1 Corinthians 3:19
For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written, He taketh the wise in their own craftiness.
Study Note
Study Note
Paul's quotation of Job 5:13 — 'He taketh the wise in their own craftiness' — in support of the claim that 'the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God' bridges Old Testament wisdom literature and the Corinthian situation. The irony of Job's text is particularly apt: Eliphaz, the one speaking, is himself an example of the wise man whose counsel God ultimately rejects (Job 42:7), making Paul's appropriation doubly pointed. The Greek 'sophia tou kosmou' (wisdom of the world) encompasses both Greek philosophical rhetoric and any human system that displaces divine revelation as the ultimate criterion. Augustine's 'confutatio' of Platonic wisdom in the Confessions and City of God is perhaps the most sustained theological elaboration of this principle.
Other Translations
For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written, He that taketh the wise in their craftiness:
for the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God, for it hath been written, `Who is taking the wise in their craftiness;'
For the wisdom of this world is foolish before God. As it is said in the holy Writings, He who takes the wise in their secret designs:
Cross References
Come on, let us deal wisely with them; lest they multiply, and it come to pass, that, when there falleth …
Now I know that the Lord is greater than all gods: for in the thing wherein they dealt proudly he …
And one told David, saying, Ahithophel is among the conspirators with Absalom. And David said, O Lord, I pray thee, …
And the counsel of Ahithophel, which he counselled in those days, was as if a man had enquired at the …
And Absalom and all the men of Israel said, The counsel of Hushai the Archite is better than the counsel …
And when Ahithophel saw that his counsel was not followed, he saddled his ass, and arose, and gat him home …
So they hanged Haman on the gallows that he had prepared for Mordecai. Then was the king’s wrath pacified.
He taketh the wise in their own craftiness: and the counsel of the froward is carried headlong.
Behold, he travaileth with iniquity, and hath conceived mischief, and brought forth falsehood.
He made a pit, and digged it, and is fallen into the ditch which he made.