1 Corinthians 3:19

American Standard Version with Strong's Numbers

For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written, He that taketh the wise in their craftiness:

📖 Grammatical Analysis

Original Text

Ἡ γὰρ σοφία τοῦ κόσμου τούτου μωρία παρὰ τῷ Θεῷ ἐστιν. Γέγραπται γάρ, Ὁ δρασσόμενος τοὺς σοφοὺς ἐν τῇ πανουργίᾳ αὐτῶν.

Transliteration

The gar sophia tou kosmou toutou mōria para tō Theō estin. It has been gegraptai gar, The one drassomenos tous sophous in the panourgia autōn.

Grammar Details

• *gar*: conjunction - for/because
• *sophia*: noun, feminine, nominative, singular - wisdom
• *tou kosmou*: noun, masculine, genitive, singular - of the world
• *toutou*: demonstrative pronoun, masculine, genitive, singular - of this
• *mōria*: noun, feminine, nominative, singular - foolishness
• *para*: preposition - beside/with/in the sight of
• *tō Theō*: noun, masculine, dative, singular - God
• *estin*: present active indicative, 3rd person singular - is
• *gegraptai*: perfect passive indicative, 3rd person singular - it has been written
• *drassomenos*: present middle participle, masculine, nominative, singular - catching/seizing
• *tous sophous*: adjective, masculine, accusative, plural - the wise ones
• *panourgia*: noun, feminine, dative, singular - craftiness/cunning
• *autōn*: personal pronoun, 3rd person, genitive, plural - of them

Word Meanings

• *sophia*: wisdom/knowledge/skill
• *kosmou*: world/universe/order
• *mōria*: foolishness/absurdity
• *gegraptai*: it has been written/recorded/inscribed
• *drassomenos*: catching/seizing/grasping
• *sophous*: wise ones/sages
• *panourgia*: craftiness/cunning/cleverness

Referenced Verses

• Job 5:13 : 13 He taketh the wise in their own craftiness; And the counsel of the cunning is carried headlong.
• Ps 141:10 : 10 Let the wicked fall into their own nets, Whilst that I withal escape.
• Rom 1:21-22 : 21 because that, knowing God, they glorified him not as God, neither gave thanks; but became vain in their reasonings, and their senseless heart was darkened. 22 Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools,
• 1 Cor 2:6 : 6 We speak wisdom, however, among them that are fullgrown: yet a wisdom not of this world, nor of the rulers of this world, who are coming to nought:
• Isa 44:25 : 25 that frustrateth the signs of the liars, and maketh diviners mad; that turneth wise men backward, and maketh their knowledge foolish;
• 1 Cor 1:19-20 : 19 For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, And the discernment of the discerning will I bring to nought. 20 Where is the wise? where is the scribe? where is the disputer of this world? hath not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?
• Ps 9:15-16 : 15 The nations are sunk down in the pit that they made: In the net which they hid is their own foot taken. 16 Jehovah hath made himself known, he hath executed judgment: The wicked is snared in the work of his own hands. {H1902} Selah}
• Isa 29:14-16 : 14 therefore, behold, I will proceed to do a marvellous work among this people, even a marvellous work and a wonder; and the wisdom of their wise men shall perish, and the understanding of their prudent men shall be hid. 15 Woe unto them that hide deep their counsel from Jehovah, and whose works are in the dark, and that say, Who seeth us? and who knoweth us? 16 Ye turn things upside down! Shall the potter be esteemed as clay; that the thing made should say of him that made it, He made me not; or the thing formed say of him that formed it, He hath no understanding?
• Isa 19:11-14 : 11 The princes of Zoan are utterly foolish; the counsel of the wisest counsellors of Pharaoh is become brutish: how say ye unto Pharaoh, I am the son of the wise, the son of ancient kings? 12 Where then are thy wise men? and let them tell thee now; and let them know what Jehovah of hosts hath purposed concerning Egypt. 13 The princes of Zoan are become fools, the princes of Memphis are deceived; they have caused Egypt to go astray, that are the corner-stone of her tribes. 14 Jehovah hath mingled a spirit of perverseness in the midst of her; and they have caused Egypt to go astray in every work thereof, as a drunken man staggereth in his vomit.
• Ps 7:14-15 : 14 Behold, he travaileth with iniquity; Yea, he hath conceived mischief, and brought forth falsehood. 15 He hath made a pit, and digged it, And is fallen into the ditch which he made.
• Exod 1:10 : 10 come, let us deal wisely with them, lest they multiply, and it come to pass, that, when there falleth out any war, they also join themselves unto our enemies, and fight against us, and get them up out of the land.
• Exod 18:11 : 11 Now I know that Jehovah is greater than all gods; yea, in the thing wherein they dealt proudly against them.
• 2 Sam 15:31 : 31 And one told David, saying, Ahithophel is among the conspirators with Absalom. And David said, O Jehovah, I pray thee, turn the counsel of Ahithophel into foolishness.
• 2 Sam 16:23 : 23 And the counsel of Ahithophel, which he gave in those days, was as if a man inquired at the oracle of God: so was all the counsel of Ahithophel both with David and with Absalom.
• 2 Sam 17:14 : 14 And Absalom and all the men of Israel said, The counsel of Hushai the Archite is better than the counsel of Ahithophel. For Jehovah had ordained to defeat the good counsel of Ahithophel, to the intent that Jehovah might bring evil upon Absalom.
• 2 Sam 17:23 : 23 And when Ahithophel saw that his counsel was not followed, he saddled his ass, and arose, and gat him home, unto his city, and set his house in order, and hanged himself; and he died, and was buried in the sepulchre of his father.
• Esth 7:10 : 10 So they hanged Haman on the gallows that he had prepared for Mordecai. Then was the king's wrath pacified.