For it has been made clear to me concerning you, my brothers, by {Chloe's people}, that there are quarrels among you.

Has Christ been divided? Paul was not crucified for you, was he? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul?

For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to proclaim the gospel, not with {clever speech}, lest the cross of Christ be emptied.

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.

For it is written, "I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the intelligence of the intelligent I will confound."

For since, in the wisdom of God, the world through its wisdom did not know God, God was pleased through the foolishness of preaching to save those who believe.

For indeed, Jews ask for sign miracles and Greeks seek wisdom,

but we preach Christ crucified, to the Jews a cause for stumbling, but to the Gentiles foolishness,

For the foolishness of God is wiser than human [wisdom], and the weakness of God [is] stronger than human [strength].

For consider your calling, brothers, that not many [were] wise according to human standards, not many [were] powerful, not many [were] well born.

For I decided not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.

And I came to you in weakness and in fear and with much trembling,

but we speak the hidden wisdom of God in a mystery, which God predestined before the ages for our glory,

which none of the rulers of this age knew. For if they had known [it], they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.

But just as it is written, "[Things] which eye has not seen and ear has not heard, and have not entered into the heart of man, all that God has prepared for those who love him."

For to us God has revealed [them] through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches all [things], even the depths of God.

For who among men knows the things of a man, except the spirit of the man that [is] in him? Thus also no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God.

But the natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he is not able to understand [them], because they are spiritually discerned.

"For who has known the mind of the Lord; who has advised him?" But we have the mind of Christ.

I gave you milk to drink, not solid food, for you were not yet able [to eat it]. But now you are still not able,

for you are still fleshly. For where [there is] jealousy and strife among you, are you not fleshly, and do you not live like [unregenerate] people?

For whenever anyone says, "I am with Paul," and another, "I [am] with Apollos," are you not [merely] human?

For we are God's fellow workers; you are God's field, God's building.

For no one is able to lay another foundation than the one which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.

the work of each one will become evident. For the day will reveal [it], because it will be revealed with fire, and the fire itself will test the work of each one, of what sort it is.

If anyone's work is burned up, he will suffer loss, but he himself will be saved, but so as through fire.

If anyone destroys God's temple, God will destroy this one. For God's temple is holy, which you are.

For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God, for it is written, "The one who catches the wise in their craftiness,"

So then, let no one boast in people. For all [things] are yours,

For I am conscious of nothing against myself, but not by this am I vindicated. But the one who judges me is the Lord.

Now I have applied these things, brothers, to myself and Apollos for your sake, in order that in us you may learn not [to go] beyond what is written, lest someone be inflated with pride on behalf of one [person] against the other.

For who concedes you [superiority]? And what do you have that you did not receive? But if indeed you received [it], why do you boast as [if you] did not receive [it]?

For, I think, God has exhibited us apostles last of all, as condemned to death, because we have become a spectacle to the world and to angels and to people.

We [are] fools for the sake of Christ, but you [are] prudent in Christ! We [are] weak, but you [are] strong! You [are] honored, but we [are] dishonored!

For if you have ten thousand guardians in Christ, yet [you do] not [have] many fathers, for in Christ Jesus I fathered you through the gospel.

For the kingdom of God [is] not with talk, but with power.

For [although I] am absent in body but present in spirit, I have already passed judgment on the one who has done this in this way, as [if I] were present.

[I have decided] to hand over such a person to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, in order that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord.

Clean out the old leaven in order that you may be a new batch of dough, just as you are unleavened. For Christ our Passover has been sacrificed.

For what [is it] to me to judge those outside? Should you not judge those inside?

Therefore it is already completely a loss for you that you have lawsuits with one another. Why not rather be wronged? Why not rather be defrauded?

All [things] are permitted for me, but not all [things] are profitable. All [things] are permitted for me, but I will not be controlled by anything.

Food [is] for the stomach, and the stomach for food, but God will abolish {both of them}. Now the body [is] not for sexual immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body.

Or do you not know that the one who joins himself to a prostitute is one body [with her]? For it says, "The two will become one flesh."

For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God with your body.

Now concerning [the things] about which you wrote: "[It is] good for a man not to touch a woman."

Do not defraud one another, except perhaps by agreement, for a time, in order that you may devote yourselves to prayer, and [then] you should be {together} again, lest Satan tempt you because of your lack of self control.

Now I say to the unmarried and to the widows: [It is] good for them if they remain as I [am].

But if they cannot control themselves, they should marry, for it is better to marry than to burn [with sexual desire].

For the unbelieving husband is sanctified by his wife, and the unbelieving wife is sanctified by the brother, since otherwise your children are unclean, but now they are holy.

For how do you know, wife, whether you will save your husband? Or how do you know, husband, whether you will save your wife?

Were you called [while] a slave? Do not let it be a concern to you. But if indeed you are able to become free, rather make use of [it].

