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InterlinearVerse GEN EXO LEV NUM DEU JOB JOS JDG RUTH 1 SAM 2 SAM PSA AMOS HOS 1 KI 2 KI 1 CHR 2 CHR PROV ECC SNG JOEL MIC ISA ZEP HAB JER LAM YNA (JNA) NAH OBA DAN EZE EZRA EST NEH HAG ZEC MAL LAO GES LES ESG DNG 2 PS TOB JDT WIS SIR BAR LJE PAZ SUS BEL MAN 1 MAC 2 MAC 3 MAC 4 MAC YHN (JHN) MARK MAT LUKE ACTs YAC (JAM) GAL 1 TH 2 TH 1 COR 2 COR ROM COL PHM EPH PHP 1 TIM TIT 1 PET 2 PET 2 TIM HEB YUD (JUD) 1 YHN (1 JHN) 2 YHN (2 JHN) 3 YHN (3 JHN) REV
1 Cor C1 C2 C3 C4 C5 C6 C7 C8 C9 C10 C11 C12 C13 C14 C15 C16
1 Cor 3 V1 V2 V3 V4 V5 V6 V7 V8 V9 V10 V11 V12 V13 V14 V15 V16 V17 V18 V20 V21 V22 V23
OET (OET-LV) For/Because the wisdom of_ the _world this, foolishness with the god is.
For/Because it_has_been_written:
The one catching the wise in the craftiness of_them he_is.
OET (OET-RV) because this world’s wisdom is foolishness with God, because as it’s written: ‘He catches out the wise in their craftiness.’
In this section Paul told the believers in Corinth that they had not become spiritually mature. That was why they were dividing into separate groups and arguing with one another about teachers. They needed to learn about God’s plan for Christian workers and leaders. Christian workers and leaders all belong to God and are all building God’s church together.
Other possible section headings include:
Paul and all the other apostles were the Lord’s servants
All believers belong to the Lord and should remain united
Paul summarized what he had been saying in this section (3:1–3:23) by giving two warnings. First, no one should follow the wisdom of this world. Second, no one should boast about following one teacher or another. This could cause divisions in the church. God in his wisdom sent Christ to be the only leader of his people. All the teachers should agree with Christ in their teaching.
For the wisdom of this world is foolishness in God’s sight.
For what the people of this world think is wise/clever, God says is foolish/worthless.
I say that because the things the people of this world consider/call wise/clever are of no value in the way God looks at things.
For: The Greek conjunction that the BSB translates as For here introduces Paul’s basis for saying that a person wise in this world needed to abandon his worldly wisdom. Here is another way to translate this:
This is because (CEV)
the wisdom of this world is foolishness in God’s sight: Paul was indicating that the people of the world think totally differently from how God thinks. They have different standards and values. What the world considers wisdom, God considers foolishness. See how you translated foolishness in 1:18a.
In some languages it may be natural to translate one or both of the abstract nouns wisdom and foolishness with adjectives. For example, the CEV translated wisdom as a noun but changed foolishness to an adjective:
God considers the wisdom of this world to be foolish. (CEV)
Or you could translate both nouns as adjectives. For example:
God thinks foolish the things that this world considers wise.
God thinks that the things this world considers to be wise are, in fact, foolish.
As it is written:
This is like the words written in the Scriptures:
We know that is true because it agrees with what God’s Book says. It says this:
As it is written: The Greek conjunction that the BSB translates as As and the RSV as “For” here introduces some Scriptures that support what Paul had just said. These quotations show that what this world’s people think is wise is actually not wise at all in the way God thinks about things. See the notes on it is written in 1:19a.
“He catches the wise in their craftiness.”
“He traps the wise in their own cunning.” (REB)
“Some people think they are wise, but God uses their own clever thoughts/plans to defeat them.”
He catches the wise in their craftiness: This is a quotation from Job 5:13. One of Job’s friends was speaking. The pronoun He refers to God. This is a metaphor taken from hunting and trapping animals. A hunter knows about the crafty ways of the animal he wants to catch, and he uses that knowledge to trap it. In a similar way, God can use a person’s most clever arguments to show that person that he is wrong.
catches: The verb catches here is a figure of speech. It means that God defeats these people.
In the BSB, as in the Greek, the words “wise” and “craftiness” are not part of the metaphor. They have their literal meaning and help the reader to understand the metaphor.
