-creation tradition stands behind Paul's christological reworking of the Shema in v.6. Contested and faint, since the link is conceptual mediation rather than wording.

“Yahweh possessed me in the beginning of his work, before his deeds of old. I was set up from everlasting, from the beginning, before the earth existed. When there were no depths, I was born, when there were no springs abounding with water. Before the mountains were settled in place, before the hills, I was born; while as yet he had not made the earth, nor the fields, nor the beginning of the dust of the world. When he established the heavens, I was […]


Hellenistic-Jewish polemic against those who, knowing the works of creation, fail to know the one God, paralleling Paul's contrast of true knowledge with idolatry. As Second-Temple idol-critique it is squarely available to Paul and his diaspora congregation. Echo of the deuterocanonical natural-theology argument behind vv.4-6.

For verily all men by nature were but vain who had no perception of God, And from the good things that are seen they gained not power to know him that is, Neither by giving heed to the works did they recognize the architect; But either fire, or wind, or swift air, Or circling stars, or raging water, or luminaries of heaven, They thought to be gods that rule the world. And if it was through delight in their beauty that they took them to be gods, Let them […]


Wisdom traces idolatry to human invention and names idols empty objects of misplaced worship, supporting Paul's "no idol is anything." Available Second-Temple background to the chapter's premise. Faint volume; included to mark the recurring deuterocanonical idol-critique.

For the devising of idols was the beginning of fornication, And the invention of them the corruption of life: For neither were they from the beginning, neither will they be forever; For by the vaingloriousness of men they entered into the world, And therefore was a speedy end devised for them. For a father worn with untimely grief, Making an image of the child quickly taken away, Now honored him as a god which was then a dead man, And delivered to those […]


Paul's "one God, the Father, of whom are all things" and "one Lord... through whom are all things" presuppose the creation account's one Creator of all. The creation-of-all-things motif grounds the monotheism of v.6. Faint, generic link, marked low.

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.


The prohibition of sacrifices to goat-demons frames the Israelite anxiety about idol-food that Paul's "weak" still feel as "consciousness of the idol." The defilement-by-idol-association logic of vv.7 draws on the Levitical sense that idolatrous sacrifice pollutes. Faint and conceptual; included for the defilement theme.

They shall no more sacrifice their sacrifices to the goat idols, after which they play the prostitute. This shall be a statute forever to them throughout their generations.’


Daniel "resolved not to defile himself" with the king's food associated with idolatry, the paradigmatic Second-Temple case of conscience over defiling pagan food. This is the closest scriptural analogue to the "weak" conscience "defiled" by idol-food in v.7. Coherence high; the diaspora food-defilement motif is directly available.

But Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the king’s dainties, nor with the wine which he drank: therefore he requested of the prince of the eunuchs that he might not defile himself.


"Polluted food" offered on the altar links idol/improper offering with defilement, paralleling the "defiled" conscience over idol-food in v.7. Faint verbal contact through defiled food; offered as a secondary resonance to Daniel 1:8. Contested.

You offer polluted bread on my altar. You say, ‘How have we polluted you?’ In that you say, ‘Yahweh’s table is contemptible.’


Tobit abstains from the food of the Gentiles, the same Second-Temple scruple over defilement by pagan food that animates the "weak" of v.7. Available deuterocanonical parallel to the conscience-and-food anxiety. Low volume, included for the maximal sweep.

When I was carried away captive to Nineveh, all my kindred and my relatives ate of the bread of the Gentiles; but I kept myself from eating, because I remembered God with all my soul.


"The LORD looks on the heart" stands behind Paul's claim that "food will not commend us to God" (v.8) — outward consumption does not determine standing before God, who weighs the heart. Conceptual coherence with Paul's relativizing of food; faint wording. Contested.

But Yahweh said to Samuel, “Don’t look on his face, or on the height of his stature; because I have rejected him: for I see not as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but Yahweh looks at the heart.”


