Passage

1 Corinthians 1.20-21

Book: 1 Corinthians · NASB95

Immediate context (±2 verses)

ASV (ASV)

"18. For the word of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us who are saved it is the power of God. 19. For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, And the discernment of the discerning will I bring to nought."

"20. Where is the wise? where is the scribe? where is the disputer of this world? hath not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? 21. For seeing that in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom knew not God, it was God's good pleasure through the foolishness of the preaching to save them that believe."

"22. Seeing that Jews ask for signs, and Greeks seek after wisdom: 23. but we preach Christ crucified, unto Jews a stumblingblock, and unto Gentiles foolishness;" (1 Corinthians 1:18-23, ASV)

WEB (WEB)

"18. For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are dying, but to us who are saved it is the power of God. 19. For it is written, “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, I will bring the discernment of the discerning to nothing.”"

"20. Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the lawyer of this world? Hasn’t God made foolish the wisdom of this world? 21. For seeing that in the wisdom of God, the world through its wisdom didn’t know God, it was God’s good pleasure through the foolishness of the preaching to save those who believe."

"22. For Jews ask for signs, Greeks seek after wisdom, 23. but we preach Christ crucified; a stumbling block to Jews, and foolishness to Greeks," (1 Corinthians 1:18-23, WEB)

KJV (KJV)

"18. For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God. 19. For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent."

"20. Where is the wise? where is the scribe? where is the disputer of this world? hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? 21. For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe."

"22. For the Jews require a sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom: 23. But we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumblingblock, and unto the Greeks foolishness;" (1 Corinthians 1:18-23, KJV)

YLT (YLT)

"18. for the word of the cross to those indeed perishing is foolishness, and to us, those being saved, it is the power of God, 19. for it hath been written, 'I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the intelligence of the intelligent I will bring to nought;'"

"20. where [is] the wise? where the scribe? where a disputer of this age? did not God make foolish the wisdom of this world? 21. for, seeing in the wisdom of God the world through the wisdom knew not God, it did please God through the foolishness of the preaching to save those believing."

"22. Since also Jews ask a sign, and Greeks seek wisdom, 23. also we, we preach Christ crucified, to Jews, indeed, a stumbling-block, and to Greeks foolishness," (1 Corinthians 1:18-23, YLT)

Setting

Speaker: TBD
Audience: TBD
Location: TBD
Time period: TBD

Theological reading

Patristic / early-church-father exegesis, to be added.

Key words

Theologically-loaded Greek or Hebrew words in this verse may have entries in the lexicon. Curated to roughly 100 contested terms across the corpus, not every word; see Lexicon Roadmap.

TBD
TBD
TBD
TBD

Quoted in

G2889 - kosmos

Why these four translations

ris3n chose ASV, WEB, KJV, and YLT for two reasons together. They are the most literal English translations available (formal-equivalence: word-for-word renderings that preserve the Hebrew and Greek grammar rather than smoothing it into modern dynamic-equivalence idiom). And they are in the public domain in the United States, which means fair-use quotation at any length requires no publisher license. Modern licensed translations (NASB95, ESV, NIV) restrict volume of quotation under their copyright terms, so they are not used at stub-level coverage here. NASB95 appears only on hand-curated rich passage hubs under Lockman Foundation's fair-use allowance.

The four:

ASV (American Standard Version, 1901). The basis of the modern critical-text English tradition.
WEB (World English Bible, contemporary). Public-domain revision in the ASV line, in current English.
KJV (King James Version, 1611). Reformation-era, Textus Receptus base.
YLT (Young's Literal Translation, Robert Young, 1862). Hyper-literal preservation of Hebrew and Greek grammar; useful for word-study work even where English reads stiff.

See Bibles for the full per-translation history, translators, textual basis, strengths, and weaknesses.