1:1 From Paul, ¹  called to be an apostle of Christ Jesus ²  by the will of God, and Sosthenes, our brother, 1:2 to the church of God that is in Corinth, ³  to those who are sanctified in Christ Jesus, and called to be saints, with all those in every place who call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, their Lord and ours. ⁴  1:3 Grace and peace to you ⁵  from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ!

1:4 I always thank my God for you because of the grace of God that was given to you in Christ Jesus. 1:5 For you were made rich ⁶  in every way in him, in all your speech and in every kind of knowledge ⁷  – 1:6 just as the testimony about Christ has been confirmed among you – 1:7 so that you do not lack any spiritual gift as you wait for the revelation ⁸  of our Lord Jesus Christ. 1:8 He ⁹  will also strengthen you to the end, so that you will be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. 1:9 God is faithful, by whom you were called into fellowship with his son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

1:10 I urge you, brothers and sisters, ¹⁰  by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, to agree together, ¹¹  to end your divisions, ¹²  and to be united by the same mind and purpose. ¹³  1:11 For members of Chloe’s household have made it clear to me, my brothers and sisters, ¹⁴  that there are quarrels ¹⁵  among you. 1:12 Now I mean this, that ¹⁶  each of you is saying, “I am with Paul,” or “I am with Apollos,” or “I am with Cephas,” or “I am with Christ.” 1:13 Is Christ divided? Paul wasn’t crucified for you, was he? ¹⁷  Or were you in fact baptized in the name of Paul? ¹⁸  1:14 I thank God ¹⁹  that I did not baptize any of you except Crispus and Gaius, 1:15 so that no one can say that you were baptized in my name! 1:16 (I also baptized the household of Stephanus. Otherwise, I do not remember whether I baptized anyone else.) 1:17 For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel – and not with clever speech, so that the cross of Christ would not become useless. ²⁰ 

1:18 For the message about the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. 1:19 For it is written, “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and I will thwart the cleverness of the intelligent.” ²¹  1:20 Where is the wise man? Where is the expert in the Mosaic law? ²²  Where is the debater of this age? Has God not made the wisdom of the world foolish? 1:21 For since in the wisdom of God the world by its wisdom did not know God, God was pleased to save those who believe by the foolishness of preaching. 1:22 For Jews demand miraculous signs and Greeks ask for wisdom, 1:23 but we preach about a crucified Christ, ²³  a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles. 1:24 But to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God. 1:25 For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, ²⁴  and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength. ²⁵ 

1:26 Think about the circumstances of your call, ²⁶  brothers and sisters. ²⁷  Not many were wise by human standards, ²⁸  not many were powerful, not many were born to a privileged position. ²⁹  1:27 But God chose what the world thinks foolish to shame the wise, and God chose what the world thinks weak to shame the strong. 1:28 God chose ³⁰  what is low and despised in the world, what is regarded as nothing, to set aside what is regarded as something, 1:29 so that no one can boast in his presence. 1:30 He is the reason you have a relationship with Christ Jesus, ³¹  who became for us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification and redemption, 1:31 so that, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.” ³² 

2:1 When I came ³³  to you, brothers and sisters, ³⁴  I did not come with superior eloquence or wisdom as I proclaimed the testimony ³⁵  of God. 2:2 For I decided to be concerned about nothing ³⁶  among you except Jesus Christ, and him crucified. 2:3 And I was with you in weakness and in fear and with much trembling. 2:4 My conversation and my preaching were not with persuasive words of wisdom, but with a demonstration of the Spirit and of power, 2:5 so that your faith would not be based on human wisdom but on the power of God.

2:6 Now we do speak wisdom among the mature, ³⁷  but not a wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are perishing. 2:7 Instead we speak the wisdom of God, hidden in a mystery, that God determined before the ages for our glory. 2:8 None of the rulers of this age understood it. If they had known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. 2:9 But just as it is written, “Things that no eye has seen, or ear heard, or mind imagined, ³⁸  are the things God has prepared for those who love him.” ³⁹  2:10 God has revealed these to us by the Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. 2:11 For who among men knows the things of a man except the man’s spirit within him? So too, no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God. 2:12 Now we have not received the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may know the things that are freely given to us by God. 2:13 And we speak about these things, not with words taught us by human wisdom, but with those taught by the Spirit, explaining spiritual things to spiritual people. ⁴⁰  2:14 The unbeliever ⁴¹  does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him. And he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned. 2:15 The one who is spiritual discerns ⁴²  all things, yet he himself is understood ⁴³  by no one. 2:16 For who has known the mind of the Lord, so as to advise him? ⁴⁴  But we have the mind of Christ.

