LO - I Corinthians

Chapter 1

1:1  Paul, a called Apostle of Jesus Christ, by the will of God, and Sosthenes, the brother,

1:2  to the congregation of God which is in Corinth, sanctified by Christ Jesus, called saints; with all, in every place, who invoke the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, both their Lord and ours:

1:3  favor and peace be with you from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ.

1:4  I give thanks to my God always in respect of you; on account of the favor of God, which was given to you through Jesus Christ;

1:5  that you were enriched with every gift, by him; even with all speech, and all knowledge,

1:6  just as the testimony of Christ was confirmed among you:

1:7  so that you come behind in no gift, waiting for the full manifestation of our Lord Jesus Christ;

1:8  who will confirm you till the end, without accusation in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.

1:9  God is faithful, by whom you have been called into the fellowship of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord.

1:10  Now, brethren, I beseech you by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all speak the same thing, and that there be no schisms among you; but that you be perfectly united in the same mind, and in the same judgment.

1:11  For it has been been declared to me concerning you, my brethren, by some of the family of Chloe, that there are contentions among you.

1:12  And I mention this, that each of you says, I, indeed, am of Paul, and I of Apollos, and I of Cephas, and I of Christ.

1:13  Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? or were you immersed into the name of Paul?

1:14  I give thanks to God that I immersed none of you except Crispus and Gaius;

1:15  lest any one should say that I immersed into my own name.

1:16  And I immersed also the family of Stephanus: besides, I know not whether I immersed any other.

1:17  For Christ did not send me to immerse, but to proclaim the glad tidings; not, however, with wisdom of speech, that the cross of Christ might not be deprived of its efficacy.

1:18  For this doctrine (the doctrine of the cross) is, indeed, foolishness to the destroyed; but to us, who are saved, it is the power of God.

1:19  Therefore, it is written, "I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will set aside the knowledge of the prudent."

1:20  Where is the wise man? where the scribe? where the disputers of this world? Has not God shown the wisdom of this world to be folly?

1:21  For, when, in the wisdom of God, the world, through wisdom, knew not God, it pleased God, through the foolishness of this proclamation, to save them who believe.

1:22  And though the Jews demand a sign, and the Greeks seek wisdom;

1:23  yet we proclaim a crucified Christ: to the Jews, indeed, a stumbling block, and to the Greeks foolishness:

1:24  but to them who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ, the power of God and the wisdom of God.

1:25  Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.

1:26  For you see the calling of you, brethren, that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble;

1:27  but God has chosen the foolish of the world to put the wise to shame; and the weak God has chosen to put the strong to shame;

1:28  the ignoble of the world, and the despised, God has chosen; nay, those that are nothing, to reduce to nothing those that are;

1:29  that not flesh might boast in his presence.

1:30  Of him, therefore, you are in Christ Jesus, who is become to us wisdom from God, justification, also, and sanctification, and redemption.

1:31  So that, as it is written, "Let him who boasts, boast in the Lord."

Chapter 2

2:1  Now, when I cam to you, brethren, I came not with excellency of speech, and of wisdom, declaring to you the testimony of God.

2:2  For I determined to make known nothing among you but Jesus Christ, and him crucified.

2:3  And I, in weakness and in fear, and in much trembling, was with you.

2:4  My discourse, also, and my proclamation, were not with persuasive words of human wisdom; but with the demonstration of the Spirit, and of power.

2:5  That your faith might not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.

2:6  However, we speak wisdom among the perfect: but not the wisdom of this world; neither of the rulers of this world, who are to be brought to nothing.

2:7  But we speak the mysterious wisdom of God, which has been till now concealed; which God declared before the time of the ages, should be spoken to our glory.

2:8  Which none of the rulers of this world knew: for if they had known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.

2:9  For, as it is written, "Those things eye has not seen, and ear has not heard, and into the heart of man have not entered, which God has prepared for them who love him."

2:10  But God has revealed them to us by his Spirit; for the Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God.

2:11  For who, of men, knows the thoughts of a man, except the spirit of man which is in him: so, also, the thoughts of God no man knows, but the Spirit of God.

2:12  Now, we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit which comes from God, that we might know the things which are gifted to us by God.

2:13  Which things, also, we speak, not in words, taught by human wisdom; but in words taught by the Spirit, explaining spiritual things in spiritual words.

2:14  Now, an animal man receives not the thing of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness to him; neither can he know them, because they are spiritually examined.

2:15  But the spiritual man examines, indeed, all things, yet he is examined by no one.

2:16  For what animal man has known the mind of the Lord, who will instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ.

Chapter 3

3:1  Now, I, brethren, could not speak to you as to spiritual, but as to fleshly men, even as to babes in Christ.

3:2  Milk I gave you--not meat; for you were not then able to receive it: nay, neither yet now are you able, because you are still fleshly.

3:3  For, whereas, among you, envying, and strife, and divisions subsist; are you not fleshly, and walk after the manner of men?

3:4  Besides, while one says, I, indeed, am of Paul; and another, I of Apollos, are you not fleshly?

3:5  For who is Paul, and who is Apollos; but ministers, by whom you have believed, even as the Lord has given to each?

3:6  I have planted, Apollos has watered; but God has made to grow.

3:7  So that neither the planter is anything, nor the waterer; but God, who makes to grow.

3:8  However, the planter and the waterer are one, and each shall receive his proper reward, according to his proper labor.

3:9  Wherefore, we are joint laborers, employed by God. You are God's field; you are God's building.

