Joseph and Potiphar's Wife

39 Now Joseph had been brought down to Egypt, and ^(A)Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh, the captain of the guard, an Egyptian, ^(B)had bought him from the ^(C)Ishmaelites who had brought him down there. ^2 (D)The Lord was with Joseph, and he became a successful man, and he was in the house of his Egyptian master. ³ His master saw that the Lord was with him and that the Lord ^(E)caused all that he did to succeed in his hands. ⁴ So Joseph ^(F)found favor in his sight and attended him, and he made him overseer of his house ^(G)and put him in charge of all that he had. ⁵ From the time that he made him overseer in his house and over all that he had, the Lord blessed the Egyptian's house ^(H)for Joseph's sake; the blessing of the Lord was on all that he had, in house and field. ⁶ So he left all that he had in Joseph's charge, and because of him he had no concern about anything but the food he ate.

Now Joseph was ^(I)handsome in form and appearance. ⁷ And after a time his master's wife cast her eyes on Joseph and said, “Lie with me.” ⁸ But he refused and said to his master's wife, “Behold, because of me my master has no concern about anything in the house, and ^(J)he has put everything that he has in my charge. ⁹ He is not greater in this house than I am, nor has he kept back anything from me except you, because you are his wife. How then can I do this great wickedness and ^(K)sin against God?” ¹⁰ And as she spoke to Joseph day after day, he ^(L)would not listen to her, to lie beside her or to be with her.

¹¹ But one day, when he went into the house to do his work and none of the men of the house was there in the house, ^12 (M)she caught him by his garment, saying, “Lie with me.” But he left his garment in her hand and fled and got out of the house. ¹³ And as soon as she saw that he had left his garment in her hand and had fled out of the house, ¹⁴ she called to the men of her household and said to them, “See, he has brought among us a Hebrew to laugh at us. He came in to me to lie with me, and I cried out with a loud voice. ¹⁵ And as soon as he heard that I lifted up my voice and cried out, he left his garment beside me and fled and got out of the house.” ¹⁶ Then she laid up his garment by her until his master came home, ¹⁷ and she told him the same story, saying, “The Hebrew servant, whom you have brought among us, came in to me to laugh at me. ¹⁸ But as soon as I lifted up my voice and cried, he left his garment beside me and fled out of the house.”

¹⁹ As soon as his master heard the words that his wife spoke to him, “This is the way your servant treated me,” his anger was kindled. ²⁰ And Joseph's master took him and ^(N)put him into the ^(O)prison, the place where the king's prisoners were confined, and he was there in prison. ²¹ But ^(P)the Lord was with Joseph and showed him steadfast love ^(Q)and gave him favor in the sight of the keeper of the prison. ²² And the keeper of the prison ^(R)put Joseph in charge of all the prisoners who were in the prison. Whatever was done there, he was the one who did it. ²³ The keeper of the prison paid no attention to anything that was in Joseph's charge, because ^(S)the Lord was with him. And whatever he did, the Lord made it succeed.

O God of Our Salvation

To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David. A Song.

Greeting

1 Paul, ^(A)called ^(B)by the will of God to be an apostle of Christ Jesus, and our brother Sosthenes,

² To the church of God that is in Corinth, to those ^(C)sanctified in Christ Jesus, ^(D)called to be saints together with all those who in every place ^(E)call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, both their Lord and ours:

^3 (F)Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Thanksgiving

⁴ I ^(G)give thanks to my God always for you because of the grace of God that was given you in Christ Jesus, ⁵ that in every way ^(H)you were enriched in him in all ^(I)speech and all knowledge— ⁶ even as ^(J)the testimony about Christ was confirmed among you— ⁷ so that you are not lacking in any gift, as you ^(K)wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ, ^8 (L)who will sustain you to the end, ^(M)guiltless ^(N)in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. ^9 (O)God is faithful, by whom you were called into the ^(P)fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

Divisions in the Church

¹⁰ I appeal to you, brothers,^[a] by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree, and that there be no ^(Q)divisions among you, but that you be united ^(R)in the same mind and the same judgment. ¹¹ For it has been reported to me by Chloe's people that there is ^(S)quarreling among you, my brothers. ¹² What I mean is that ^(T)each one of you says, “I follow Paul,” or “I follow ^(U)Apollos,” or “I follow ^(V)Cephas,” or “I follow Christ.” ^13 (W)Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you ^(X)baptized in the name of Paul? ¹⁴ I thank God that I baptized none of you except ^(Y)Crispus and ^(Z)Gaius, ¹⁵ so that no one may say that you were baptized in my name. ¹⁶ (I did baptize also ^(AA)the household of Stephanas. Beyond that, I do not know whether I baptized anyone else.) ¹⁷ For Christ did not send me to baptize but to preach the gospel, and ^(AB)not with words of eloquent wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power.