God declares he has no need of sacrificial food ("I will not accept a bull... do I eat the flesh of bulls?"), grounding Paul's claim that food neither commends nor diminishes us before God (v.8). The prophetic critique that God is not won by eating coheres with Paul's argument. Faint volume; marked low.

I don’t rebuke you for your sacrifices. Your burnt offerings are continually before me. I have no need for a bull from your stall, nor male goats from your pens. For every animal of the forest is mine, and the livestock on a thousand hills. I know all the birds of the mountains. The wild animals of the field are mine. If I were hungry, I would not tell you, for the world is mine, and all that is in it. Will I eat the flesh of bulls, or drink the blood of […]


"You shall not put a stumbling block before the blind" is the foundational Torah text for Paul's warning that liberty must not become "a stumbling block to the weak" (v.9). The stumbling-block image and the protection of the vulnerable are taken straight from the Holiness Code. High coherence; the weak stand in for the blind as those liable to be tripped.

“‘You shall not curse the deaf, nor put a stumbling block before the blind; but you shall fear your God. I am Yahweh.


Ezekiel condemns those who "set up their idols in their hearts and put the stumbling block of their iniquity before their faces," uniquely joining idols and stumbling block — exactly Paul's combination of idol-food and the stumbling block to the weak (vv.9-13). The conjunction of these two motifs is distinctive and strengthens the allusion. Coherence high.

Son of man, these men have taken their idols into their heart, and put the stumbling block of their iniquity before their face: should I be inquired of at all by them? Therefore speak to them, and tell them, Thus says the Lord Yahweh: Every man of the house of Israel who takes his idols into his heart, and puts the stumbling block of his iniquity before his face, and comes to the prophet; I Yahweh will answer him therein according to the multitude of his […]


Wealth become "the stumbling block of their iniquity" that defiles supplies the Ezekielian stumbling-block idiom Paul reuses in v.9. Recurrence with Ezek 14:3-4 supports an Ezekielian source for the metaphor. Faint independent volume; low.

They shall cast their silver in the streets, and their gold shall be as an unclean thing; their silver and their gold shall not be able to deliver them in the day of the wrath of Yahweh: they shall not satisfy their souls, neither fill their bowels; because it has been the stumbling block of their iniquity.


The LORD becomes "a stone of offense and a rock of stumbling" — the prophetic stumbling-stone tradition that informs Paul's stumbling-block language in vv.9,13. Conceptual, with the term shared; Paul applies it ethically to causing the weak to fall. Contested, low volume.

He will be a sanctuary, but for both houses of Israel, he will be a trap and a snare for the inhabitants of Jerusalem.


The priests have "caused many to stumble by your instruction," linking flawed teaching/knowledge to the stumbling of others, paralleling how the "knowledge" of the strong causes the weak to stumble (vv.10-11). Thematic coherence with Paul's critique of knowledge without love. Faint volume; low.

But you have turned aside out of the way. You have caused many to stumble in the law. You have corrupted the covenant of Levi,” says Yahweh of Armies.


The command not to sin against your neighbor but to love him stands behind Paul's charge that wounding the weak brother's conscience is to "sin against the brothers" (v.12). Paul's love-of-neighbor logic governing this chapter draws on the Holiness Code's brother/neighbor ethic. Coherence strong with the love-builds-up theme of 8:1.

“‘You shall not hate your brother in your heart. You shall surely rebuke your neighbor, and not bear sin because of him. “‘You shall not take vengeance, nor bear any grudge against the children of your people; but you shall love your neighbor as yourself. I am Yahweh.


"Am I my brother's keeper?" and the blood of the brother crying out frame Paul's insistence that the strong are responsible for the brother who perishes (v.11). The motif of culpability for a brother's destruction resonates faintly with Cain. Conceptual; included for the maximal sweep.

Yahweh said to Cain, “Where is Abel, your brother?” He said, “I don’t know. Am I my brother’s keeper?” Yahweh said, “What have you done? The voice of your brother’s blood cries to me from the ground.


