that I may be delivered from the unbelievers in Judea, and that this service of mine, which is for Jerusalem, may be acceptable to the saints;

that I may come to you with joy, by the will of God, and may be refreshed among you.

I commend to you Phoebe our sister, who is a deaconess of the church that is in Cenchrea,

that you receive her in the Lord in a manner worthy of saints, and that you aid her in whatever matter she may have need of you; for she has aided many, and myself also.

and salute the church that is in their house. Salute Epenetus my beloved, who is the first fruits of Asia to Christ.

Salute Philologus and Julia, Nereus and his sister, and Olympas, and all the saints that are with them.

For your obedience has gone abroad to all men: I rejoice, therefore, on your account. But I desire you to be wise in respect to that which is good, and guileless in respect to that which is evil.

to the church of God which is in Corinth, to the sanctified in Christ Jesus, called saints, with all that in every place call on the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both theirs and ours:

that you are enriched by him in every thing, in all speech, and in all knowledge,

so that you are deficient in no gift, while waiting for the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Now, I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all speak the same thing, and that there be no schisms among you, but that you be perfectly united in the same mind, and in the same judgment.

For it has been made known to me concerning you, my brethren, by the family of Cloe, that there are contentions among you.

I mean this: that each one of you says, I am of Paul, and I of Apollos, and I of Cephas, and I of Christ.

I thank God that I immersed none of you, but Crispus and Gaius;

that no one may say that I immersed into my own name.

For you see your calling, brethren, that not many wise men according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble call you;

but God has chosen the foolish things of the world, that he may bring to shame the wise; and the weak things of the world has God chosen, that he may put to shame the strong;

and the ignoble things of the world, and the things that are despised, has God chosen, and the things that are not, that he might bring to nought things that are;

that no flesh should glory in his presence.

that, as it is written: He that glories, let him glory in the Lord.

that your faith might not be in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.

but we speak God's wisdom in a mystery, even that which had been hidden, which God predestined before the ages, for our glory,

But, as it is written: Eye has not seen, and ear has not heard, and into the heart of man have not entered the things which God has prepared for them that love him.

And we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit which is from God, that we may know the things that are freely given to us by God:

For who has known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ.

So, neither he that plants nor he that waters is any thing: but God that makes to grow.

But he that plants and he that waters are one; and each one shall receive his own reward, according to his own labor.

According to the grace of God that is given to me, as a wise master-builder, I have laid the foundation, and another builds on this. But let every one take heed how he builds on this.

For other foundation can no man lay than that which is laid, which, is Jesus Christ.

Know you not that you are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?

Let no one deceive himself: if any one among you is considered as wise in this age, let him become a fool, that he may be wise.

And again: The Lord knows the thoughts of the wise, that they are vain.

Now it is required in stewards, that each one be found faithful.

But with me, it matters very little, that I should be judged by you, or by the judgment of men: indeed, I do not judge myself.

For, though I am conscious of no wrong, yet by this I am not justified: but he that judges me is the Lord.

And these things, brethren, I have, in figure, applied to my self and Apollos, for your sakes, that you may learn in us not to think more of teachers than what has been written; and that no one of you be vain of one to the injury of another.

For who gave you distinction, as a teacher? And what have you as a teacher, that you did not receive? And if you received it, why do you boast, as if you had not received it?

You, Corinthians, are already full; you are already rich; you have reigned as kings independently of us. And that you did indeed reign, that we also might reign with you!

For I think that God has appointed us the apostles, to the lowest place, as under sentence of death; for we have become a spectacle to the world, both to angels and to men.

I do not write these things that I may make you ashamed; but as my beloved children I admonish you.

For. this reason have I sent to you Timothy, who is my son, beloved and faithful in the Lord, that he may remind you of my ways that are in Christ, as I teach everywhere, in every church.

It is generally reported that there is lewdness among you; and such lewdness as is not even mentioned among the Gentiles that a certain one has his father's wife.

And you are puffed up, and have not rather mourned, that he that has done this deed might be taken from among you.

For I, in deed, as absent in body, but present in spirit, have already, as if I were present, judged him that has so done this thing;

that we deliver such a one over to Satan, for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.

Your boasting is not good; know you not that a little leaven leavens the whole mass?

Purge out the old leaven, that you may be a new mass, as you are without leaven; for Christ, our passover, has been sacrificed for us.

But God will judge those who are without. So then judge, and put away that wicked man from among you.

Does any one of you that has a matter of dispute with another, presume to be judged before the unrighteous, and not before the saints?

Know you not that the saints shall judge the world? And if the world is to be judged by you, are you unworthy to decide concerning the smallest matters?

Know you not that we shall judge angels? Much more then, things pertaining to this life.

I speak to your shame. Is it so, that there is not among you a wise man, not even one, who shall be able to arbitrate between his brethren?

Now, certainly, you are altogether in fault, that you have law-suits with one another. Why do you not rather suffer injustice? Why do you not rather suffer yourselves to be defrauded?

But you act unjustly, and you defraud, and that, too, your brethren.