Christ the Wisdom and Power of God

¹⁸ For the word of the cross is ^(AC)folly to ^(AD)those who are perishing, but to us ^(AE)who are being saved it is ^(AF)the power of God. ¹⁹ For it is written,

^20 (AH)Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? ^(AI)Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? ²¹ For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach^[b] to save those who believe. ²² For ^(AJ)Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, ²³ but we preach Christ ^(AK)crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, ²⁴ but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ ^(AL)the power of God and ^(AM)the wisdom of God. ²⁵ For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.

²⁶ For consider your calling, brothers: ^(AN)not many of you were wise according to worldly standards,^[c] not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. ²⁷ But ^(AO)God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; ^(AP)God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; ²⁸ God chose what is low and despised in the world, even ^(AQ)things that are not, to ^(AR)bring to nothing things that are, ²⁹ so ^(AS)that no human being^[d] might boast in the presence of God. ³⁰ And because of him^[e] you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us ^(AT)wisdom from God, ^(AU)righteousness and ^(AV)sanctification and ^(AW)redemption, ³¹ so that, as it is written, ^(AX)“Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.”

Proclaiming Christ Crucified

2 And I, when I came to you, brothers,^{[f] (AY)}did not come proclaiming to you ^(AZ)the testimony^[g] of God with lofty speech or wisdom. ² For I decided to know nothing among you except ^(BA)Jesus Christ and him crucified. ³ And ^(BB)I was with you ^(BC)in weakness and in fear and much trembling, ⁴ and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of ^(BD)the Spirit and of power, ⁵ so that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men^[h] but ^(BE)in the power of God.

Wisdom from the Spirit

⁶ Yet among ^(BF)the mature we do impart wisdom, although it is not ^(BG)a wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, ^(BH)who are doomed to pass away. ⁷ But we impart a secret and hidden wisdom of God, ^(BI)which God decreed before the ages for our glory. ⁸ None of ^(BJ)the rulers of this age understood this, for ^(BK)if they had, they would not have crucified ^(BL)the Lord of glory. ⁹ But, as it is written,

¹⁰ these things ^(BP)God has revealed to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches everything, even ^(BQ)the depths of God. ¹¹ For who knows a person's thoughts ^(BR)except the spirit of that person, which is in him? So also no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. ¹² Now ^(BS)we have received not ^(BT)the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God. ¹³ And we impart this ^(BU)in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, ^(BV)interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual.^[i]

¹⁴ The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are ^(BW)folly to him, and ^(BX)he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. ¹⁵ The ^(BY)spiritual person judges all things, but is himself to be judged by no one. ^16 (BZ)“For who has understood the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?” But ^(CA)we have the mind of Christ.

Divisions in the Church

3 But I, brothers,^[j] could not address you as ^(CB)spiritual people, but as ^(CC)people of the flesh, as ^(CD)infants in Christ. ^2 (CE)I fed you with milk, not solid food, for ^(CF)you were not ready for it. And even now you are not yet ready, ³ for you are still of the flesh. For while there is ^(CG)jealousy and strife among you, are you not of the flesh and behaving only in a human way? ⁴ For ^(CH)when one says, “I follow Paul,” and another, “I follow Apollos,” ^(CI)are you not being merely human?

⁵ What then is Apollos? What is Paul? ^(CJ)Servants through whom you believed, ^(CK)as the Lord assigned to each. ^6 (CL)I planted, ^(CM)Apollos watered, ^(CN)but God gave the growth. ⁷ So ^(CO)neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth. ⁸ He who plants and he who waters are one, and each ^(CP)will receive his wages according to his labor. ⁹ For we are ^(CQ)God's fellow workers. You are God's field, ^(CR)God's building.

^10 (CS)According to the grace of God given to me, like a skilled^[k] master builder I laid a ^(CT)foundation, and ^(CU)someone else is building upon it. Let each one take care how he builds upon it. ¹¹ For no one can lay a ^(CV)foundation other ^(CW)than that which is laid, ^(CX)which is Jesus Christ. ¹² Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw— ^13 (CY)each one's work will become manifest, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed ^(CZ)by fire, and ^(DA)the fire will test what sort of work each one has done. ¹⁴ If the work that anyone has built on the foundation survives, ^(DB)he will receive a reward. ¹⁵ If anyone's work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, ^(DC)but only as through fire.

^16 (DD)Do you not know that you^[l] are God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells in you? ¹⁷ If anyone destroys God's temple, God will destroy him. For ^(DE)God's temple is holy, and you are that temple.

^18 (DF)Let no one deceive himself. ^(DG)If anyone among you thinks that he is wise in this age, let him become a fool that he may become wise. ¹⁹ For ^(DH)the wisdom of this world is folly with God. For it is written, ^(DI)“He catches the wise in their craftiness,” ²⁰ and again, ^(DJ)“The Lord knows the thoughts of the wise, that they are futile.” ²¹ So ^(DK)let no one boast in men. For ^(DL)all things are yours, ²² whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or the present or the future—all are yours, ²³ and ^(DM)you are Christ's, and ^(DN)Christ is God's.