Other ways to translate this verse part include:
God uses the cleverness of wise people as a trap to catch them. (Ellington and Hatton)
He catches those who are wise in their own clever traps. (NCV)
He traps the wise in the snare of their own craftiness. (NLT)
Note 1 topic: figures-of-speech / possession
ἡ & σοφία τοῦ κόσμου τούτου
the & wisdom ¬the ˱of˲_world this
Here Paul uses the possessive form to describe what this world considers to be wisdom. If the wisdom of this world would not be understood in your language as wisdom from the perspective of this world, you could use a different form that makes this meaning clear. Alternate translation: [what this world considers to be wisdom] or [worldly wisdom]
Note 2 topic: figures-of-speech / idiom
παρὰ τῷ Θεῷ
(Some words not found in SR-GNT: ἡ Γάρ σοφία τοῦ κόσμου τούτου μωρία παρά τῷ Θεῷ ἐστίν γέγραπται Γάρ Ὁ δρασσόμενος τούς σοφούς ἐν τῇ πανουργίᾳ αὐτῶν)
Here Paul uses the phrase with God to identify God’s perspective. If it would be helpful in your language, you could express the idea behind with Godwith a word or phrase that identifies that this is foolishness according to how God views the world. Alternate translation: [from God’s perspective] or [in God’s eyes]
Note 3 topic: writing-quotations
γέγραπται γάρ
˱it˲_˓has_been˒_written (Some words not found in SR-GNT: ἡ Γάρ σοφία τοῦ κόσμου τούτου μωρία παρά τῷ Θεῷ ἐστίν γέγραπται Γάρ Ὁ δρασσόμενος τούς σοφούς ἐν τῇ πανουργίᾳ αὐτῶν)
In Paul’s culture, For it is written is a normal way to introduce a quotation from an important text, in this case, the Old Testament book titled “Job” (See: [Job 5:13](../job/05/13.md)). If it would be helpful in your language, you could express this form with a comparable phrase that indicates that Paul is quoting from an important text. Alternate translation: [For it can be read in the Old Testament] or [For the book of Job says]
Note 4 topic: figures-of-speech / activepassive
γέγραπται
˱it˲_˓has_been˒_written
If your language does not use the passive form in this way, you can express the idea in active form or in another way that is natural in your language. Paul uses the passive form here to focus on what is written rather than the person doing the “writing.” If you must state who does the action, you can express it so that: (1) the scripture or scripture author writes or speaks the words. Alternate translation: [the author of Job has written] (2) God speaks the words. Alternate translation: [God has said]
Note 5 topic: figures-of-speech / quotations
γέγραπται & ὁ δρασσόμενος τοὺς σοφοὺς ἐν τῇ πανουργίᾳ αὐτῶν
˱it˲_˓has_been˒_written & (Some words not found in SR-GNT: ἡ Γάρ σοφία τοῦ κόσμου τούτου μωρία παρά τῷ Θεῷ ἐστίν γέγραπται Γάρ Ὁ δρασσόμενος τούς σοφούς ἐν τῇ πανουργίᾳ αὐτῶν)
If you cannot use this form in your language, you could translate these statements as indirect quotes instead of as direct quotes. Alternate translation: [it is written that God catches the wise in their craftiness]
Note 6 topic: figures-of-speech / metaphor
δρασσόμενος τοὺς σοφοὺς ἐν τῇ πανουργίᾳ αὐτῶν
catching (Some words not found in SR-GNT: ἡ Γάρ σοφία τοῦ κόσμου τούτου μωρία παρά τῷ Θεῷ ἐστίν γέγραπται Γάρ Ὁ δρασσόμενος τούς σοφούς ἐν τῇ πανουργίᾳ αὐτῶν)
Here Paul speaks as if God reaches out and grabs the wise as they act in craftiness. By speaking in this way, he means that even “crafty” or clever people cannot avoid God when he wishes to “catch” them. God is not deceived, and he can disrupt their clever plans. If it would be helpful in your language, you could express catches with a comparable metaphor or express the idea plainly. Alternate translation: [interrupts the clever plans of the wise]
Note 7 topic: figures-of-speech / nominaladj
τοὺς σοφοὺς
(Some words not found in SR-GNT: ἡ Γάρ σοφία τοῦ κόσμου τούτου μωρία παρά τῷ Θεῷ ἐστίν γέγραπται Γάρ Ὁ δρασσόμενος τούς σοφούς ἐν τῇ πανουργίᾳ αὐτῶν)
Paul is using the adjective wise as a noun in order to describe a group of people. Your language may use adjectives in the same way. If not, you could translate this adjective with a noun phrase. Alternate translation: [wise people] or [those who think they are wise]
Note 8 topic: figures-of-speech / abstractnouns
τῇ πανουργίᾳ
the craftiness
If your language does not use an abstract noun for the idea behind craftiness, you can express the idea by using by using a phrase such as “crafty plans” or “clever planning.” Alternate translation: [crafty plans] or [clever planning]
OET (OET-LV) For/Because the wisdom of_ the _world this, foolishness with the god is.
For/Because it_has_been_written:
The one catching the wise in the craftiness of_them he_is.
OET (OET-RV) because this world’s wisdom is foolishness with God, because as it’s written: ‘He catches out the wise in their craftiness.’
Note: The OET-RV is still only a first draft, and so far only a few words have been (mostly automatically) matched to the Hebrew or Greek words that they’re translated from.
Acknowledgements: The SR Greek text, lemmas, morphology, and VLT gloss are all thanks to the CNTR.