Paul calls the Corinthians 'the seal (sphragis) of my apostleship' (v.2), the validating proof of his commission. Isaiah's 'bind up the testimony, seal the teaching among my disciples' supplies a faint scriptural backdrop for a sealed witness that authenticates a prophetic commission. Volume is low and verbal contact slight; offered as a coherent echo within the prophetic-validation stream.

Wrap up the testimony. Seal the law among my disciples.


'Who plants a vineyard and does not eat of its fruit?' (v.7) draws on the Deuteronomic exemption, 'who has planted a vineyard and not enjoyed its fruit? Let him go home,' the principle that the laborer is entitled to the produce of his own work. Coherence is strong: Paul argues the worker rightly partakes of his labor's yield, and the vineyard image is the same. Medium volume by motif rather than wording.

What man is there who has planted a vineyard, and has not used its fruit? Let him go and return to his house, lest he die in the battle, and another man use its fruit.


'Whoever tends a fig tree will eat its fruit, and he who guards his master will be honored' coheres tightly with Paul's paired questions about the vinedresser eating the fruit and the shepherd drinking the milk (v.7): the one who works enjoys the produce. The proverb's join of tending-and-eating to honoring-a-master maps onto Paul's case for apostolic support. Medium volume by theme.

Whoever tends the fig tree shall eat its fruit. He who looks after his master shall be honored.


'There will be enough goats' milk for your food, for the food of your household' supplies a wisdom backdrop to 'who feeds a flock and does not drink of the flock's milk?' (v.7). The flock-yields-milk-as-the-keeper's-food motif coheres with Paul's point, though verbal contact is faint; a low-volume echo within the same proverbial cluster as 27:18.

There will be plenty of goats’ milk for your food, for your family’s food, and for the nourishment of your servant girls.


'You shall plant a vineyard but not enjoy its fruit' (a covenant curse) supplies the inverse of the natural expectation Paul invokes: that the planter ordinarily eats the fruit. A faint recurrence within the Deuteronomic vineyard-fruit stream, contested against the closer exemption of Deut 20:6.

You will betroth a wife, and another man shall lie with her. You will build a house, and you won’t dwell in it. You will plant a vineyard, and not use its fruit.


The principle that the Levite is given the tithe 'in return for the service that they do' anticipates Paul's argument that the apostolic soldier/vinedresser/shepherd is entitled to support for his labor (vv.4-7). Faint at this point and developed more fully at vv.13-14; cited here for the laborer-deserves-his-keep coherence.

“To the children of Levi, behold, I have given all the tithe in Israel for an inheritance, in return for their service which they serve, even the service of the Tent of Meeting.


Paul cites the law of Moses verbatim with a citation formula, 'You shall not muzzle an ox while it treads out the grain' (v.9, LXX ou phimoseis boun aloonta), as scriptural warrant for the worker's right to support. An unambiguous, high-volume quotation, then daringly reapplied ('Is it for the oxen that God cares, or for our sake?') to apostolic maintenance.

You shall not muzzle the ox when he treads out the grain.


'Come to her as one who plows and sows, and wait for her good fruits' supplies a Second-Temple parallel to Paul's 'the plowman ought to plow in hope, and the thresher to thresh in hope of partaking' (v.10). The plow-sow-in-expectation-of-fruit topos and the very pairing of plowing with hopeful harvest cohere closely; medium volume, strengthening availability of the agricultural-hope figure.

Come to her as one that plows and sows, And wait for her good fruits; For your toil will be little in the tillage of her, And you will eat of her fruits right soon.


The wisdom theme that the diligent worker rightly looks for his portion offers a faint backdrop to 'the thresher threshes in hope of partaking of the crop' (v.10). Low volume and no verbal contact; included as a coherent wisdom echo of the laborer's just expectation.

He who has a generous eye will be blessed; for he shares his food with the poor.


'Honor the priest... give him his portion as you are commanded' parallels Paul's claim that those who sow spiritual things may reap material support (v.11) and have 'a right over you' (v.12). The reciprocity of material provision for sacred ministry coheres, though Paul develops the temple analogy explicitly only at v.13. Low volume, anticipatory echo.

