Romans 1:22

Christian Standard Bible ®

Claiming to be wise, they became fools

Parallel Translations

Simplified Cowboy Version
They brag about their wisdom, but they are fools.

New American Standard Bible (1995)
Professing to be wise, they became fools,

Legacy Standard Bible
Professing to be wise, they became fools,

Bible in Basic English
Seeming to be wise, they were in fact foolish,

Darby Translation
professing themselves to be wise, they became fools,

New King James Version
Professing to be wise, they became fools,

World English Bible
Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools,

Wesley's New Testament (1755)
Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools,

Weymouth's New Testament
While boasting of their wisdom they became utter fools,

King James Version (1611)
Professing themselues to be wise, they became fooles:

Literal Translation
Professing to be wise, they became foolish

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
Whan they counted them selues wyse, they became fooles:

Mace New Testament (1729)
pretending to be wise, they became fools:

Amplified Bible
Claiming to be wise, they became fools,

American Standard Version
Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools,

Revised Standard Version
Claiming to be wise, they became fools,

Tyndale New Testament (1525)
When they couted them selves wyse they became foles

Update Bible Version
Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools,

Webster's Bible Translation
Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools:

Young's Literal Translation
professing to be wise, they were made fools,

New Century Version
They said they were wise, but they became fools.

New English Translation
Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools

Berean Standard Bible
Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools,

Contemporary English Version
They claim to be wise, but they are fools.

Complete Jewish Bible
Claiming to be wise, they have become fools!

English Standard Version
Claiming to be wise, they became fools,

Geneva Bible (1587)
When they professed themselues to be wise, they became fooles.

George Lamsa Translation
And while they thought within themselves that they were wise, they became fools,

Hebrew Names Version
Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools,

International Standard Version
Though claiming to be wise, they became foolsJeremiah 10:14;">[xr]

Etheridge Translation
And while thinking in themselves that they were wise, they were fools. [fn]

Murdock Translation
And, while they thought within themselves that they were wise, they became fools.

New Living Translation
Claiming to be wise, they instead became utter fools.

New Life Bible
They said that they were wise, but they showed how foolish they were.

English Revised Version
Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools,

New Revised Standard
Claiming to be wise, they became fools;

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
Professing to be wise, they were made foolish,

Douay-Rheims Bible
For, professing themselves to be wise, they became fools.

King James Version
Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools,

Lexham English Bible
Claiming to be wise, they became fools,

Bishop's Bible (1568)
When they counted them selues wyse, they became fooles:

Easy-to-Read Version
They said they were wise, but they became fools.

New American Standard Bible
Claiming to be wise, they became fools,

Good News Translation
They say they are wise, but they are fools;

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
For thei `seiynge that hem silf weren wise, thei weren maad foolis.

Contextual Overview

¹⁹ since what can be known about God is evident among them, because God has shown it to them. ²⁰ For His invisible attributes, that is, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen since the creation of the world, being understood through what He has made. As a result, people are without excuse. ²¹ For though they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God or show gratitude. Instead, their thinking became nonsense, and their senseless minds were darkened. ²² Claiming to be wise, they became fools ²³ and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man, birds, four-footed animals, and reptiles. ²⁴ Therefore God delivered them over in the cravings of their hearts to sexual impurity, so that their bodies were degraded among themselves. ²⁵ They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served something created instead of the Creator, who is praised forever. Amen. ²⁶ This is why God delivered them over to degrading passions. For even their females exchanged natural sexual relations for unnatural ones. ²⁷ The males in the same way also left natural relations with females and were inflamed in their lust for one another. Males committed shameless acts with males and received in their own persons the appropriate penalty of their error. ²⁸ And because they did not think it worthwhile to acknowledge God, God delivered them over to a worthless mind to do what is morally wrong.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

Romans 11:25, Proverbs 25:14, Proverbs 26:12, Isaiah 47:10, Jeremiah 8:8, Jeremiah 8:9, Jeremiah 10:14, Matthew 6:23, 1 Corinthians 1:19-21, 1 Corinthians 3:18, 1 Corinthians 3:19

