This verse refers to Num 21.5-6; compare Psa 78.18.

The UBS Greek text has “Christ” instead of “the Lord,” as in Revised English Bible and the footnotes in Good News Bible and New Jerusalem Bible, as well as in King James Version. Many manuscripts have “the Lord.” Revised Standard Version and Good News Bible texts, and most translations, follow these manuscripts. Some translations such as Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch, Parola Del Signore: La Bibbia in Lingua Corrente, Phillips, and Barclay interpret “the Lord” as “God.” Metzger comments that “the reading that best explains the origin of the other is Christon (Christ)”; compare verse 4. If translators choose the Lord as the text, there should be a footnote similar to the one in Revised Standard Version or Good News Bible, showing the other choice.

Commentators are uncertain as to the exact meaning of Paul’s references to tempting the Lord or putting him to the test. The verb put … to the test is not used in Num 21.5-6, but in Psa 78.18-19 it seems to mean “doing an experiment to see whether God would perform a miracle.” In the present verse Barclay probably brings out the full meaning in his translation, “nor must we try to see how far we can go with God and get away with it.” This can also be phrased as “nor must we try to see how much we can sin before God punishes us.”

And can be translated as “with the result that,” as in verse 8.

Serpents is literally “the serpents,” that is, the serpents in the story which Paul expects that his readers will know well. Modern readers may not know this story so well, so Revised Standard Version and Good News Bible omit “the.” See comments on 1 Cor. 10.1 concerning the use of the definite article with sea.

Quoted with permission from Ellingworth, Paul and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on Paul’s First Letter to the Corinthians, 2nd edition. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1985/1994. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .