¹⁸ They know not, nor do they discern, for he has shut their eyes, so that they cannot see, and their hearts, so that they cannot understand. ¹⁹ No one considers, nor is there knowledge or discernment to say, “Half of it I burned in the fire; I also baked bread on its coals; I roasted meat and have eaten. And shall I make the rest of it an ^(A)abomination? Shall I fall down before a block of wood?” ^20 (B)He feeds on ^(C)ashes; a deluded heart has led him astray, and he cannot deliver himself or say, “Is there not ^(D)a lie in my right hand?”

¹⁹ For it is written,

^20 (B)Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? ^(C)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^[a] to save those who believe.

²⁰ For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, ^(A)have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world,^[a] in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. ²¹ For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they ^(B)became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. ^22 (C)Claiming to be wise, they became fools, ²³ and ^(D)exchanged the glory of ^(E)the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.