3:1 So, brothers and sisters, ⁴⁵  I could not speak to you as spiritual people, but instead as people of the flesh, ⁴⁶  as infants in Christ. 3:2 I fed you milk, ⁴⁷  not solid food, for you were not yet ready. In fact, you are still not ready, 3:3 for you are still influenced by the flesh. ⁴⁸  For since there is still jealousy and dissension among you, are you not influenced by the flesh and behaving like unregenerate people? ⁴⁹  3:4 For whenever someone says, “I am with Paul,” or “I am with Apollos,” are you not merely human? ⁵⁰ 

3:5 What is Apollos, really? Or what is Paul? Servants through whom you came to believe, and each of us in the ministry the Lord gave us. ⁵¹  3:6 I planted, ⁵²  Apollos watered, but God caused it to grow. 3:7 So neither the one who plants counts for anything, ⁵³  nor the one who waters, but God who causes the growth. 3:8 The one who plants and the one who waters work as one, ⁵⁴  but each will receive his reward according to his work. 3:9 We are coworkers belonging to God. ⁵⁵  You are God’s field, God’s building. 3:10 According to the grace of God given to me, like a skilled master-builder I laid a foundation, but someone else builds on it. And each one must be careful how he builds. 3:11 For no one can lay any foundation other than what is being laid, which is Jesus Christ. 3:12 If anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, or straw, ⁵⁶  3:13 each builder’s ⁵⁷  work will be plainly seen, for the Day ⁵⁸  will make it clear, because it will be revealed by fire. And the fire ⁵⁹  will test what kind of work each has done. 3:14 If what someone has built survives, he will receive a reward. 3:15 If someone’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss. ⁶⁰  He himself will be saved, but only as through fire.

3:16 Do you not know that you are God’s temple ⁶¹  and that God’s Spirit lives in you? 3:17 If someone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him. For God’s temple is holy, which is what you are.

3:18 Guard against self-deception, each of you. ⁶²  If someone among you thinks he is wise in this age, let him become foolish so that he can become wise. 3:19 For the wisdom of this age is foolishness with God. As it is written, “He catches the wise in their craftiness.” ⁶³  3:20 And again, “The Lord knows that the thoughts of the wise are futile.” ⁶⁴  3:21 So then, no more boasting about mere mortals! ⁶⁵  For everything belongs to you, 3:22 whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or the present or the future. Everything belongs to you, 3:23 and you belong to Christ, and Christ belongs to God.

12:1 Now the Lord said ¹  to Abram, ² 

“Go out ³  from your country, your relatives, and your father’s household

to the land that I will show you. ⁴ 

12:2 Then I will make you ⁵  into a great nation, and I will bless you, ⁶ 

and I will make your name great, ⁷ 

so that you will exemplify divine blessing. ⁸ 

12:3 I will bless those who bless you, ⁹ 

but the one who treats you lightly ¹⁰  I must curse,

and all the families of the earth will bless one another ¹¹  by your name.”

12:4 So Abram left, ¹²  just as the Lord had told him to do, ¹³  and Lot went with him. (Now ¹⁴  Abram was 75 years old ¹⁵  when he departed from Haran.) 12:5 And Abram took his wife Sarai, his nephew ¹⁶  Lot, and all the possessions they had accumulated and the people they had acquired ¹⁷  in Haran, and they left for ¹⁸  the land of Canaan. They entered the land of Canaan.

12:6 Abram traveled through the land as far as the oak tree ¹⁹  of Moreh ²⁰  at Shechem. ²¹  (At that time the Canaanites were in the land.) ²²  12:7 The Lord appeared to Abram and said, “To your descendants ²³  I will give this land.” So Abram ²⁴  built an altar there to the Lord, who had appeared to him.