3:10  According to the favor of God, which is given to me as a skillful architect, I have laid the foundation, and another builds upon it. But let every one take heed how he builds on it.

3:11  For other foundation no one can lay, except what is laid, which is Jesus Christ.

3:12  Now if any one build on this foundation, gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble;

3:13  every one's work shall be made manifest: for the say will make it plain, because it is revealed by fire; and so the fire will try every one's work, of what sort it is.

3:14  If the work of any one remain, which he has built upon the foundation: he shall receive a reward.

3:15  If the work of any one shall be burnt, he will suffer loss: himself, however, shall be saved, yet so as through a fire.

3:16  Do you not know that you are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwells among you?

3:17  If any one destroy the temple of God, him will God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple you are.

3:18  Let no one deceive himself. If any one among you think to be wise in this age, let him become a fool, that he may be wise.

3:19  For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God; for it is written, "He entangled the wise in their own craftiness."

3:20  And again, "The Lord knows the reasonings of the wise, that they are vain."

3:21  Wherefore, let no man boast in men; for all things are yours:

3:22  whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come--all are yours;

3:23  and you are Christ's, and Christ is God's.

Chapter 4

4:1  So, then, let a man consider us as servants only of Christ, and stewards of the secrets of God.

4:2  Now, it is required in stewards, that every one be found faithful.

4:3  Therefore, to me it is a very small matter that I be condemned by you, or by human judgment, seeing I do not condemn myself.

4:4  For I am conscious to myself of no fault. However, I am not by this justified; but he who judges me is the Lord.

4:5  Wherefore, do not, before the time, pass any judgment, till the Lord come; who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and lay open the counsels of the hearts; and then praise shall be to every one from God.

4:6  Now, these things, brethren, I have figuratively applied to myself, and Apollos, for your sakes, that by us you may learn not to esteem teachers above what has been written, that no one of you may, on account of one teacher , be puffed up against another.

4:7  Besides, who makes you to differ? For what have you which you did not receive? And now, if you did receive it, why do you boast as not receiving it?

4:8  Now you are filled! now you are become rich! you have reigned without it! and I wish, indeed, you had reigned, that we also might reign with you.

4:9  For I think that God has set forth us, the Apostles, last, as persons appointed to death; because we are made a spectacle to the world, even to angels, and to men.

4:10  We are fools on account of Christ; but you are wise in Christ: we are weak, but you are strong: you are honored, but we are despised.

4:11  To the present hour we both hunger and thirst, and are naked, and are buffeted, and have no certain dwelling place,

4:12  and labor, working with our own hands: when reviled, we bless: when persecuted, we bear:

4:13  when defamed, we beseech: when we are become as the purgations of the world, the filth of all things until now.

4:14  I write not these things to shame you; but, as my beloved children, I instruct you.

4:15  For, though you have ten thousand teachers in Christ, yet you have not many fathers; for, to Christ Jesus, through the gospel, I have begotten you.

4:16  Wherefore, I beseech you, be imitators of me.

4:17  For this purpose I have sent to you Timothy, who is my beloved son, and faithful in the Lord: he will put you in mind of my ways, which are in Christ, even as I teach everywhere, in every congregation.

4:18  Now, some are puffed up, as if I were not coming to you.

4:19  But I will come to you soon, if the Lord will, and shall know, not the speech of them who are puffed up, but the power.

4:20  For the Reign of God is not in word, but in power.

4:21  What do you incline? Shall I come to you with a rod, or in love, and in the spirit of meekness?

Chapter 5

5:1  It is generally reported that there is incest among you; and such incest as is not even among the heathens--that one has his father's wife.

5:2  And you are puffed up, and have not rather bewailed, so that he who has done this work might be taken from among you.

5:3  Wherefore, I, indeed, as absent in the body yet present in spirit, have already, as present, judged him who committed this act.

5:4  My sentence is this: You being assembled, my spirit also being with you; in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, with the power of the Lord Jesus Christ,

5:5  deliver this very person up to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.

5:6  Your boasting is not becoming. Do you not know, that a little leaven leavens the whole mass?

5:7  Cleanse out, therefore, the old leaven, that you may be a new lump, seeing you are without leaven; for even our passover, Christ is sacrificed for us.

5:8  Therefore, let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness: but with unleavened sincerity and truth.

5:9  I wrote you, in that epistle, not to associate with the vicious;

5:10  but I did not mean in general the fornicators of this world, the avaricious, the rapacious, or the idolaters; seeing, then, indeed, you must go out of the world.

5:11  But now I write to you, if any one, called a brother, be a fornicator, or a covetous person, or an idolater, or a reviler, or a drunkard, or an extortioner; not to associate, not even to eat, with such a person.

5:12  For what have I to do to pronounce sentence on them also who are without? Do not you judge them who are within?

5:13  But them are without, God judges. Therefore, put away from among yourselves the wicked person.

Chapter 6

6:1  Dare any of you, having a matter against another, be judged by the unrighteous, and not by the saints?

6:2  Do you not know that the saints are to judge with world? And if the world is to be judged by you, are you unworthy to decide your petty causes?

6:3  Do you not know that we are to judge messengers? Why not, then, things pertaining to this life?

6:4  If, then, you have the cognizance of such matters, why do you set those to judge who are of no account in the congregation?

6:5  For shame to you I say it ! So, then, there is not among you a wise man; not even one, who shall be able to decide between his brethren!

6:6  But brother with brother is judged, and that by infidels!

