New Revised Standard NRS
The Bible in Basic English BBE
1 When I came to you, brothers and sisters, I did not come proclaiming the mystery of God to you in lofty words or wisdom.
1
And when I came to you, my brothers, I did not come with wise words of knowledge, putting before you the secret of God.
2 For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and him crucified.
2
For I had made the decision to have knowledge of nothing among you but only of Jesus Christ on the cross.
3 And I came to you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling.
3
And I was with you without strength, in fear and in doubt.
4 My speech and my proclamation were not with plausible words of wisdom, but with a demonstration of the Spirit and of power,
4
And in my preaching there were no honeyed words of wisdom, but I was dependent on the power of the Spirit to make it clear to you:
5 so that your faith might rest not on human wisdom but on the power of God.
5
So that your faith might be based not on man's wisdom but on the power of God.
6 Yet among the mature we do speak wisdom, though it is not a wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are doomed to perish.
6
But still we have wisdom for those who are complete in knowledge, though not the wisdom of this world, and not of the rulers of this world, who are coming to nothing:
7 But we speak God's wisdom, secret and hidden, which God decreed before the ages for our glory.
7
But we give the news of the secret wisdom of God, which he had kept in store before the world came into existence, for our glory;
8 None of the rulers of this age understood this; for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.
8
Of which not one of the rulers of this world had knowledge: for if they had, they would not have put the Lord of glory on the cross:
9 But, as it is written, "What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the human heart conceived, what God has prepared for those who love him"—
9
But as it says in the holy Writings, Things which the eye saw not, and which had not come to the ears or into the heart of man, such things as God has made ready for those who have love for him.
10 these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit; for the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God.
10
But God has given us the revelation of these things through his Spirit, for the Spirit makes search into all things, even the deep things of God.
11 For what human being knows what is truly human except the human spirit that is within? So also no one comprehends what is truly God's except the Spirit of God.
11
For who has knowledge of the things of a man but the spirit of the man which is in him? in the same way, no one has knowledge of the things of God but the Spirit of God.
12 Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit that is from God, so that we may understand the gifts bestowed on us by God.
12
But we have not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit which comes from God, so that we may have knowledge of the things which are freely given to us by God.
13 And we speak of these things in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual things to those who are spiritual.
13
And these are the things which we say, not in the language of man's wisdom, but in words given to us by the Spirit, judging the things of the spirit by the help of the Spirit.
14 Those who are unspiritual do not receive the gifts of God's Spirit, for they are foolishness to them, and they are unable to understand them because they are spiritually discerned.
14
For the natural man is not able to take in the things of the Spirit of God: for they seem foolish to him, and he is not able to have knowledge of them, because such knowledge comes only through the Spirit.
15 Those who are spiritual discern all things, and they are themselves subject to no one else's scrutiny.
15
But he who has the Spirit, though judging all things, is himself judged by no one.
16 "For who has known the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?" But we have the mind of Christ.
16
For who has knowledge of the mind of the Lord, so as to be his teacher? But we have the mind of Christ.
New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
The Bible in Basic English is in the public domain.