Fear the Lord, and glorify the priest; And give him his portion, even as it is commanded you; The first fruits, and the trespass offering, and the gift of the shoulders, And the sacrifice of sanctification, and the first fruits of holy things.


'Those who serve around sacred things eat from the things of the temple' (v.13) directly invokes the priestly-portion legislation of Num 18, where the LORD gives Aaron and his sons the offerings 'as a portion' to eat. High volume and strong coherence: Paul reasons from the temple economy to the gospel-worker's right to a living. The most secure source for the temple-eats-of-the-temple principle.

Yahweh spoke to Aaron, “Behold, I myself have given you the command of my wave offerings, even all the holy things of the children of Israel. I have given them to you by reason of the anointing, and to your sons, as a portion forever. This shall be yours of the most holy things from the fire: every offering of theirs, even every meal offering of theirs, and every sin offering of theirs, and every trespass offering of theirs, which they shall render to me, […]


'The Levitical priests... shall eat the LORD's food offerings as their inheritance' supplies the parallel statute that the ministers of the altar live from the altar, exactly Paul's second clause, 'those who wait on the altar have their portion with the altar' (v.13). Recurrence of the priests-live-from-the-sanctuary rule across Numbers and Deuteronomy strengthens the allusion.

The priests the Levites, all the tribe of Levi, shall have no portion nor inheritance with Israel. They shall eat the offerings of Yahweh made by fire and his portion. They shall have no inheritance among their brothers. Yahweh is their inheritance, as he has spoken to them. This shall be the priests’ due from the people, from those who offer a sacrifice, whether it be ox or sheep, that they shall give to the priest the shoulder, the two cheeks, and the […]


The Levitical rules assigning the priests their share of the grain, sin, and guilt offerings ('Aaron and his sons shall eat it... it is most holy') furnish the cultic detail behind 'eat from the things of the temple' and 'have their portion with the altar' (v.13). Medium volume; supplements the headline Num 18 / Deut 18 statutes with the offering-portion mechanics.

That which is left of it Aaron and his sons shall eat. It shall be eaten without yeast in a holy place. They shall eat it in the court of the Tent of Meeting. It shall not be baked with yeast. I have given it as their portion of my offerings made by fire. It is most holy, as the sin offering, and as the trespass offering. Every male among the children of Aaron shall eat of it, as their portion forever throughout your generations, from the offerings of […]


'Every male among the priests may eat of it... it is most holy' (the guilt offering) reinforces the altar-servants-share-the-altar logic of v.13b. A faint recurrence within the Levitical priestly-portion stream, contested against the fuller Num 18 / Deut 18 basis.

Every male among the priests may eat of it. It shall be eaten in a holy place. It is most holy.


'You may eat it in any place... it is your reward for your service' tightly matches Paul's reasoning that ministerial service earns a livelihood (vv.13-14). A low-volume echo gathered with the broader Num 18 portion legislation.

You may eat it anywhere, you and your households, for it is your reward in return for your service in the Tent of Meeting.


'Necessity is laid on me; woe to me if I do not preach the gospel!' (v.16) closely echoes Jeremiah's compulsion: 'If I say I will not mention him... there is in my heart as it were a burning fire... and I cannot.' Both depict an inescapable divine constraint to proclaim despite the cost. Strong coherence with Paul's stewardship-not-of-his-own-will (v.17); high volume by the prophet-compelled-to-speak motif.

If I say, I will not make mention of him, nor speak any more in his name, then there is in my heart as it were a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I am weary with forbearing, and I can’t.


'The lion has roared; who will not fear? The Lord GOD has spoken; who can but prophesy?' supplies the prophetic axiom of irresistible commission underlying Paul's 'necessity is laid on me' (v.16). Recurrence of the compelled-to-prophesy theme across Amos and Jeremiah strengthens availability; medium volume, contested against the closer inner-compulsion of Jer 20:9.

The lion has roared. Who will not fear? The Lord Yahweh has spoken. Who can but prophesy?


