Paul, appointed an apostle of Jesus Christ through the will of God, and Sosthenes our brother,

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.

Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of this world?

For you see your calling, brethren, that there are not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many of nobility.

and the low-born of the world and the things which are despised God has chosen, and the things which are not, to bring to nothing the things that are,

I was with you in weakness, in fear, and in much trembling.

But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he is not able to know them, because they are spiritually discerned.

Let no one deceive himself. If anyone among you seems to be wise in this age, let him become foolish that he may become wise.

Then Jehu came out to the servants of his master, and one of them said to him, Is all well? Why did this madman come to you? And he said to them, You know the man and his talk.

The days of visitation have come; the days of retribution have come. Israel shall know. The prophet is a fool, the spiritual man is insane, because of the greatness of your iniquity and your great hatred.

Then certain Epicurean and Stoic philosophers encountered him. And some said, What does this empty talker want to say? And others, He seems to be a proclaimer of foreign demons, because he preached to them Jesus and the resurrection.

And when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some ridiculed, while others said, We will hear you again concerning this matter.

Now as he thus made his defense, Festus said with a loud voice, Paul, you are beside yourself! Much learning is driving you mad!

Blessed are you when they shall revile and persecute you, and shall say every evil word against you falsely because of Me.

And you will be hated by everyone on account of My name. But he who endures to the end will be kept safe.

A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his lord.

Then they will deliver you up to affliction and kill you, and you will be hated by all nations because of My name.

Blessed are you when men hate you, and when they exclude you, and revile you, and cast out your name as evil, on account of the Son of Man.

For I will show him how many things he must suffer for My name.

If you are reproached for the name of Christ, you are blessed, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you. According to them He is blasphemed, but according to you He is glorified.

You are already full. You are already rich. You have reigned as kings without us; and indeed I wish you truly did reign, that we also might reign with you.

Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry.

I speak as to wise men; judge for yourselves what I say.

How can you say, We are wise, and the Law of Jehovah is with us? Lo, certainly the lying pen of the scribes has written falsehood.

The wise are ashamed, they are dismayed, and are captured. Lo, they have rejected the Word of Jehovah; so what wisdom is in them?

I was with you in weakness, in fear, and in much trembling.

For his letters, they say, are weighty and powerful, but his bodily presence is weak, and his speech of no account.

Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is made to stumble, and I do not burn with indignation?

And He said to me, My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness. Therefore most gladly I will rather exult in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may dwell upon me.

Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ's sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

since you seek a proof of Christ speaking in me, who is not weak toward you, but mighty in you.

For though He was crucified out of weakness, yet He lives by the power of God. For we also are weak in Him, but we shall live with Him by the power of God toward you.

For we rejoice when we are weak and you are strong. And this also we pray, that you may be made complete.

I fed you with milk and not with solid food; for until now you were not able, and even now you are still not able;

Therefore let him who thinks he is firmly established take heed that he not fall.

One who despises his neighbor is without heart, but a man of understanding keeps quiet.

He is despised and rejected by men; a Man of pain, and knowing infirmity; a hiding of faces; being despised, we have esteemed Him not.

He who hears you hears Me, he who rejects you rejects Me, and he who rejects Me rejects Him who sent Me.

Also He spoke this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others:

Therefore he who rejects this does not reject man, but God, who has also given us His Holy Spirit.