Bible Strands
1 Corinthians 3:19
For the wisdom of this world is foolishness in God’s sight. As it is written: “He catches the wise in their craftiness.”
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Paul writes to the Corinthian church, where factions are boasting in their philosophical and rhetorical sophistication. He is dismantling the assumption that human cleverness is a credential before God.
The words — σοφία (sophia, wisdom) and μωρία (mōria, foolishness) are set in direct opposition; the verse's claim is that what the world labels wisdom is, in God's sight, simply foolishness.
The thread — The quotation is Job 5:13; the same argument appears earlier in this letter at 1 Corinthians 1:19, where God destroys the wisdom of the wise.
Why it lands — It asks the reader to stop treating intellectual or cultural superiority as an asset in relation to God. The verse is a warning that the very craftiness one prides oneself on is the trap that catches.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Greek words
King James Version
For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written, He taketh the wise in their own craftiness.
Cross-references
- Job 5:13 He catches the wise in their craftiness, and sweeps away the plans of the cunning.
- Psalms 141:10 Let the wicked fall into their own nets, while I pass by in safety.
- 1 Corinthians 1:19 For it is written: “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise; the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate.”
- Romans 1:21 For although they knew God, they neither glorified Him as God nor gave thanks to Him, but they became futile in their thinking and darkened in their foolish hearts.
- Isaiah 44:25 who foils the signs of false prophets and makes fools of diviners, who confounds the wise and turns their knowledge into nonsense,
- Psalms 9:15 The nations have fallen into a pit of their making; their feet are caught in the net they have hidden.
- 1 Corinthians 2:6 Among the mature, however, we speak a message of wisdom—but not the wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing.
- Psalms 7:14 Behold, the wicked man travails with evil; he conceives trouble and births falsehood.
- Isaiah 29:14 Therefore I will again confound these people with wonder upon wonder. The wisdom of the wise will vanish, and the intelligence of the intelligent will be hidden.”
- Exodus 18:11 Now I know that the LORD is greater than all other gods, for He did this when they treated Israel with arrogance.”