The prophet sent under orders ('to all to whom I send you, you shall go, and whatever I command you, you shall speak') offers a faint backdrop to Paul's 'stewardship entrusted to me... not of my own will' (v.17). Low volume; a coherent echo of the commissioned-and-bound prophet.

But Yahweh said to me, “Don’t say, ‘I am a child;’ for to whoever I shall send you, you shall go, and whatever I shall command you, you shall speak.


'Come, buy and eat... without money and without price' faintly resonates with Paul's resolve to 'present the gospel free of charge' (v.18). The free-offer-of-divine-bounty motif coheres, but verbal contact is slight; offered as a low-volume figural echo of grace given without cost.

“Come, everyone who thirsts, to the waters! Come, he who has no money, buy, and eat! Yes, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.


Paul's voluntary self-enslavement, 'though free from all, I made myself a servant to all, that I might win the more' (v.19), and his becoming weak with the weak to save some (v.22) faintly echo the Servant who makes himself nothing to bring many to righteousness ('by his knowledge shall the righteous one make many to be accounted righteous'). Low volume and no verbal citation; a coherent figural echo of the self-giving servant who saves the many.

Behold, my servant shall deal wisely, he shall be exalted and lifted up, and shall be very high. Like as many were astonished at you (his appearance was marred more than any man, and his form more than the sons of men), so shall he sprinkle many nations; kings shall shut their mouths at him: for that which had not been told them shall they see; and that which they had not heard shall they understand. Who has believed our message? To whom has the arm of […]


'It wears a crown and celebrates triumph, having won the contest for prizes that are undefiled' supplies the nearest Jewish parallel to Paul's athletic imagery of the race, the prize, and the 'imperishable crown' (vv.24-25). The contest-for-an-undefiled-crown topos coheres directly with Paul's incorruptible wreath versus the corruptible; medium volume, securing availability of the figure within Second-Temple thought.

When it is present, men imitate it; And they long after it when it is departed: And throughout all time it marcheth crowned in triumph, Victorious in the strife for the prizes that are undefiled.


'The righteous... will receive a glorious crown and a beautiful diadem from the hand of the Lord' parallels Paul's imperishable victor's crown awarded to the disciplined runner (v.25). A coherent recurrence of the eschatological-crown-for-the-righteous motif, contested against the closer athletic-contest language of Wisdom 4:2.

Therefore will they receive the crown of royal dignity And the diadem of beauty from the Lord’s hand; Because with his right hand will he cover them, And with his arm will he shield them.


'The race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong' forms a wisdom counterpoint to Paul's exhortation that 'all run, but one receives the prize; so run that you may obtain' (v.24). Paul invokes the same race-and-prize frame Qoheleth relativizes; a faint, possibly deliberate echo with reversed force. Low volume.

I returned, and saw under the sun, that the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men of understanding, nor yet favor to men of skill; but time and chance happen to them all.


Wisdom 'will place on your head a graceful garland; she will bestow on you a beautiful crown' offers a faint sapiential backdrop to the victor's crown of vv.25-26 and to the self-discipline ('I discipline my body') that wins it. Low volume; included as a coherent wisdom echo of the crown-as-reward-for-self-mastery.

She will give to your head a garland of grace. She will deliver a crown of splendor to you.”


The martyr-contest imagery ('truly divine was the contest... virtue was the umpire, the prize was incorruptibility in long-lasting life... the world and humanity were the spectators') is a striking Second-Temple parallel to Paul's stadium, self-control, prize, and incorruptible crown (vv.24-27). Cited as availability evidence for the athletic-contest-for-incorruption topos; low volume, contested as a possibly later or independent development.

For it was truly a divine contest which was carried through by them. For at that time virtue presided over the contest, approving the victory through endurance, namely, immortality, eternal life. Eleazar was the first to contend: and the mother of the seven children entered the contest; and the kindred contended. The tyrant was the opposite; and the world and living men were the spectators. And reverence for God conquered, and crowned her own athletes.