For the one who is called in the Lord [while] a slave is the Lord's freedperson. Likewise the one who is called [while] free is a slave of Christ.

Therefore, I consider this to be good because of the impending distress, that [it is] good for a man to be thus.

Are you bound to a wife? Do not seek release. Are you free from a wife? Do not seek a wife.

and those who make use of the world as [if they] do not make full use of [it]. For the present form of this world is passing away.

But I want you to be free from care. The unmarried person cares for the things of the Lord, how he may please the Lord.

But the one who is married cares for the things of the world, how he may please his wife,

and he is divided. And the unmarried woman or the virgin cares for the things of the Lord, in order that she may be holy both in body and in spirit. But the married woman cares for the things of the world, how she may please her husband.

Now I am saying this for your own benefit, not that I may put a restriction on you, but to promote appropriate and devoted service to the Lord without distraction.

A wife is bound for as long a time [as] her husband lives. But if her husband {dies}, she is free to marry whomever she wishes, only in the Lord.

For even if after all [there] are so-called gods, whether in heaven or on earth, just as [there] are many gods and many lords,

yet to us [there is] one God, the Father, from whom [are] all [things], and we [are] for him, and [there is] one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom [are] all [things], and we [are] through him.

But food does not bring us close to God. For neither if we eat do we have more, nor if we do not eat do we lack.

But watch out lest somehow this right of yours becomes a cause for stumbling to the weak.

For if someone should see you who has knowledge reclining for a meal in an idol's temple, will not his conscience, [because it] is weak, be strengthened so that [he] eats the food sacrificed to idols?

For the one who is weak--the brother for whom Christ died--is destroyed by your knowledge.

Am I not free? Am I not an apostle? Have I not seen Jesus our Lord? Are you not my work in the Lord?

If to others I am not an apostle, yet indeed I am to you, for you are my seal of apostleship in the Lord.

For in the law of Moses it is written, "You must not muzzle an ox [while it] is threshing." It is not about oxen God is concerned, is it?

Or doubtless does he speak {for our sake}? For it is written {for our sake}, because the one who plows ought to plow in hope and the one who threshes [ought to do so] in hope of a share.

But I have not made use of any of these [rights]. And I am not writing these [things] in order that it may be thus with me. For [it would be] better to me rather to die than [for] anyone to deprive me of my reason for boasting.

For if I proclaim the gospel, it is not to me a reason for boasting, for necessity is imposed on me. For woe is to me if I do not proclaim the gospel.

For if I do this voluntarily, I have a reward, but if [I do so] unwillingly, I have been entrusted with a stewardship.

What then is my reward? That [when I] proclaim the gospel, I may offer the gospel free of charge, in order not to make full use of my right in the gospel.

For [although I] am free from all [people], I have enslaved myself to all, in order that I may gain more.

I do all [this] for the sake of the gospel, in order that I may become a participant with it.

For I do not want you to be ignorant, brothers, that our fathers were all under the cloud and all went through the sea,

and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the spiritual rock that followed [them], and the rock was Christ.

But God was not pleased with the majority of them, for they were struck down in the desert.

Now these [things] happened [as] examples for us, so that we should not be desirers of evil [things], just as those also desired [them],

Now these [things] happened to those [people] as an example, but are written for our instruction, on whom the ends of the ages have come.

Because [there is] one bread, [we] who [are] many are one body, for [we] all share from the one bread.

Eat everything that is sold in the meat market, {asking no questions} for the sake of the conscience,

for "the earth [is] the Lord's, and its fullness."

If any of the unbelievers invites you, and you want to go, eat everything that is set before you, {asking no questions} for the sake of the conscience.

But if someone says to you, "This is offered to idols," do not eat [it], for the sake of that one who informed [you] and the conscience.

Now I am not speaking about your own conscience, but the [conscience] of the other [person]. For why [is] my freedom judged by another's conscience?

If I partake with thankfulness, why am I slandered concerning that for which I give thanks?

Therefore, whether you eat or you drink or whatever you do, do all [things] for the glory of God.

but every woman who prays or prophesies with uncovered head dishonors her head, for she is one and the same with the one whose [head] is shaved.

For if a woman does not cover herself, let her [hair] be shorn off. But if [it is] shameful for a woman to [have her head] shorn or shaved, let her cover her [head].

For indeed a man ought not to cover his head, [because he] is the image and glory of God, but the woman is the glory of the man.

For man is not from woman, but woman from man.

For indeed man was not created for the sake of the woman, but woman for the sake of the man.

For just as the woman [is] from the man, thus also the man [is] through the woman. But all [things] [are] from God.

You judge {for yourselves}: is it fitting for a woman to pray to God [with her head] uncovered?

But a woman, if she wears long hair, it is her glory, because her hair is given for a covering.

But in giving this instruction I do not praise [you], because you come together not for the better but for the worse.

For in the first place, [when you] come together as a church, I hear there are divisions among you, and in part I believe it.