²¹ He said,

Job’s Lament

3 Afterward Job opened his mouth and cursed ^[a]the day of his birth. ² And Job ^[b]said,

²³ But Jesus *answered them by saying, “^(A)The hour has come for the Son of Man to ^(B)be glorified. ²⁴ Truly, truly I say to you, ^(C)unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. ^25 (D)The one who loves his ^[a]life loses it, and the one who ^(E)hates his ^[b]life in this world will keep it ^[c]to eternal life. ²⁶ If anyone ^[d]serves Me, he must follow Me; and ^(F)where I am, there My servant will be also; if anyone ^[e]serves Me, the Father will ^(G)honor him.

²¹ For since in the wisdom of God ^(A)the world through its wisdom did not come to know God, ^(B)God ^[a]was pleased through the ^(C)foolishness of the ^[b]message preached to ^(D)save those who believe. ²² For indeed ^(E)Jews ask for ^[c]signs and Greeks search for wisdom; ²³ but we preach ^[d](F)Christ crucified, ^(G)to Jews a stumbling block, and to Gentiles ^(H)foolishness,

⁴ and my ^[a]message and my preaching were ^(A)not in persuasive words of ^[b]wisdom, but in demonstration of ^(B)the Spirit and of power, ⁵ so that your faith would not ^[c]rest on the ^[d]wisdom of mankind, but on ^(C)the power of God.

⁵ through whom we have received grace and ^(A)apostleship ^[a]to bring about the ^(B)obedience of faith among ^(C)all the Gentiles in behalf of His name,

²⁶ but now has been disclosed, and through ^(A)the Scriptures of the prophets, in accordance with the commandment of the eternal God, has been made known to all the nations, leading to ^(B)obedience of faith;

²³ but we preach ^[a](A)Christ crucified, ^(B)to Jews a stumbling block, and to Gentiles ^(C)foolishness,

^17 (A)For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel, ^(B)not with ^[a]cleverness of speech, so that the cross of Christ would not be made of no effect.