Font Size
1 Corinthians 2
Worldwide English (New Testament)
1 Corinthians 2
Worldwide English (New Testament)
2 So, my brothers, when I came to you, I did not come to tell you God's message in big or wise words.
2 I made up my mind that I would talk about only one thing while I was with you. That one thing was Jesus Christ and his death on a cross.
3 I was weak, afraid, and trembling when I visited you.
4 My words and my message were not in wise words to win you. But the power of the Spirit of God proved my words to be true.
5 I did this so that you would not believe because of man's wise words, but you would believe because of God's power.
6 However, our words are wise words to those who really believe. But they are not the kind of wise words that the people of this world speak. They are not the kind of wise words that the rulers of this world speak. Those rulers will die.
7 Our wise words are God's wise words about things people do not understand. Before God made the world he planned those things for our glory and blessing.
8 None of the rulers of this world knew about these things. If they had, they would not have killed on a cross the Lord who was full of God's glory.
9 The holy writings say, `No eye has seen the things God has made ready for those who love him. No ear has heard about them. No person's heart has ever thought of them.'
10 God has shown these things to us by his Spirit. The Spirit understands everything, even the things that God has kept secret.
11 The only one who really knows what a person is thinking is the spirit of the person himself. So also, no one knows what God is thinking, only the Spirit of God.
12 We have not received the spirit of the world. But we have received the Spirit of God. In this way we may understand the blessings which God has freely given to us.
13 We do not tell you these things in wise words which men taught us. But the Holy Spirit taught us. We teach things about the Spirit which we know about through the Spirit.
14 The person who does not have the Spirit does not receive the blessings of the Spirit of God. He thinks they are foolish. He cannot understand them because only people who have the Spirit of God can test them.
15 He who has the Spirit of God tests all things. But others cannot test him.
16 The holy writings say: `Who knows the mind of the Lord so that he may teach him?' As for us, we really do have the mind of Christ.
1 Corinthians 2
Darby Translation
1 Corinthians 2
Darby Translation
2 And *I*, when I came to you, brethren, came not in excellency of word, or wisdom, announcing to you the testimony of God.
2 For I did not judge [it well] to know anything among you save Jesus Christ, and *him* crucified.
3 And *I* was with you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling;
4 and my word and my preaching, not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of [the] Spirit and of power;
5 that your faith might not stand in men's wisdom, but in God's power.
6 But we speak wisdom among the perfect; but wisdom not of this world, nor of the rulers of this world, who come to nought.
7 But we speak God's wisdom in [a] mystery, that hidden [wisdom] which God had predetermined before the ages for our glory:
8 which none of the princes of this age knew, (for had they known, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory;)
9 but according as it is written, Things which eye has not seen, and ear not heard, and which have not come into man's heart, which God has prepared for them that love him,
10 but God has revealed to us by [his] Spirit; for the Spirit searches all things, even the depths of God.
11 For who of men hath known the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? thus also the things of God knows no one except the Spirit of God.
12 But *we* have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit which [is] of God, that we may know the things which have been freely given to us of God:
13 which also we speak, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit, communicating spiritual [things] by spiritual [means].
14 But [the] natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him; and he cannot know [them] because they are spiritually discerned;
15 but the spiritual discerns all things, and *he* is discerned of no one.
16 For who has known the mind of [the] Lord, who shall instruct him? But *we* have the mind of Christ.
1 Corinthians 2
New International Version
1 Corinthians 2
New International Version
2 And so it was with me, brothers and sisters. When I came to you, I did not come with eloquence or human wisdom(A) as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God.[a] 2 For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.(B) 3 I came to you(C) in weakness(D) with great fear and trembling.(E) 4 My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words,(F) but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power,(G) 5 so that your faith might not rest on human wisdom, but on God’s power.(H)
God’s Wisdom Revealed by the Spirit
6 We do, however, speak a message of wisdom among the mature,(I) but not the wisdom of this age(J) or of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing.(K) 7 No, we declare God’s wisdom, a mystery(L) that has been hidden(M) and that God destined for our glory before time began. 8 None of the rulers of this age(N) understood it, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.(O) 9 However, as it is written:
“What no eye has seen,
what no ear has heard,
and what no human mind has conceived”[b]—
the things God has prepared for those who love him—(P)
10 these are the things God has revealed(Q) to us by his Spirit.(R)
The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. 11 For who knows a person’s thoughts(S) except their own spirit(T) within them? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. 12 What we have received is not the spirit(U) of the world,(V) but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may understand what God has freely given us. 13 This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom(W) but in words taught by the Spirit, explaining spiritual realities with Spirit-taught words.[c] 14 The person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God(X) but considers them foolishness,(Y) and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit. 15 The person with the Spirit(Z) makes judgments about all things, but such a person is not subject to merely human judgments, 16 for,
But we have the mind of Christ.(AB)
Footnotes
- 1 Corinthians 2:1 Some manuscripts proclaimed to you God’s mystery
- 1 Corinthians 2:9 Isaiah 64:4
- 1 Corinthians 2:13 Or Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual
- 1 Corinthians 2:16 Isaiah 40:13
Worldwide English (New Testament) (WE)
© 1969, 1971, 1996, 1998 by SOON Educational Publications
Darby Translation (DARBY)
Public Domain (Why are modern Bible translations copyrighted?)
New International Version (NIV) 
Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
NIV Reverse Interlinear Bible: English to Hebrew and English to Greek. Copyright © 2019 by Zondervan.