12:8 Then he moved from there to the hill country east of Bethel ²⁵  and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east. There he built an altar to the Lord and worshiped the Lord. ²⁶  12:9 Abram continually journeyed by stages ²⁷  down to the Negev. ²⁸ 

12:10 There was a famine in the land, so Abram went down to Egypt ²⁹  to stay for a while ³⁰  because the famine was severe. ³¹  12:11 As he approached ³²  Egypt, he said to his wife Sarai, “Look, ³³  I know that you are a beautiful woman. ³⁴  12:12 When the Egyptians see you they will say, ‘This is his wife.’ Then they will kill me but will keep you alive. ³⁵  12:13 So tell them ³⁶  you are my sister ³⁷  so that it may go well ³⁸  for me because of you and my life will be spared ³⁹  on account of you.”

12:14 When Abram entered Egypt, the Egyptians saw that the woman was very beautiful. 12:15 When Pharaoh’s officials saw her, they praised her to Pharaoh. So Abram’s wife ⁴⁰  was taken ⁴¹  into the household of Pharaoh, ⁴²  12:16 and he did treat Abram well ⁴³  on account of her. Abram received ⁴⁴  sheep and cattle, male donkeys, male servants, female servants, female donkeys, and camels.

12:17 But the Lord struck Pharaoh and his household with severe diseases ⁴⁵  because of Sarai, Abram’s wife. 12:18 So Pharaoh summoned Abram and said, “What is this ⁴⁶  you have done to me? Why didn’t you tell me that she was your wife? 12:19 Why did you say, ‘She is my sister,’ so that I took her ⁴⁷  to be my wife? ⁴⁸  Here is your wife! ⁴⁹  Take her and go!” ⁵⁰  12:20 Pharaoh gave his men orders about Abram, ⁵¹  and so they expelled him, along with his wife and all his possessions.

13:1 So Abram went up from Egypt into the Negev. ⁵²  He took his wife and all his possessions with him, as well as Lot. ⁵³  13:2 (Now Abram was very wealthy ⁵⁴  in livestock, silver, and gold.) ⁵⁵ 

13:3 And he journeyed from place to place ⁵⁶  from the Negev as far as Bethel. ⁵⁷  He returned ⁵⁸  to the place where he had pitched his tent ⁵⁹  at the beginning, between Bethel and Ai. 13:4 This was the place where he had first built the altar, ⁶⁰  and there Abram worshiped the Lord. ⁶¹ 

13:5 Now Lot, who was traveling ⁶²  with Abram, also had ⁶³  flocks, herds, and tents. 13:6 But the land could ⁶⁴  not support them while they were living side by side. ⁶⁵  Because their possessions were so great, they were not able to live ⁶⁶  alongside one another. 13:7 So there were quarrels ⁶⁷  between Abram’s herdsmen and Lot’s herdsmen. ⁶⁸  (Now the Canaanites and the Perizzites were living in the land at that time.) ⁶⁹ 

13:8 Abram said to Lot, “Let there be no quarreling between me and you, and between my herdsmen and your herdsmen, for we are close relatives. ⁷⁰  13:9 Is not the whole land before you? Separate yourself now from me. If you go ⁷¹  to the left, then I’ll go to the right, but if you go to the right, then I’ll go to the left.”

13:10 Lot looked up and saw ⁷²  the whole region ⁷³  of the Jordan. He noticed ⁷⁴  that all of it was well-watered (before the Lord obliterated ⁷⁵  Sodom and Gomorrah) ⁷⁶  like the garden of the Lord, like the land of Egypt, ⁷⁷  all the way to Zoar. 13:11 Lot chose for himself the whole region of the Jordan and traveled ⁷⁸  toward the east.

So the relatives separated from each other. ⁷⁹  13:12 Abram settled in the land of Canaan, but Lot settled among the cities of the Jordan plain ⁸⁰  and pitched his tents next to Sodom. 13:13 (Now ⁸¹  the people ⁸²  of Sodom were extremely wicked rebels against the Lord.) ⁸³ 

13:14 After Lot had departed, the Lord said to Abram, ⁸⁴  “Look ⁸⁵  from the place where you stand to the north, south, east, and west. 13:15 I will give all the land that you see to you and your descendants ⁸⁶  forever. 13:16 And I will make your descendants like the dust of the earth, so that if anyone is able to count the dust of the earth, then your descendants also can be counted. ⁸⁷  13:17 Get up and ⁸⁸  walk throughout ⁸⁹  the land, ⁹⁰  for I will give it to you.”

13:18 So Abram moved his tents and went to live ⁹¹  by the oaks ⁹²  of Mamre in Hebron, and he built an altar to the Lord there.