6:7  Now, therefore, indeed, there is plainly a fault in you, that you have law-suits with one another. Why do you not rather bear the being defrauded?

6:8  But you injure and defraud; and that, too, your own brethren.

6:9  Do you not know that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor catamites, nor sodomites,

6:10  nor thieves, nor misers, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God.

6:11  And such were some of you; but you are washed, but you are sanctified, but you are justified, by the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God.

6:12  All meats are lawful for me to eat, but all are not proper: all meats are lawful for me to eat; but I will not be enslaved by any meat.

6:13  Meats for the belly, and the belly for meats; however, God will destroy both it and them. Now, the body was not made for uncleanness, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body:

6:14  and God has both raised the Lord, and will raise up us by his own power.

6:15  Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall, I, then, take the members of Christ and make them the members of a harlot? By no means.

6:16  What! do you not know that he who is strongly attached to a harlot is one body? for he says, "The two shall be one flesh."

6:17  But he, who is strongly attached to the Lord, is one spirit.

6:18  Flee uncleanness. Every sin which a man commits, is without the body: but he who commits uncleanness, sins against his own body.

6:19  What! do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have from God?

6:20  Besides, you are not your own; for you are bought with a price: therefore, with your body glorify God.

Chapter 7

7:1  Now, concerning the things of which you wrote me: It is good for a man not to marry a woman.

7:2  Nevertheless, on account of uncleanness, let every man have a wife of his own, and let every woman have her own husband.

7:3  Let the husband fulfill his obligations to his wife: and in like manner, also, the wife to the husband.

7:4  The wife has not the command of her own person, but the husband: and in like manner, also, the husband has not the command of his own person, but the wife.

7:5  Deprive not one another, unless, perhaps, by consent, for a time, that you may devote yourselves to prayer; and do you come again together, that Satan may not tempt you through your incontinency.

7:6  But this which follows I speak as an advice, and not as an injunction,

7:7  that I wish all men to be as I myself am. However, each has a proper gift from God; one, indeed, after this manner, and another after that.

7:8  I say, to the unmarried men, and to the widows, it is good for them if they can remain even as I do.

7:9  Yet, if they can not live continently, let them marry; for it is better to marry than to be in pain.

7:10  Now, those who have married I charge, (yet not I, but the Lord;) let not a wife depart from her husband:

7:11  but if she even depart, let her remain unmarried, or be reconciled to her husband; and a husband must not put away his wife.

7:12  But the rest I command, not the Lord; if any brother have an infidel wife, who herself is well pleased to dwell with him, let him not put her away.

7:13  And a woman who has an infidel husband, who himself is well pleased to dwell with her, let her not put him away.

7:14  For the infidel husband is sanctified by the wife, and the infidel wife is sanctified by the husband; otherwise, certainly, your children were unclean; whereas, indeed, they are holy.

7:15  But if the infidel depart, let him depart: the brother or the sister is not in bondage with such; but God has called us to peace.

7:16  For how do you know, O wife! whether you shall save your husband? And how do you know, O husband! whether you shall save your wife?

7:17  But as God has distributed to every one, and as the Lord has called every one, so let him walk; and so, in all the congregations, I ordain.

7:18  Has any circumcised one been called? Let him not be uncircumcised. Has any one been called in uncircumcision? Let him not be circumcised.

7:19  Circumcision is nothing, and uncircumcision is nothing, but the keeping of the commandments of God.

7:20  Let every one remain in the same calling in which he was called.

7:21  Were you called, being a bondman? Be not careful to be made free. Yet, if you can be made free, prefer it.

7:22  For a bondman, who is called by the Lord, is the Lord's freedman. In like manner, also, a freedman who is called, is Christ's bondman.

7:23  You were bought with a price: become not the slaves of men.

7:24  Brethren, in what state each one was called, in that let him remain with God.

7:25  Now, concerning virgins, I have not a commandment of the Lord: but, I give my judgment, as having obtained mercy of the Lord, to be faithful.

7:26  I declare this, then, to be good, on account of the present distress; namely, that it is good for a man who is unmarried, to continue so.

7:27  Are you bound to a wife? seek not to be loosed. Are you loosed from a wife? seek not a wife.

7:28  And yet, if you marry, you have not sinned; and if a virgin marry, she has not sinned: nevertheless, affliction in the flesh such shall have; but I spare you.

7:29  Now, this I say, brethren, the time being short, it remains that both they who have wives, should be as not having wives;

7:30  and they who weep, as not weeping; and they who rejoice, as not rejoicing; and they who buy, as not possessing;

7:31  and they who use this world, as not abusing it: for the form of this world passes by.

7:32  Besides, I would have you without anxious care. The unmarried man anxiously cares for the things of the Lord; how he shall please the Lord.

7:33  But he who is married, anxiously cares for the things of the world; how he shall please his wife.

7:34  There is the like difference between the wife and the virgin. The unmarried woman anxiously cares for the things of the Lord; that she may be holy, both in body and spirit: but she who is married, anxiously cares for the things of the world; how she shall please her husband.

7:35  Now, this I say, for your own benefit; not with a view to lay a snare for you, but for that which is becoming, and best adapted to a steady, uninterrupted adherence to the Lord.

7:36  But if any one thinks he acts improperly toward his virgin, if she be above age, unmarried, and so needs to be married; let him do what she inclines, he does not sin: let such marry.

7:37  But he who stands firm in his heart; not having necessity, and has power concerning his own will; and has determined this in his own heart, to keep his virgin, does well.

