1 Corinthians 11:33
in 1 Corinthians 11So, my brothers, when you come together to eat, wait for one another.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Wherefore, my brethren, when ye come together to eat, wait one for another.
KJV
Wherefore, my brethren, when ye come together to eat, tarry one for another.
⋯
This verse in 1 Corinthians 11
Commentary
12 notes on this verseA commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
When ye come together to eat - Professedly to eat the Lord’s Supper. Tarry one for another - Do not be guilty of disorder, intemperance, and gluttony; see the note at 1Co 11:21. Doddridge understands this of the feast that he supposes to have preceded the Lord’s Supper. But the more obvious interpretation is, to refer it to the Lord’s Supper itself; and to enjoin perfect order, respect, and sobriety. The idea is, that the table was common for the rich and the poor; and that the rich should claim no priority or precedence over the poor.
This site's exposition
when you come together to
on 1 Corinthians 11:33-34
The remedy answers the abuse directly: when you come together to eat, wait for one another, rich and poor alike. If anyone is hungry, he should eat at home, keeping the common meal free of the display of inequality that drew Paul's rebuke.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers4 voices
The apostle, checking those that transgress in their conduct at entertainments, says: "For every one taketh beforehand in eating his own supper; and one is hungry, and another drunken. Have ye not houses to eat and to drink in? Or despise ye the church of God, and shame those who have not?" And among those who have, they, who eat shamelessly and are insatiable, shame themselves. And both act badly; the one by paining those who have not, the other by exposing their own greed in the presence of those who have. Necessarily, therefore, against those who have cast off shame and unsparingly abuse meals, the insatiable to whom nothing is sufficient, the apostle, in continuation, again breaks forth in a voice of displeasure: "So that, my brethren, when ye come together to eat, wait for one another. And if any one is hungry, let him eat at home, that ye come not together to condemnation."
Paul tells them to wait for one another so that they may make their offering together and serve one another.
A commentator
CyprianTreatise XII Three Books of Testimonies Against the Jews · Written before 258.
proposed
That too great lust of food is not to be desired. In Isaiah: "Let us eat and drink, for to-morrow we shall die. This sin shall not be remitted to you even until ye die." Also in Exodus: "And the people sate down to eat and drink, and rose up to play." Paul, in the first to the Corinthians: "Meat commendeth us not to God; neither if we eat shall we abound, nor if we eat not shall we want." . And again: "When ye come together to eat, wait one for another.
"Wherefore when ye come together to eat, wait one for another." Thus, while their fear was yet at its height and the terror of hell remained, he chooses again to bring in also the exhortation in behalf of the poor, on account of which he said all these things; implying that if they do not this they must partake unworthily. But if the not imparting of our goods excludes from that Table, much more the violently taking away. And he said not, "wherefore, when ye come together, impart to them that need," but, which has a more reverential sound, "wait one for another." For this also prepared the way for and intimated that, and in a becoming form introduced the exhortation...
The Medieval Church1 voice
Again he returned to the word about the poor, after having mentioned punishments and death. And he did not say: share with one another, but: wait, – in order to show that what is brought there is common, and one must await the common assembly.
5 more voices on this verse
The Medieval Church1 voice
Then when he says, So then, he leads them back to due observance: first, he presents what he now ordains; secondly, he gives a promise of a future ordination (v. 34b). In regard to the first he does three things: first, he makes his ordination, …
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
Christians may keep Sabbaths, hear sermons, attend at sacraments, and only aggravate guilt, and bring on a heavier doom. O! let all look to it that they do not come together at any time to God's worship, and all the while provoke him, and bring down vengeance on themselves. Holy things are to be used in a holy manner, or else they are profaned.
Wherefore, my brethren,....
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
tarry one for another--In contrast to 1Co 11:21. The expression is not, "Give a share to one another," for all the viands brought to the feast were common property, and, therefore, they should "tarry" till all were met to partake together of the common feast of fellowship [THEOPHYLACT].
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — starts-lowercase
When ye come together to eat - The Lord’s Supper, tarry one for another - do not eat and drink in parties as ye have done heretofore; and do not connect it with any other meal.
The words behind it
9 Greek wordsEvery Greek word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Greek | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ὥστε, | hoste | So then, | G5620 → | 83 times |
| ἀδελφοί | adelphoi | brothers | G80 → | 343 times |
| μου, | mou | of mine, | G3165 → | 1936 times |
| συνερχόμενοι | sunerchomenoi | coming together | G4905 → | 30 times |
| εἰς | eis | in order | G1519 → | 1755 times |
| τὸ | to | <the> | G3588 → | 19766 times |
| φαγεῖν | phagein | to eat | G5315 → | 93 times |
| ἀλλήλους | allelous | one another | G240 → | 100 times |
| ἐκδέχεσθε· | ekdechesthe | do wait for; | G1551 → |
Ὥστε,So then,
hosteG5620 →83 times
ἀδελφοίbrothers
adelphoiG80 →343 times
μου,of mine,
mouG3165 →1936 times
συνερχόμενοιcoming together
sunerchomenoiG4905 →30 times
εἰςin order
eisG1519 →1755 times
τὸ<the>
toG3588 →19766 times
φαγεῖνto eat
phageinG5315 →93 times
ἀλλήλουςone another
allelousG240 →100 times
ἐκδέχεσθε·do wait for;
ekdechestheG1551 →
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
Where this verse is studied
About 1 Corinthians
This page draws on 13 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Ambrosiaster, COMMENTARY ON PAUL'S EPISTLES; Charles Hodge, An Exposition of the First Epistle to the Corinthians; Clement of Alexandria, The Instructor Book 2; Cyprian, Treatise XII Three Books of Testimonies Against the Jews; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Chrysostom, Homily on 1 Corinthians 28; John Gill, Exposition of the New Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the New Testament (1746-1748); Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible; Theophylact of Ohrid, Commentary on 1 Corinthians and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on 1 Corinthians.