The pillar of cloud leading Israel is the referent of 'our fathers were all under the cloud.' High volume and availability; Paul reads the wilderness narrative typologically, making the cloud a figure of the divine covering shared by all. Coherence with the baptismal reading of v.2 confirms the allusion.

Yahweh went before them by day in a pillar of cloud, to lead them on their way, and by night in a pillar of fire, to give them light, that they might go by day and by night: the pillar of cloud by day, and the pillar of fire by night, didn’t depart from before the people.


The angel-and-cloud standing between Egypt and Israel at the sea supplies the dual cloud/sea imagery Paul fuses in vv.1-2. Recurrence of the cloud motif and its narrative pairing with the sea-crossing make this a strong contributor to 'under the cloud.'

The angel of God, who went before the camp of Israel, moved and went behind them; and the pillar of cloud moved from before them, and stood behind them. It came between the camp of Egypt and the camp of Israel; and there was the cloud and the darkness, yet gave it light by night: and the one didn’t come near the other all the night.


The cloud covering the tabernacle and regulating Israel's movements reinforces the 'under the cloud' language as a sustained guiding-presence motif, not a single event. Lower volume than Exodus 13 but adds recurrence to the cloud tradition Paul draws on.

On the day that the tabernacle was raised up, the cloud covered the tabernacle, even the Tent of the Testimony: and at evening it was over the tabernacle as it were the appearance of fire, until morning. So it was continually. The cloud covered it, and the appearance of fire by night. Whenever the cloud was taken up from over the Tent, then after that the children of Israel traveled; and in the place where the cloud remained, there the children of Israel […]


'He spread a cloud for a covering' summarizes the Exodus cloud in a single liturgical line that may stand closer to Paul's compressed phrasing than the narrative itself. The psalm's recital of wilderness mercies (cloud, sea, manna, water from the rock) parallels Paul's own catalogue, suggesting a psalmic mediation of the tradition.

He spread a cloud for a covering, fire to give light in the night.


'All passed through the sea' directly invokes the Red Sea crossing on dry ground between walls of water. High volume and availability; Paul makes the crossing a type of baptism (v.2), the controlling figural reading of the pericope.

Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and Yahweh caused the sea to go back by a strong east wind all the night, and made the sea dry land, and the waters were divided. The children of Israel went into the midst of the sea on the dry ground, and the waters were a wall to them on their right hand, and on their left.


The manna is the 'spiritual food' all ate. The chapter's wilderness frame and Paul's emphasis on 'the same' food for all point to the daily bread from heaven. He reads it figurally as sacramental nourishment prefiguring Christ.

Then Yahweh said to Moses, “Behold, I will rain bread from the sky for you, and the people shall go out and gather a day’s portion every day, that I may test them, whether they will walk in my law, or not. It shall come to pass on the sixth day, that they shall prepare that which they bring in, and it shall be twice as much as they gather daily.” Moses and Aaron said to all the children of Israel, “At evening, then you shall know that Yahweh has brought […]


'He rained down manna... grain of heaven... bread of the mighty' interprets the manna as heavenly bread, close to Paul's 'spiritual food.' The psalm's theological reading of the wilderness gifts coheres with Paul's, making it a plausible mediating source alongside Exodus 16.

He rained down manna on them to eat, and gave them food from the sky. Man ate the bread of angels. He sent them food to the full.


'Man does not live by bread alone... but by every word' interprets the manna as more than physical sustenance, supporting Paul's 'spiritual' qualifier. Moderate volume; the Deuteronomic theology of manna as God-given instruction coheres with Paul's sacramental reading.

He humbled you, and allowed you to be hungry, and fed you with manna, which you didn’t know, neither did your fathers know; that he might teach you that man does not live by bread only, but man lives by every word that proceeds out of Yahweh’s mouth.


Water struck from the rock at Horeb is the 'spiritual drink.' High volume; combined with Numbers 20 it grounds 'the Rock was Christ.' Paul's figural identification of the rock with Christ depends on these water-from-rock episodes.