7:38  So, then, even he who gives her in marriage, does well; but he who gives her not in marriage, does better.

7:39  A wife is bound, as long as her husband lives; but if her husband be dead, she is at liberty to be married to whom she pleases; only in the Lord.

7:40  But she is happier if she continue as she is. This is my opinion; and I think I have the Spirit of God.

Chapter 8

8:1  Now, concerning things sacrificed to idols, we know, (for we all have knowledge. Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up.

8:2  However, if any one is confident of knowing anything, he has known nothing, yet, as he ought to know.

8:3  But, if any one love God, the same is acknowledged by him.)

8:4  Concerning, then, the eating of things sacrificed to idols, we know that an idol is nothing in the world; and that there is no other God but one.

8:5  For though, indeed, there are nominal gods, whether in heaven or on earth; (as, indeed, there are many gods, and many lords;)

8:6  yet, to us, there is but one God, the Father; of whom all things are, and we for him: and one Lord Jesus Christ; by whom all things are, and we by him.

8:7  However, this knowledge is not in all: for some, till this hour, in the conscience of the idol, eat it, as a thing sacrificed to the idol; and their conscience, being weak, is defiled.

8:8  But meat does not recommend us to God: for neither, if we eat, are we the better; neither, if we do not eat, are we the worse.

8:9  Nevertheless, take heed, lest, perhaps, this liberty of yours become a stumbling block to the weak.

8:10  For if any one see you, who have knowledge, at table in an idol's temple, will not the conscience of him that is weak, be encouraged to eat things sacrificed to idols?

8:11  and through this, your knowledge, shall the weak brother perish, for whom Christ died?

8:12  And, by thus sinning against the brethren, and wounding their conscience, you sin against Christ.

8:13  Wherefore, if meat make my brother stumble, I will never eat flesh, lest I make my brother stumble.

Chapter 9

9:1  Am I not an Apostle? Am I not a freeman? Have I not seen Jesus Christ, our Lord? Are you not my work in the Lord?

9:2  If to others I am not an Apostle, yet, to you, at least, I am; for the seal of my apostleship, are you, in the Lord.

9:3  My answer to them who condemn me, is this:

9:4  Have we not liberty to eat, and to drink?

9:5  Have we not liberty to lead about a sister wife, as the other Apostles, and the brethren of the Lord, and Cephas?

9:6  Or, have I, only, and Barnabas, not liberty to forbear working?

9:7  Who, at any time, serves in the wars, on his own charges? Who plants a vineyard, and does not eat the fruit of it? Or who feeds a flock, and does not eat of the milk of the flock?

9:8  Do I speak these things as a man? Or does not the law also say these things?

9:9  For, in the law of Moses it is written, "You shall not muzzle the ox treading out the corn." Does God take care of the oxen?

9:10  Or, does he command this chiefly for our sakes? For our sakes, certainly, it is written: because, he who plows, ought to plough in hope; and he who threshes in hope, ought to partake of his own hope.

9:11  If we have sown for you spiritual things, is it a great matter, if we shall reap your carnal things?

9:12  If others partake of this authority over you, ought not we, rather? Nevertheless, we have not used this power; but we bear all things, that we may not give any hindrance to the gospel of Christ.

9:13  Do you not know that they who perform sacred offices, eat from the temple? Do not they who wait at the altar share with the altar?

9:14  So also, the Lord has appointed them who announce the gospel, to live by the gospel.

9:15  But I have used none of these privileges ; neither have I written these things that it should be done to me: for it were good for me rather to die, than that any one should make my boasting void.

9:16  For when I declared the gospel, I have nothing to boast of; because necessity is laud upon me: yes, woe awaits me if I declare not the gospel.

9:17  Now, if I do this willingly, I have a reward; but, if against my will, still I am intrusted with the stewardship.

9:18  What, then, is my reward? that, when declaring the gospel, I shall exhibit the gospel of Christ without charge, in order that I may not abuse my power in the gospel.

9:19  For, though I be a freeman, with respect to all; I have made myself a servant to all, that I might gain the more.

9:20  So, to the Jews, I became as a Jew, that I might gain the Jews: to those under the law, (though not under the law) as under the law, that I might gain those under the law:

9:21  to those without law, as without law, (not being without law to God, but under law to Christ,) that I might gain those that are without law.

9:22  To the weak, I became as weak, that I might gain the weak. To all, I have become all things, that, by all means, I might same some.

9:23  Now, this I do for the sake of the gospel, and that I may become a joint partaker of its rewards.

9:24  Do you not know that they who run a race, all run, but one only receives the prize? So run, that you may lay hold of the prize?

9:25  Now, every one who contends is temperate in all things: they, indeed, that they may receive a fading crown; but we, one that does not fade.

9:26  I, therefore, so run, as not out of view. So I fight, not as beating the air:

9:27  but, I mortify my body, and keep it in subjection; lest, perhaps, having proclaimed to others, I myself should not be accepted.

Chapter 10

10:1  Now, I would not have you ignorant, brethren, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea:

10:2  and all were immersed into Moses, in the cloud and in the sea;

10:3  and all did eat the same spiritual meat;

10:4  and all did drink the same spiritual drink; (for they drank of the spiritual rock, which followed them, and that rock was Christ.)

10:5  Nevertheless, with the greater part of them, God was not well pleased; for they were cast down in the wilderness.

10:6  Now, these things have become types to us, in order that we should not be lusters after evil things, even as they lusted.

10:7  Neither be you idolaters, as some of them were; as it is written, "The people sat down to eat, and to drink, and rose up to dance."

