1 Corinthians 1

1 Paul, [a] called apostle of Jesus Christ, by God's will, and Sosthenes the brother,

Paul, called to be an Apostle of Christ Jesus through the will of God--and our brother Sosthenes:

2 to the assembly of God which is in Corinth, to [those] sanctified in Christ Jesus, called saints, with all that in every place call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, both theirs and ours:

To the Church of God in Corinth, men and women consecrated in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, with all in every place who call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ-- their Lord as well as ours.

3 Grace to you and peace from God our Father, and [the] Lord Jesus Christ.

May grace and peace be granted to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

4 I thank my God always about you, in respect of the grace of God given to you in Christ Jesus;

I thank my God continually on your behalf for the grace of God bestowed on you in Christ Jesus--

5 that in everything ye have been enriched in him, in all word [of doctrine], and all knowledge,

that you have been so richly blessed in Him, with readiness of speech and fulness of knowledge.

6 (according as the testimony of the Christ has been confirmed in you, )

Thus my testimony as to the Christ has been confirmed in your experience,

7 so that ye come short in no gift, awaiting the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ;

so that there is no gift of God in which you consciously come short while patiently waiting for the reappearing of our Lord Jesus Christ,

8 who shall also confirm you to [the] end, unimpeachable in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.

who will also keep you stedfast to the very End, so that you will be free from reproach on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.

9 God [is] faithful, by whom ye have been called into [the] fellowship of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord.

God is ever true to His promises, and it was by Him that you were, one and all, called into fellowship with his Son Jesus Christ, our Lord.

10 Now I exhort you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all say the same thing, and that there be not among you divisions; but that ye be perfectly united in the same mind and in the same opinion.

Now I entreat you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, to cultivate a spirit of harmony--all of you--and that there be no divisions among you, but rather a perfect union through your having one mind and one judgement.

11 For it has been shewn to me concerning you, my brethren, by those of [the house of] Chloe, that there are strifes among you.

For I have been distinctly informed, my brethren, about you by Chloe's people, that there are dissensions among you.

12 But I speak of this, that each of you says, I am of Paul, and I of Apollos, and I of Cephas, and I of Christ.

What I mean is that each of you is a partisan. One man says "I belong to Paul;" another "I belong to Apollos;" a third "I belong to Peter;" a fourth "I belong to Christ."

13 Is the Christ divided? has Paul been crucified for you? or have ye been baptised unto the name of Paul?

Is the Christ in fragments? Is it Paul who was crucified on your behalf? Or were you baptized to be Paul's adherents?

14 I thank God that I have baptised none of you, unless Crispus and Gaius,

I thank God that I did not baptize any of you except Crispus and Gaius--

15 that no one may say that I have baptised unto my own name.

for fear people should say that you were baptized to be my adherents.

16 Yes, I baptised also the house of Stephanas; for the rest I know not if I have baptised any other.

I did, however, baptize Stephanas' household also: but I do not think that I baptized any one else.

17 For Christ has not sent me to baptise, but to preach glad tidings; not in wisdom of word, that the cross of the Christ may not be made vain.

Christ did not send me to baptize, but to proclaim the Good News; and not in merely wise words--lest the Cross of Christ should be deprived of its power.

18 For the word of the cross is to them that perish foolishness, but to us that are saved it is God's power.

For the Message of the Cross is foolishness to those who are on the way to perdition, but it is the power of God to those whom He is saving.

19 For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and set aside the understanding of the understanding ones.

For so it stands written, "I will exhibit the nothingness of the wisdom of the wise, and the intelligence of the intelligent I will bring to nought."

20 Where [is the] wise? where scribe? where disputer of this world? has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? (aiōn g165)

Where is your wise man? Where your expounder of the Law? Where your investigator of the questions of this present age? Has not God shown the world's wisdom to be utter foolishness? (aiōn g165)

21 For since, in the wisdom of God, the world by wisdom has not known God, God has been pleased by the foolishness of the preaching to save those that believe.

For after the world by its wisdom--as God in His wisdom had ordained--had failed to gain the knowledge of God, God was pleased, by the apparent foolishness of the Message which we preach, to save those who accepted it.

22 Since Jews indeed ask for signs, and Greeks seek wisdom;

Seeing that Jews demand miracles, and Greeks go in search of wisdom,

23 but we preach Christ crucified, to Jews an offence, and to nations foolishness;

while we proclaim a Christ who has been crucified--to the Jews a stumbling-block, to Gentiles foolishness,

24 but to those that [are] called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ God's power and God's wisdom.

but to those who have received the Call, whether Jews or Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.

25 Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.

Because that which the world deems foolish in God is wiser than men's wisdom, and that which it deems feeble in God is mightier than men's might.

26 For consider your calling, brethren, that [there are] not many wise according to flesh, not many powerful, not many high-born.

For consider, brethren, God's call to you. Not many who are wise with merely human wisdom, not many of position and influence, not many of noble birth have been called.

27 But God has chosen the foolish things of the world, that he may put to shame the wise; and God has chosen the weak things of the world, that he may put to shame the strong things;

But God has chosen the things which the world regards as foolish, in order to put its wise men to shame; and God has chosen the things which the world regards as destitute of influence, in order to put its powerful things to shame;

28 and the ignoble things of the world, and the despised, has God chosen, [and] things that are not, that he may annul the things that are;

and the things which the world regards as base, and those which it sets utterly at nought--things that have no existence--God has chosen in order to reduce to nothing things that do exist;

29 so that no flesh should boast before God.

to prevent any mortal man from boasting in the presence of God.

30 But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who has been made to us wisdom from God, and righteousness, and holiness, and redemption;

But you--and it is all God's doing--are in Christ Jesus: He has become for us a wisdom which is from God, consisting of righteousness and sanctification and deliverance;

31 that according as it is written, He that boasts, let him boast in [the] Lord.

in order that it may be as Scripture says, "He who boasts--let his boast be in the Lord."