Reciprocal: Deuteronomy 4:16 - corrupt 2 Samuel 16:23 - all the counsel Job 11:12 - For vain Psalms 14:4 - Have Psalms 94:11 - General Psalms 106:20 - Thus Proverbs 6:32 - lacketh Proverbs 8:14 - sound Ecclesiastes 7:10 - wisely Ecclesiastes 7:23 - I said Isaiah 5:21 - wise Isaiah 8:20 - it is Isaiah 19:13 - princes of Zoan Isaiah 29:14 - for the wisdom Isaiah 44:9 - their own Isaiah 50:11 - all ye Jeremiah 4:22 - For my Jeremiah 9:23 - wise Jeremiah 10:8 - brutish Jeremiah 49:7 - Is wisdom Ezekiel 28:17 - thou hast Hosea 13:2 - according Luke 11:35 - General Acts 17:18 - philosophers Romans 1:14 - both to Romans 3:11 - none that understandeth Romans 10:19 - foolish 1 Corinthians 1:20 - hath 1 Corinthians 15:36 - fool Ephesians 5:11 - works Colossians 2:8 - philosophy 1 Timothy 1:7 - understanding 1 Timothy 6:20 - oppositions James 3:15 - but

Cross-References

Genesis 1:13
Evening came and then morning: the third day.

Genesis 1:14
Then God said, "Let there be lights in the expanse of the sky to separate the day from the night. They will serve as signs for festivals and for days and years.

Genesis 1:28
God blessed them, and God said to them, "Be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth, and subdue it. Rule the fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, and every creature that crawls on the earth."

Genesis 8:17
Bring out all the living creatures that are with you—birds, livestock, those that crawl on the ground—and they will spread over the earth and be fruitful and multiply on the earth."

Genesis 9:1
God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth.

Genesis 30:27
But Laban said to him, "If I have found favor in your sight, stay. I have learned by divination that the Lord has blessed me because of you."

Genesis 30:30
For you had very little before I came, but now your wealth has increased. The Lord has blessed you because of me. And now, when will I also do something for my own family?"

Genesis 35:11
God also said to him: I am God Almighty. Be fruitful and multiply. A nation, indeed an assembly of nations, will come from you, and kings will descend from you.

Leviticus 26:9
"I will turn to you, make you fruitful and multiply you, and confirm My covenant with you.

Job 40:15
Look at Behemoth, which I made along with you. He eats grass like an ox.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Professing themselves to be wise,.... The learned men among the Gentiles first called themselves σοφοι, "Sophi", wise men: and afterwards, to cover their wretched pride and vanity, φιλοσοφοι, "Philosophers", lovers of wisdom; but notwithstanding all their arrogance, their large pretensions to wisdom, and boast of it

they became fools; they appeared to be so; they showed themselves to be such in those very things they prided themselves with the knowledge of: as, for instance, Socrates, after he had asserted the unity of God, and is said to die a martyr for the truth; yet one of the last actions of his life was sacrificing a cock to Aesculapius, at least he desired his friend Crito to do it.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Professing themselves to be wise - This was the common boast of the philosophers of antiquity. The very word by which they chose to be called, “philosophers,” means literally “lovers of wisdom.” That it was their boast that they were wise, is well known; compare Romans 1:14; 1 Corinthians 1:19, 1Co 1:20, 1 Corinthians 1:22; 1 Corinthians 3:19; 2 Corinthians 11:19.

They became fools - Compare Jeremiah 8:8-9. They became really foolish in their opinions and conduct. There is something particularly pungent and cutting in this remark, and as true as it is pungent. In what way they evinced their folly, Paul proceeds immediately to state. Sinners of all kinds are frequently spoken of as fools in the Scriptures. In the sense in which it is thus used, the word is applied to them as void of understanding or moral sense; as idolaters, and as wicked; Psalms 14:1; Proverbs 26:4; Proverbs 1:17, Proverbs 1:22; Proverbs 14:8-9. The senses in which this word here is applied to the pagan are,

1. That their speculations and doctrines were senseless; and,
2. That their conduct was corrupt.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse 22. Professing themselves to be wise — This is most strikingly true of all the ancient philosophers, whether Greeks or Romans, as their works, which remain, sufficiently testify. The word φασκοντες signifies not merely the professing but the assumption of the philosophic character. In this sense the word φασκειν is used by the best Greek writers. See Kypke. A dispassionate examination of the doctrine and lives of the most famed philosophers of antiquity, of every nation, will show that they were darkened in their mind and irregular in their conduct. It was from the Christian religion alone that true philosophy and genuine philosophers sprang.