10:8  Neither let us commit whoredom, as some of them committed whoredom, and fell, in one day, twenty-three thousand.

10:9  Neither let us grievously tempt Christ, as some of them tempted, and perished by serpents.

10:10  Neither murmur you, as even some of the murmured, and perished by the destroyer.

10:11  Now, all these things happened to them as types; and are written for our admonition, on whom the ends of the ages are come.

10:12  Wherefore, let him who thinks he stands, take heed, lest he fall.

10:13  No trial has come upon you but such as belongs to man; and God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tried above what you are able, but will, with the trial, also make a way to escape, that you may be able to bear.

10:14  Wherefore, my beloved, fly from idolatry.

10:15  I speak as to wise men; judge you what I say.

10:16  The cup of blessing, which we bless; is it not the joint participation of the blood of Christ? The loaf, which we break; is it not the joint participation of the body of Christ?

10:17  Because there is one loaf, we, the many, are one body: for we all participate of that one loaf.

10:18  Look at Israel after the flesh. Are not they, who eat of the sacrifices, joint partakers of the altar?

10:19  What, then, do I affirm? that an idol is anything, or than an idol sacrifice is anything?

10:20  No. But, that what the heathens sacrifice, they sacrifice to demons, and not to God. Now, I would not have you become joint partakers with the demons.

10:21  You can not drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons: you can not partake of the table of the Lord, and of the table of demons.

10:22  Do we provoke the Lord to jealousy? Are we stronger than he?

10:23  All things are lawful, but all are not expedient; all are lawful, but all do not edify.

10:24  Let no one seek his own, but that of his neighbor, also .

10:25  Whatever is sold in the shambles, eat, asking no question on account of conscience;

10:26  "for the earth is the Lord's, and the fullness thereof."

10:27  And if any of the unbelievers invite you, and you incline to go, whatever is set before you, eat; asking no question on account of conscience.

10:28  But if any one say to you, This is a thing sacrificed to an idol; do not eat, on account of him who showed it, and of conscience.

10:29  Now, I say conscience, not your own, but that of the other. But why is my liberty judged by another's conscience?

10:30  But if, by favor, I be a partaker, why am I evil spoken of, for that for which I give thanks?

10:31  Whether, then, you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.

10:32  Be no occasion of stumbling; neither to the Jews, nor to the Greeks, nor to the congregation of God.

10:33  Even as I please all men in all things; not seeking my own advantage, but that of the many, that they may be saved.

Chapter 11

11:1  Become imitators of me, even as I also am of Christ.

11:2  Now I praise you, brethren; because, in all things you remember me, and hold fast the traditions as I delivered them to you.

11:3  But I would have you know, that the head of every man is Christ; and the head of the woman is the man; and the head of Christ is God.

11:4  Every man who prays, or prophesies, having his head covered, dishonors his head.

11:5  And every woman who prays, or prophesies, with her head uncovered, dishonors her head. Besides, it is one and the same, with being shaved.

11:6  Wherefore, if a woman be not vailed, even let her be shorn: but, if it be shame for a woman to be shorn or shaved, let her be vailed.

11:7  Now, man, indeed, ought not to cover the head, being the image and glory of God, but woman is the glory of man.

11:8  Besides the man is not of the woman; but the woman is of the man.

11:9  And, also, the man was not created for the woman, but the woman for the man.

11:10  For this reason, ought the woman to have a vail on her head, on account of the messengers.

11:11  However, neither is the man, without the woman, nor the woman without the man, in the Lord.

11:12  Besides, as the woman is from the man, so also, the man is by the woman; but all from God.

11:13  Judge in yourselves, is it decent that a woman pray to God unvailed?

11:14  Does not even nature itself teach you that if, indeed, a man have long hair, it is a disgrace to him?

11:15  But if a woman have long hair, it is a glory to her: for her hair is given to her for a vail.

11:16  However, if any one resolve to be contentious, we have no such custom; neither the congregations of God.

11:17  Now, in declaring this, that you come together, not for the better, but for the worse, I do not praise you.

11:18  For, first, indeed, I hear, that when you come together in the congregation, there are schisms among you; and I partly believe it.

11:19  For there must even be sects among you, that the approved among you may be made manifest.

11:20  But your coming together into one place, is not to eat the Lord's supper.

11:21  For, in eating it, every one takes first his own supper; and one, indeed, is hungry, and another is filled.

11:22  What! have you not houses, to eat and to drink in? or, do you despise the congregation of God and put to shame those who have not? What shall I say to you? Shall I praise you? In this, I praise you not.

11:23  For I received from the Lord what, also, I delivered to you; that the Lord Jesus, in the night in which we was betrayed, took a loaf;

11:24  and, having given thanks, he broke it; and said, Take, eat; this is my body, which is broken for you: do this in remembrance of me.

11:25  In like manner, also, the cup, after he had supped; saying, This cup is the new institution in my blood: do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.

11:26  For as often as you eat this loaf, and drink this cup, you openly publish the death of the Lord, until he come.

11:27  So, then, whosoever shall eat this loaf, and drink this cup of the Lord unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord.

11:28  But let a man examine himself, and then let him eat of the loaf, and drink of the cup.

11:29  For he who eats and drinks unworthily, eats and drinks judgment to himself, not distinguishing the body of the Lord.

11:30  For this cause, many among you are weak and sick, and a considerable number are fallen asleep.

11:31  But if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged.