Know you not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived; neither lewd persons, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor catamites, nor sodomites,

Know you not that your bodies are the members of Christ? Shall I, then, take the members of the Christ, and make them the members of a harlot? It must not be.

Know you not that he that is joined to a harlot, is one body? For the two, says the scripture, shall be one flesh.

But he that is joined to the Lord, is one spirit.

Shun lewdness. Every sin that a man commits, is without the body; but he that is guilty of lewdness sins against his own body.

Know you not that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, which you have from God, and that you are not your own?

Let the husband render to the wife that which is due, and likewise, also, the wife to the husband.

Debar not one another, unless by agreement for a time, that you may have leisure for prayer; and come together again, lest Satan tempt you through your incontinence.

for I could wish that all men were even as I am myself. But each one has his own gift from God, one in this way, another in that.

But to the rest, I, and not the Lord, say: If any brother has a wife that believes not, and she is well pleased to dwell with him, let him not put her away.

And if any woman has a husband that believes not, and he is well pleased to dwell with her, let her not put him away.

For how do you know, wife, but that you may save your husband? Or how do you know, husband, but that you may save your wife?

Has any one been called that had been circumcised? Let him not seek to remove the mark of circumcision. Has any one been called that had not been circumcised? Let him not be circumcised,

Let every one remain in that condition in which he was, when called.

For he that is in the Lord, having been called when a servant, is the Lord's freedman. Likewise, also, the freeman who has been called, is Christ's servant.

But with respect to virgins, I have no commandment of the Lord: yet I give my judgment as one that is enabled, by the mercy of the Lord, to be faithful.

I think, then, that this is good for the present affliction that it is good for a man to be as he is.

Now, this I say, brethren, the time is fraught with trials. It remains that those who have wives be as though they had them not;

but he that is married, is concerned about the things of the world, how he may please his wife.

There is a difference also between a wife and a virgin. The unmarried woman is concerned about the things of the Lord, that she may be holy in body and in spirit; but she that is married, is concerned about the things of the world, how she may please her husband.

I speak this for your own profit; not that I would entangle you, but that you may decorously and devotedly wait upon the Lord, without distraction.

But if any man thinks he would treat his virgin daughter amiss, should she pass the bloom of life, and it is necessary that it should be so, let him do as he pleases, he does not sin; let them (the suitor and the daughter) marry.

But he that stands firm in his purpose, having no necessity to give his daughter in marriage, but has liberty with respect to his own will, and has thus decided in his own heart, that he will keep his daughter a virgin, does well.

So then, even he that gives her in marriage, does well; but he that gives her not in marriage, does better.

But she is happier, in my judgment, if she remains as she is; and I think that I have, also, the Spirit of God.

If any one thinks that he knows any thing, he knows nothing yet, as he ought to know it:

With respect, then, to the eating of meats offered to idols, we know that an idol is nothing in the world, and that there is no other God but one.

But all have not this knowledge; for some, under the persuasion that an idol is a reality, even yet eat meat, as if it were offered to an idol, and their conscience being weak, is defiled.

For, if any one see you, who have knowledge, reclining at table in an idol's temple, will not the conscience of him who is weak be emboldened, so that he will eat meats offered to idols?

For it is written in the law of Moses: You shall not muzzle the ox that treads out the grain? Has God a care for oxen?

or does he say it wholly for our sakes? For our sakes, no doubt, it was written: that he that plows should plow in hope, and that he that thrashes should thrash in hope of partaking.

If we have sown, for your benefit, things that are spiritual, is it a great thing that we reap your carnal things?

Do you not know that those who are engaged about sacred rites have their living from the temple? and that those who attend upon the altar are partakers with the altar?

So, also, the Lord has ordained that those who preach the gospel should live by the gospel.

But I have availed myself of none of these things; nor do I write these things that it should be so done to me. For it would be better for me to die, than that any one should make my boasting vain.

What, then, is my reward? That, while I preach, I may make the gospel of Christ to be without charge, in order that I may not abuse my authority in the gospel.

For, though I am free from all men, yet have I made my self a servant to all, that I may gain the more.

And to the Jews, I became as a Jew, that I might gain the Jews: to those who are under law, as under law, (not being myself under law,) that I might gain those who are under law;

to those who are without law, as without law, (not being myself without law to God, but under law to Christ,) that I might gain those who are without law:

to the weak I became like one who was weak, that I might gain the weak: I have become all things to all men, that I may, by all means, save some.

And this I do for the gospel's sake, that I may share its benefits with you.

Know you not that all the runners in the race-course run the race, but that one receives the prize? So run, that you may obtain the prize.

Every combatant in the public games is temperate in all things: they, indeed, that they may obtain a corruptible, but we, that we may obtain an incorruptible crown.

I, therefore, so run, not as with uncertainty; I so aim my blows, not as one that beats the air;

Now, brethren, I do not wish you to be ignorant, that all our fathers were under the cloud, and that all passed through the sea,

and. did all drink the same spiritual drink: for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them, and that Rock was the Christ.