Behold, I will stand before you there on the rock in Horeb. You shall strike the rock, and water will come out of it, that the people may drink.” Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel.


The second water-from-rock event at Meribah supplies the geographic span (beginning and end of the wilderness) that fuels the haggadic 'rock that followed them.' Recurrence of two rock-events at opposite ends of the journey underlies the moving-rock tradition Paul presupposes.

Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, “Take the rod, and assemble the congregation, you, and Aaron your brother, and speak to the rock before their eyes, that it pour out its water. You shall bring water to them out of the rock; so you shall give the congregation and their livestock drink.” Moses took the rod from before Yahweh, as he commanded him. Moses and Aaron gathered the assembly together before the rock, and he said to them, “Hear now, you rebels! Shall […]


'He split rocks... brought streams... waters run down like rivers' poeticizes the water-from-rock miracle and may inform 'drank of a spiritual rock.' The psalm's abundance language coheres with Paul's claim that all drank the same drink.

He split rocks in the wilderness, and gave them drink abundantly as out of the depths. He brought streams also out of the rock, and caused waters to run down like rivers.


'He opened the rock, and water gushed out; it flowed through the desert like a river' depicts water following Israel through the wilderness, the nearest scriptural seed of the 'rock that followed them.' Strong coherence with the moving-water tradition Paul assumes.

He opened the rock, and waters gushed out. They ran as a river in the dry places.


'The Rock, his work is perfect' establishes the Song of Moses' titular use of 'the Rock' (haTsur) for God, the theological backbone of 'the Rock was Christ.' Paul's identification trades on this divine-Rock title, not merely the water episodes.

The Rock, his work is perfect, for all his ways are just. A God of faithfulness who does no wrong, just and right is he.


'Forsook God... scoffed at the Rock of his salvation' continues the Song's Rock-title for God amid the very apostasy Paul is warning against. Recurrence within the Song he draws on elsewhere in the chapter (vv.17,21) strengthens the link.

But Jeshurun grew fat, and kicked. You have grown fat. You have grown thick. You have become sleek. Then he abandoned God who made him, and rejected the Rock of his salvation.


'You forgot the Rock that bore you' adds the begetting-Rock image to the divine-Rock cluster. Low volume on its own, but it belongs to the Song of Moses substratum that pervades 1 Cor 10's rock and demon language.

Of the Rock who became your father, you are unmindful, and have forgotten God who gave you birth.


'Their Rock had sold them... their rock is not as our Rock' juxtaposes Israel's God-Rock against the enemies' rock, sharpening the Rock title. Faint here but coheres with Paul's polemical use of Deut 32 across the chapter.

How could one chase a thousand, and two put ten thousand to flight, unless their Rock had sold them, and Yahweh had delivered them up? For their rock is not as our Rock, even our enemies themselves concede.


'Your dead bodies shall fall in this wilderness' is the source of 'they were overthrown in the wilderness' (v.5). High volume and verbal coherence with kateströthēsan; the wilderness-generation's exclusion is Paul's typological warning to the Corinthians.

Your dead bodies shall fall in this wilderness; and all who were numbered of you, according to your whole number, from twenty years old and upward, who have murmured against me, surely you shall not come into the land, concerning which I swore that I would make you dwell therein, except Caleb the son of Jephunneh, and Joshua the son of Nun.


'The LORD was not able to bring this people in... he slaughtered them in the wilderness' supplies the 'God was not well pleased' / 'overthrown' theme. Coherence with v.5's divine displeasure motif.

‘Because Yahweh was not able to bring this people into the land which he swore to them, therefore he has slain them in the wilderness.’


'The anger of God came up against them... and struck down... the young men of Israel' poeticizes the wilderness destruction Paul invokes in v.5. The psalm's wilderness-judgment recital parallels Paul's whole catalogue.

when the anger of God went up against them, killed some of their fattest, and struck down the young men of Israel.


'Forty years... they shall not enter my rest' expresses God's displeasure with the wilderness generation, matching 'God was not well pleased.' A liturgical summary of the very judgment Paul applies typologically.