11:32  Yet, when we are judged by the Lord, we are corrected, that we may not be condemned with the world.

11:33  Wherefore, my brethren, when you come together to eat, wait for each other.

11:34  And if any one hunger, let him eat at home, that you may not come together for judgment. And the other things I will set in order when I come.

Chapter 12

12:1  Now, concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I would not have you ignorant.

12:2  You know that you were Gentiles, led away to dumb idols, even as you happened to be led.

12:3  Wherefore, I inform you, that no one, speaking by the Spirit of God, pronounces Jesus accursed; and, that no one can declare Jesus Lord, except by the Holy Spirit.

12:4  Now, there are diversities of gifts, but the same spirit.

12:5  And there are diversities of ministries, but the same Lord.

12:6  And there are diversities of operations, but the same God, who works all in all.

12:7  And to each is given this manifestation of the Spirit, for the advantage of all.

12:8  For to one, indeed, is given, by the Spirit, the word of wisdom: and to another, the word of knowledge, according to the same Spirit.

12:9  And to another, faith, by the same Spirit: and to another, healing, by the same Spirit:

12:10  and to another, the operations of powers: and to another, prophecy: and to another, diverse kinds of foreign tongues: and to another, the interpretation of foreign tongues.

12:11  Now, all these does the one and the same Spirit effectively work; distributing to each, respectively, as he pleases.

12:12  For, as the body is one, although it have many members; and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body, so also is Christ.

12:13  For, indeed, by one Spirit, we all have been immersed into one body; whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or freemen; and all have been made to drink of one Spirit.

12:14  Since, then, the body is not one member, but many;

12:15  if the foot shall say, Because I am not the hand, I am not of the body; is it, for this, not of the body?

12:16  And if the ear shall say, Because I am not the eye, I am not of the body; is it, for this, not of the body?

12:17  If the whole body were an eye, where were the hearing? If the whole were hearing, where were the smelling?

12:18  But, now, God has placed the members, every one of them, in the body, as he has pleased.

12:19  Besides, if all were one member, where were the body?

12:20  But now, indeed, there are many members, but one body.

12:21  Therefore, the eye can not say to the hand, I have no need of you: nor, again, the head to the feet, I have no need of you.

12:22  Nay, those members of the body which seem to be more feeble, are necessary.

12:23  And those which we think are less honorable members of the body, around them we throw more abundant honor; and so our uncomely members have more abundant comeliness.

12:24  But, our comely members have no need. However, God has tempered the body together; having given to the member which wants it, more abundant honor.

12:25  That there may be no schism in the body; but, that the members may have the very same anxious care, one for another.

12:26  So, whether one member suffer, all the members sympathize; or, one member be honored, all the members rejoice together.

12:27  Now, you are Christ's body, and members in particular.

12:28  And these, indeed, God has placed in the congregation: first, Apostles; secondly, prophets; thirdly, teachers; next, powers; then, gifts of healing; helpers, directors, kinds of foreign languages.

12:29  Are all Apostles? are all prophets? are all teachers? have all powers?

12:30  have all the gift of healing? do all speak in foreign languages? do all interpret?

12:31  Now, ardently desire the best gifts; and yet I show you a more excellent way.

Chapter 13

13:1  Though I could speak with the tongues of men, of angels, but have not love, I become as sounding brass, or a noisy cymbal.

13:2  And though I have prophecy, and know all secrets, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.

13:3  And though I spend all my goods in feeding the poor, and though I deliver my body to be burned, but have not love, I am nothing profited.

13:4  Love suffers long, and is kind. Love envies not. Love does not vaunt; is not puffed up;

13:5  does not behave itself unbecomingly; does not seek its own things; is not exasperated; does not imagine evil;

13:6  does not rejoice in iniquity, but greatly rejoices in the truth:

13:7  covers all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

13:8  Love never fails: but, whether prophecies, they will be out of use: or foreign languages, they shall cease: or science, it shall be abolished.

13:9  For we know only in part, and prophesy in part.

13:10  But when perfection is come, then what is in part will be done away.

13:11  When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I conceived as a child, I reasoned as a child. But when I became a man, I put away childish things.

13:12  For now we seek through a glass obscurely; but then, face to face: now, I know in part; but then, I shall fully know, even as I am fully known.

13:13  And now abide faith, hope, love, these three: but the greatest of these is love.

Chapter 14

14:1  Pursue love, and earnestly desire spiritual gifts; but especially that you may prophesy.

14:2  For he who speaks in a foreign language, speaks not to men, but to God; for no one understands him: nevertheless, by the Spirit he speaks secrets.

14:3  But he who prophesies, speaks to men for edification, and exhortation, and consolation.

14:4  He who speaks in a foreign language, edifies himself: but he who prophesies, edifies the congregation.

14:5  I wish, indeed, that you all spoke in foreign languages; but rather that you prophesied: for greater is he who prophesies, than he who speaks in foreign languages, unless, indeed, he interpret, that the congregation may receive edification.

14:6  For now, brethren, if I should come to you speaking in foreign languages, what shall I profit you, unless I shall speak to you intelligibly; either by revelation, or by knowledge, or by prophecy, or by doctrine?

14:7  In like manner, things without life, giving sound; whether pipe, or harp; unless they give a difference to the notes, how shall it be known what is piped, or harped?

14:8  And, therefore, if the trumpet give and unintelligible sound, who will prepare himself for battle?

14:9  So, also, you, unless with the tongue you give intelligible speech, how shall it be known what is spoken? Therefore, you will be speaking to the air.

