² who invited them to the sacrifices^(A) to their gods.^(B) The people ate the sacrificial meal and bowed down before these gods.

¹⁷ Yet they would not listen to their judges but prostituted^(A) themselves to other gods^(B) and worshiped them.^(C) They quickly turned^(D) from the ways of their ancestors, who had been obedient to the Lord’s commands.^(E)

⁴ So then, about eating food sacrificed to idols:^(A) We know that “An idol is nothing at all in the world”^(B) and that “There is no God but one.”^(C)

⁷ But not everyone possesses this knowledge.^(A) Some people are still so accustomed to idols that when they eat sacrificial food they think of it as having been sacrificed to a god, and since their conscience is weak,^(B) it is defiled.

¹⁰ For if someone with a weak conscience sees you, with all your knowledge, eating in an idol’s temple, won’t that person be emboldened to eat what is sacrificed to idols?^(A)