14:1 At that time ⁹³  Amraphel king of Shinar, ⁹⁴  Arioch king of Ellasar, Kedorlaomer king of Elam, and Tidal king of nations ⁹⁵  14:2 went to war ⁹⁶  against Bera king of Sodom, Birsha king of Gomorrah, Shinab king of Admah, Shemeber king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela (that is, Zoar). ⁹⁷  14:3 These last five kings ⁹⁸  joined forces ⁹⁹  in the Valley of Siddim (that is, the Salt Sea). ¹⁰⁰  14:4 For twelve years ¹⁰¹  they had served Kedorlaomer, but in the thirteenth year ¹⁰²  they rebelled. ¹⁰³  14:5 In the fourteenth year, Kedorlaomer and the kings who were his allies came and defeated ¹⁰⁴  the Rephaites in Ashteroth Karnaim, the Zuzites in Ham, the Emites in Shaveh Kiriathaim, 14:6 and the Horites in their hill country of Seir, as far as El Paran, which is near the desert. ¹⁰⁵  14:7 Then they attacked En Mishpat (that is, Kadesh) again, ¹⁰⁶  and they conquered all the territory of the Amalekites, as well as the Amorites who were living in Hazazon Tamar.

14:8 Then the king of Sodom, the king of Gomorrah, the king of Admah, the king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela (that is, Zoar) went out and prepared for battle. In the Valley of Siddim they met ¹⁰⁷  14:9 Kedorlaomer king of Elam, Tidal king of nations, ¹⁰⁸  Amraphel king of Shinar, and Arioch king of Ellasar. Four kings fought against ¹⁰⁹  five. 14:10 Now the Valley of Siddim was full of tar pits. ¹¹⁰  When the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah fled, they fell into them, ¹¹¹  but some survivors ¹¹²  fled to the hills. ¹¹³  14:11 The four victorious kings ¹¹⁴  took all the possessions and food of Sodom and Gomorrah and left. 14:12 They also took Abram’s nephew ¹¹⁵  Lot and his possessions when ¹¹⁶  they left, for Lot ¹¹⁷  was living in Sodom. ¹¹⁸ 

14:13 A fugitive ¹¹⁹  came and told Abram the Hebrew. ¹²⁰  Now Abram was living by the oaks ¹²¹  of Mamre the Amorite, the brother ¹²²  of Eshcol and Aner. (All these were allied by treaty ¹²³  with Abram.) ¹²⁴  14:14 When Abram heard that his nephew ¹²⁵  had been taken captive, he mobilized ¹²⁶  his 318 trained men who had been born in his household, and he pursued the invaders ¹²⁷  as far as Dan. ¹²⁸  14:15 Then, during the night, ¹²⁹  Abram ¹³⁰  divided his forces ¹³¹  against them and defeated them. He chased them as far as Hobah, which is north ¹³²  of Damascus. 14:16 He retrieved all the stolen property. ¹³³  He also brought back his nephew Lot and his possessions, as well as the women and the rest of ¹³⁴  the people.

14:17 After Abram ¹³⁵  returned from defeating Kedorlaomer and the kings who were with him, the king of Sodom went out to meet Abram ¹³⁶  in the Valley of Shaveh (known as the King’s Valley). ¹³⁷  14:18 Melchizedek king of Salem ¹³⁸  brought out bread and wine. (Now he was the priest of the Most High God.) ¹³⁹  14:19 He blessed Abram, saying,

“Blessed be Abram by ¹⁴⁰  the Most High God,

Creator ¹⁴¹  of heaven and earth. ¹⁴² 

14:20 Worthy of praise is ¹⁴³  the Most High God,

who delivered ¹⁴⁴  your enemies into your hand.”

Abram gave Melchizedek ¹⁴⁵  a tenth of everything.

14:21 Then the king of Sodom said to Abram, “Give me the people and take the possessions for yourself.” 14:22 But Abram replied to the king of Sodom, “I raise my hand ¹⁴⁶  to the Lord, the Most High God, Creator of heaven and earth, and vow ¹⁴⁷  14:23 that I will take nothing ¹⁴⁸  belonging to you, not even a thread or the strap of a sandal. That way you can never say, ‘It is I ¹⁴⁹  who made Abram rich.’ 14:24 I will take nothing ¹⁵⁰  except compensation for what the young men have eaten. ¹⁵¹  As for the share of the men who went with me – Aner, Eshcol, and Mamre – let them take their share.”