14:10  There are, perhaps, so many kinds of languages in the world, and none of them is without signification.

14:11  Yet, if I do not know the meaning of the language, I shall be to him who speaks, a foreigner; and he who speaks, will be a foreigner to me.

14:12  Wherefore, you, also, since you are earnestly desirous of spiritual gifts, seek them, that you may abound for the edification of the congregation.

14:13  For which cause, let him who prays in a foreign language, pray that he may interpret.

14:14  For if I pray in a foreign language, my spirit prays; but my understanding is unfruitful.

14:15  What, then, is to be done? I will pray with the Spirit, but I will pray also with understanding: I will sing with the Spirit; but I will sing also with understanding.

14:16  Else, when you shall bless with the spirit, how shall he who fills up the place of the unlearned, say the Amen to your thanksgiving, since he knows not what you say?

14:17  For you, indeed, give thanks well; but the other is not edified.

14:18  I give thanks to God, speaking in more foreign languages than all of you;

14:19  yet, in the congregation, I would rather speak five sentences with my meaning understood, that I may instruct others, also, than ten thousand sentences in a foreign language.

14:20  Brethren, be not children in understanding; but in evil be children, and in understanding be full grown men.

14:21  In the law it is written, "Surely, with other tongues, and with other lips, I will speak to this people; yet not even then will they hearken to me, says the Lord."

14:22  So that foreign languages are for a sign; not to believers, but to unbelievers: but prophecy is for a sign; not to unbelievers, but to believers.

14:23  If, then, the whole congregation be come together in one place, and all speak in foreign languages; and there come in unlearned persons, or unbelievers, will they not say that you are mad?

14:24  But if all prophesy, and there come in an unbeliever, or an unlearned person, he is corrected by all, he is examined by all;

14:25  the hidden things of his heart are made manifest: and so, falling on his face, he will worship God, publishing that God is actually among you.

14:26  What is it, then, brethren? When you are come together, each of you has a psalm, has a discourse, has a foreign language, has a revelation, has an interpretation! Let all things be done to edification.

14:27  And if any one speak in a foreign language, let it be by two, or at most by three sentences , and separately; and let one interpret.

14:28  But if there be no interpreter, let him be silent in the congregation; yet let him speak to himself and to God.

14:29  Now, let two or three prophets speak, and let the others judge.

14:30  But, if to another, sitting by, anything be revealed, let the first be silent.

14:31  For you all can prophesy, one by one, that all may learn, and all may be comforted.

14:32  For the spirits of the prophets are subject to the prophets.

14:33  Besides, God is not the author of confusion, but of peace. As in all the assemblies of the saints,

14:34  let your women be silent in the congregations: for it has not been permitted to them to speak, but they must be in subjection; as the law also commands.

14:35  And if they wish to learn anything, let them ask their own husbands, at home: for it is an indecent thing for women to speak in the congregation.

14:36  What! went the word of God forth from you? or did it come to you only?

14:37  If any one be really a prophet, or spiritual person, let him acknowledge the things I write to you, that they are the commandments of the Lord.

14:38  And if any one be ignorant, let him be ignorant.

14:39  Wherefore, brethren, earnestly desire to prophesy; and hinder not to speak in foreign languages.

14:40  Let all things be done decently and in order.

Chapter 15

15:1  Now I declare to you, brethren, the glad tidings which I announced to; which, also, you have received, and in which you stand.

15:2  By which, also, you are saved, if you retain those joyful tidings which I delivered to you; unless you believed to no purpose.

15:3  For I delivered to you, among the first things, what also I received first--that Christ died for our sins, according to the scriptures;

15:4  and that he was buried; and that he rose again the third day, according to the scriptures;

15:5  and that he was seen by Cephas, then by the twelve.

15:6  After that, he was seen by above five hundred brethren at once; of whom the greater part remain to this present time, but some are fallen asleep.

15:7  After that, he was seen by James; then, by all the Apostles.

15:8  And, last of all he was seen by me, as by one born out of due time.

15:9  For I am the least of the Apostles; who am not worthy to be called an Apostle, because I persecuted the congregation of God.

15:10  But, by the favor of God, I am what I am: and his favor which was bestowed on me, was not vain; for I have labored more abundantly than all of them; yet not I, but the favor of God, which is with me.

15:11  Well, then, whether I or they, so we proclaim, and so you believed.

15:12  Now, if it be proclaimed that Christ was raised from the dead, how is it that some among you say, that there is no resurrection of the dead?

15:13  For if there be no resurrection of the dead, neither has Christ been raised.

15:14  And if Christ has not been raised, vain, certainly, is our proclamation, and vain, also, is your faith.

15:15  Besides, we are found even false witnesses concerning God; because we have witnessed, with respect to God, that he raised Christ; whom he raised not, if, indeed, the dead are not raised.

15:16  And if the dead are not raised, neither has Christ been raised,

15:17  Farther, if Christ has not been raised, your faith is useless; you are still in your sins.

15:18  Certainly, also, they who are fallen asleep in Christ are perished.

15:19  If in this life, only, we have hope in Christ, we are, of all men, the most miserable.

15:20  But now Christ is raised from the dead, --the first fruit of them who have fallen asleep.

15:21  For since through a man came death, through a man also comes the resurrection of the dead.

15:22  Therefore, as by Adam all die, so also by Christ all shall be made alive.

15:23  But every one in his own rank: Christ the first fruit; they that are Christ's, afterward, at his coming.

