1 Corinthians, 2
1. When I came to you, brothers, proclaiming the mystery of God, I did not come with sublimity of words or of wisdom.
1. Now when I came to you, brothers, I did not come with any brilliance of oratory or wise argument to announce to you the mystery of God.
2. For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ, and him crucified.
2. I was resolved that the only knowledge I would have while I was with you was knowledge of Jesus, and of him as the crucified Christ.
3. I came to you in weakness and fear and much trembling,
3. I came among you in weakness, in fear and great trembling
4. and my message and my proclamation were not with persuasive (words of) wisdom, but with a demonstration of spirit and power,
4. and what I spoke and proclaimed was not meant to convince by philosophical argument, but to demonstrate the convincing power of the Spirit,
5. so that your faith might rest not on human wisdom but on the power of God.
5. so that your faith should depend not on human wisdom but on the power of God.
6. Yet we do speak a wisdom to those who are mature, but not a wisdom of this age, nor of the rulers of this age who are passing away.
6. But still, to those who have reached maturity, we do talk of a wisdom, not, it is true, a philosophy of this age or of the rulers of this age, who will not last long now.
7. Rather, we speak God's wisdom, mysterious, hidden, which God predetermined before the ages for our glory,
7. It is of the mysterious wisdom of God that we talk, the wisdom that was hidden, which God predestined to be for our glory before the ages began.
8. and which none of the rulers of this age knew; for if they had known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.
8. None of the rulers of the age recognised it; for if they had recognised it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory;
9. But as it is written: "What eye has not seen, and ear has not heard, and what has not entered the human heart, what God has prepared for those who love him,"
9. but it is as scripture says: What no eye has seen and no ear has heard, what the mind of man cannot visualise; all that God has prepared for those who love him;
10. this God has revealed to us through the Spirit.For the Spirit scrutinizes everything, even the depths of God.
10. to us, though, God has given revelation through the Spirit, for the Spirit explores the depths of everything, even the depths of God.
11. Among human beings, who knows what pertains to a person except the spirit of the person that is within? Similarly, no one knows what pertains to God except the Spirit of God.
11. After all, is there anyone who knows the qualities of anyone except his own spirit, within him; and in the same way, nobody knows the qualities of God except the Spirit of God.
12. We have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit that is from God, so that we may understand the things freely given us by God.
12. Now, the Spirit we have received is not the spirit of the world but God's own Spirit, so that we may understand the lavish gifts God has given us.
13. And we speak about them not with words taught by human wisdom, but with words taught by the Spirit, describing spiritual realities in spiritual terms.
13. And these are what we speak of, not in the terms learnt from human philosophy, but in terms learnt from the Spirit, fitting spiritual language to spiritual things.
14. Now the natural person does not accept what pertains to the Spirit of God, for to him it is foolishness, and he cannot understand it, because it is judged spiritually.
14. The natural person has no room for the gifts of God's Spirit; to him they are folly; he cannot recognise them, because their value can be assessed only in the Spirit.
15. The spiritual person, however, can judge everything but is not subject to judgment by anyone.
15. The spiritual person, on the other hand, can assess the value of everything, and that person's value cannot be assessed by anybody else.
16. For "who has known the mind of the Lord, so as to counsel him?" But we have the mind of Christ.
16. For: who has ever known the mind of the Lord? Who has ever been his adviser? But we are those who have the mind of Christ.