Forty long years I was grieved with that generation, and said, “It is a people that errs in their heart. They have not known my ways.” Therefore I swore in my wrath, “They won’t enter into my rest.”


'The rabble had a strong craving... who will give us meat to eat?' grounds 'we should not lust after evil things, as they also lusted' (v.6). The verb epethymēsan echoes the craving narrative; coherence with the wilderness-craving judgment.

The mixed multitude that was among them lusted exceedingly: and the children of Israel also wept again, and said, “Who will give us flesh to eat?


Kibroth-hattaavah, 'the graves of craving,' names the place where the people who lusted were buried, the etiological seed of Paul's 'lust after evil things.' High coherence with v.6's craving-and-death pattern.

The name of that place was called Kibroth Hattaavah, because there they buried the people who lusted.


'They lusted exceedingly in the wilderness, and tested God in the desert' compactly pairs lust and testing, both of which Paul enumerates (vv.6,9). The psalm's wilderness-sin catalogue is a likely template for Paul's list.

but gave in to craving in the desert, and tested God in the wasteland.


'The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play' is quoted verbatim (v.7) from the golden-calf episode, marked 'as it is written.' Highest volume; the calf is Paul's paradigm of idolatry feasting, directly relevant to the idol-meat question.

They rose up early on the next day, and offered burnt offerings, and brought peace offerings; and the people sat down to eat and to drink, and rose up to play.


The golden-calf narrative as a whole supplies 'neither be idolaters, as some of them were' (v.7). The calf is the controlling type of idolatrous communal feasting that frames Paul's argument about meals offered to idols.

When the people saw that Moses delayed to come down from the mountain, the people gathered themselves together to Aaron, and said to him, “Come, make us gods, which shall go before us; for as for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we don’t know what has become of him.” Aaron said to them, “Take off the golden rings, which are in the ears of your wives, of your sons, and of your daughters, and bring them to me.” All the people […]


The Baal-Peor apostasy, where Israel committed sexual immorality with Moabite women and a plague killed many, is the type behind v.8. High volume and coherence; Paul's 23,000 reworks the Numbers death toll for his warning against porneia.

Israel stayed in Shittim; and the people began to play the prostitute with the daughters of Moab; for they called the people to the sacrifices of their gods. The people ate and bowed down to their gods. Israel joined himself to Baal Peor. Yahweh’s anger was kindled against Israel. Yahweh said to Moses, “Take all the chiefs of the people, and hang them up to Yahweh before the sun, that the fierce anger of Yahweh may turn away from Israel.” Moses said to […]


Numbers reports 24,000 dead 'in one day'; Paul's 'twenty-three thousand fell in one day' alludes to this figure, the difference being a known harmonization crux. The 'in one day' phrase strengthens the verbal tie even as the number varies.

Those who died by the plague were twenty-four thousand.


The fiery serpents sent because the people spoke against God supply 'perished by the serpents' (v.9). High volume; the serpent plague is the type for testing God/Christ, directly named by Paul.

The people spoke against God, and against Moses, “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no bread, and there is no water; and our soul loathes this light bread.” Yahweh sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people. Many people of Israel died.


'They tested God in their heart by asking food' offers the 'test' vocabulary Paul uses in v.9. Faint, but coheres with the psalmic wilderness-testing tradition behind his catalogue.

They tempted God in their heart by asking food according to their desire.


After Korah, the congregation grumbled against Moses and Aaron and a plague (stopped by the destroyer/atonement) killed 14,700, the type behind 'neither grumble... perished by the destroyer' (v.10). High coherence between the grumbling-then-plague pattern and Paul's clause.

But on the next day all the congregation of the children of Israel murmured against Moses and against Aaron, saying, “You have killed Yahweh’s people!” When the congregation was assembled against Moses and against Aaron, They looked toward the Tent of Meeting. Behold, the cloud covered it, and Yahweh’s glory appeared. Moses and Aaron came to the front of the Tent of Meeting. Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, “Get away from among this congregation, that I may […]