15:24  Then comes the end, when he shall resign the kingdom to God, even the Father; when he shall have abolished all government, and all authority, and power.

15:25  For he must reign till he has put all the enemies under his feet.

15:26  The last enemy, Death, shall be destroyed.

15:27  For he has subjected all things under his feet. Now when it says that all things are subjected, it is manifest that he is excepted, who has subjected all things to him.

15:28  Now, when all things are subjected to him, then even the Son himself shall be subjected to him, who subjected all things to him, that God may be all in all.

15:29  Otherwise, what shall they do, who are immersed for the dead, if the dead rise not at all? why then are they immersed for them?

15:30  And why do we endanger ourselves every hour?

15:31  I solemnly declare, by your rejoicing, what I also have in Christ Jesus our Lord, that every day I die.

15:32  If, after the manner of men, I have fought with wild beasts at Ephesus, what is the advantage to me, if the dead rise not? Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.

15:33  Be not deceived: evil communications corrupt good manners.

15:34  Awake up as you ought, and sin not; for some of you have not the knowledge of God. For shame to you, I say it.

15:35  But some one will say, How can the dead be raised up? and with what kind of body do they come?

15:36  Simpleton! what you sow is not made alive, except it die.

15:37  And as to what you sow, you do not show the body which shall be produced, but the naked grain; it may be of wheat, or of any other kind:

15:38  but God gives it a body, as it has pleased him; and to each of the seeds, its proper body.

15:39  All flesh is not the same flesh: but there is, indeed, one flesh of men, and another of beasts, and another of fishes, and another of fowls.

15:40  And there are bodies celestial, and bodies terrestrial: but different, indeed, is the glory of the celestial, and that of the terrestrial.

15:41  The glory of the sun is one, and the glory of the moon is another, and the glory of the stars another; moreover, star excels star in glory.

15:42  Just so is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption--it is raised in incorruption:

15:43  it is sown in dishonor--it is raised in glory: it is sown in weakness--it is raised in power:

15:44  it is sown an animal body--it is raised a spiritual body. There is an animal body, and there is a spiritual body.

15:45  For thus it is written, "The first man, Adam, was made a living soul--the last Adam, a vivifying spirit."

15:46  However, that was not first, which is spiritual; but that which is animal, and then that which is spiritual.

15:47  The first man, from the earth, was earthy; the second man is the Lord from heaven.

15:48  As was the earthy, so also are the earthy; and as is the heavenly, such also shall be heavenly.

15:49  For, as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly.

15:50  And this I affirm, brethren, that flesh and blood can not inherit the kingdom of God; neither can corruption inherit incorruption.

15:51  Behold, I tell you a secret: we shall not, indeed, all die; but we shall all be changed;

15:52  in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet; for it shall sound, and then the dead shall be raised incorruptible; and we shall be changed.

15:53  For this corruptible body, must put on incorruption; and this mortal body must put on immortality.

15:54  Now, when this corruptible body shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal body shall have put on immortality, then that saying of scripture shall be accomplished, "Death is swallowed up forever."

15:55  Death! where is thy sting? Hades! where is thy victory?

15:56  For the sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law.

15:57  Now thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

15:58  Wherefore, my beloved brethren, be stable, unmoved; abounding in the work of the Lord at all times, knowing that your labor is not vain in the Lord.

Chapter 16

16:1  Now, concerning the collection, which is for the saints; as I ordered the congregations of Galatia, so also so you.

16:2  On the first say of the week, let each of you lay somewhat by itself, according as he may have prospered, putting it into the treasury; that when I come, there may be then no collection.

16:3  And when I come, whomsoever you shall approve by letters, them I will send to carry your gift to Jerusalem.

16:4  Or, if it be proper that even I should go, they shall go with me.

16:5  Now, I will come to you, when I have passed through Macedonia, (for I do pass through Macedonia;)

16:6  and, perhaps, I shall abide, and even winter with you, that you may send me forward, whithersoever I may go.

16:7  For I will not now see you in passing; but I hope to remain with you sometime, if the Lord permit.

16:8  However, I shall remain at Ephesus till Pentecost.

16:9  For a great and effectual door is opened to me, yet there are many opposers.

16:10  Now, if Timothy be come, take care that he be among you without fear; for he works, even as I do, the work of the Lord.

16:11  Wherefore, let no one despise him; but send him forward in peace, that he may come to me; for I expect him with the brethren.

16:12  And with relation to our brother Apollos, I entreated him much to go to you with the brethren; but his inclination was not at all to go now, but he will go when he shall find a convenient season.

16:13  Watch; stand fast in the faith; acquit yourselves like men; be strong.

16:14  Let all things be done with love.

16:15  You know the family of Stephanus, that it is the first fruit of Achaia, and that they have devoted themselves to the ministry of the saints.

16:16  I entreat you, therefore, brethren, that you submit yourselves to such, and to every joint worker and laborer.

16:17  I am glad of the coming of Stephanus, and Fortunatus, and Achaicus; for they have supplied your deficiency,

16:18  and have refreshed my spirit and yours; wherefore, acknowledge such persons.

16:19  The congregations of Asia salute you. Aquila and Priscilla salute you much in the Lord, with the congregation which is in their house.

16:20  All the brethren salute you. Salute one another with a holy kiss.

16:21  The salutation of Paul with my own hand.

16:22  If any one love not the Lord Jesus Christ, he shall be accursed when the Lord comes.

16:23  The favor of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.

16:24  My love be with you all in Christ Jesus. Amen.