1 Corinthians 2:9-16

New Living Translation

⁹That is what the Scriptures mean when they say,

“No eye has seen, no ear has heard,
and no mind has imagined
what God has prepared
for those who love him.”^[a]

¹⁰But^[b] it was to us that God revealed these things by his Spirit. For his Spirit searches out everything and shows us God’s deep secrets. ¹¹No one can know a person’s thoughts except that person’s own spirit, and no one can know God’s thoughts except God’s own Spirit. ¹²And we have received God’s Spirit (not the world’s spirit), so we can know the wonderful things God has freely given us.

¹³When we tell you these things, we do not use words that come from human wisdom. Instead, we speak words given to us by the Spirit, using the Spirit’s words to explain spiritual truths.^[c] ¹⁴But people who aren’t spiritual^[d] can’t receive these truths from God’s Spirit. It all sounds foolish to them and they can’t understand it, for only those who are spiritual can understand what the Spirit means. ¹⁵Those who are spiritual can evaluate all things, but they themselves cannot be evaluated by others. ¹⁶For,

“Who can know the Lord’s thoughts?
Who knows enough to teach him?”^[e]

But we understand these things, for we have the mind of Christ.

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Footnotes

2:9 Isa 64:4.
2:10 Some manuscripts read For.
2:13 Or explaining spiritual truths in spiritual language, or explaining spiritual truths to spiritual people.
2:14 Or who don’t have the Spirit; or who have only physical life.
2:16 Isa 40:13 (Greek version).