1 Corinthians 1:31

THE MESSAGE

Parallel Translations

Easy-to-Read Version
So, as the Scriptures say, "Whoever boasts should boast only about the Lord."

Revised Standard Version
therefore, as it is written, "Let him who boasts, boast of the Lord."

Tyndale New Testament (1525)
That accordinge as it is written: he which reioyseth shulde reioyce in the Lorde.

Hebrew Names Version
that, according as it is written, "He who boasts, let him boast in the Lord."

International Standard Version
Therefore, as it is written, "The person who boasts must boast in the Lord."Jeremiah 9:24">[fn]Jeremiah 9:23-24; 2 Corinthians 10:17;">[xr]

New American Standard Bible
so that, just as it is written: "LET THE ONE WHO BOASTS, BOAST IN THE LORD."

New Century Version
So, as the Scripture says, "If people want to brag, they should brag only about the Lord."

Update Bible Version
that, according to as it is written, He that glories, let him glory in the Lord.

Webster's Bible Translation
That, according as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord.

English Standard Version
so that, as it is written, "Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord."

World English Bible
that, according as it is written, "He who boasts, let him boast in the Lord."

Wesley's New Testament (1755)
That as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord.

Weymouth's New Testament
in order that it may be as Scripture says, "He who boasts--let his boast be in the Lord."

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
as it is wrytun, He that glorieth, haue glorie in the Lord.

English Revised Version
that, according as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord.

Berean Standard Bible
Therefore, as it is written: "Let him who boasts boast in the Lord."

Contemporary English Version
So if you want to brag, do what the Scriptures say and brag about the Lord.

Amplified Bible
so then, as it is written [in Scripture], "HE WHO BOASTS and GLORIES, LET HIM BOAST and GLORY IN THE LORD."

American Standard Version
that, according as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord.

Bible in Basic English
So that, as it is said in the holy Writings, Whoever has a desire for glory, let his glory be in the Lord.

Complete Jewish Bible
Therefore — as the Tanakh says — "Let anyone who wants to boast, boast about Adonai . "

Darby Translation
that according as it is written, He that boasts, let him boast in [the] Lord.

Etheridge Translation
according as it is written, He who boasteth, in the Lord let him boast.

Murdock Translation
according to that which is written: He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord.

King James Version (1611)
That according as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord.

New Living Translation
Therefore, as the Scriptures say, "If you want to boast, boast only about the Lord ."

New Life Bible
It is as the Holy Writings say, "If anyone is going to be proud of anything, he should be proud of the Lord."

New Revised Standard
in order that, as it is written, "Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord."

Geneva Bible (1587)
That, according as it is written, Hee that reioyceth, let him reioyce in the Lord.

George Lamsa Translation
As it is written, He who glories, let him glory in the LORD.

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
In order that, even as it is written - He that boasteth, in the Lord, let him boast.

Douay-Rheims Bible
That, as it is written: He that glorieth may glory in the Lord.

Bishop's Bible (1568)
That accordyng as it is written: he that reioyceth, let hym reioyce in the Lorde.

Good News Translation
So then, as the scripture says, "Whoever wants to boast must boast of what the Lord has done."

Christian Standard Bible®
in order that, as it is written: Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.

King James Version
That, according as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord.

Lexham English Bible
so that, just as it is written, "The one who boasts, let him boast in the Lord."

Literal Translation
so that even as it has been written, "He that glories, let him glory in" the "Lord." Jer. 9:24

Young's Literal Translation
that, according as it hath been written, `He who is glorying -- in the Lord let him glory.'

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
that, acordinge as it is wrytten: He that reioyseth, shulde reioyse in the LORDE.

Mace New Testament (1729)
according as it is written , "he that glorieth, should glory in the Lord."

New English Translation
so that, as it is written, " Let the one who boasts , boast in the Lord ."

New King James Version
31 that, as it is written, "He who glories, let him glory in the Lord." Jeremiah 9:24">[fn]

Simplified Cowboy Version
That's why the Good Book says, "If you're gonna brag, brag about what God has done."

New American Standard Bible (1995)
so that, just as it is written, "LET HIM WHO BOASTS, BOAST IN THE LORD."

Legacy Standard Bible
so that, just as it is written, "Let him who boasts, boast in the Lord."

Contextual Overview

¹⁷ God didn't send me out to collect a following for myself, but to preach the Message of what he has done, collecting a following for him. And he didn't send me to do it with a lot of fancy rhetoric of my own, lest the powerful action at the center—Christ on the Cross—be trivialized into mere words. ¹⁸The Message that points to Christ on the Cross seems like sheer silliness to those hellbent on destruction, but for those on the way of salvation it makes perfect sense. This is the way God works, and most powerfully as it turns out. It's written, I'll turn conventional wisdom on its head, I'll expose so-called experts as crackpots. So where can you find someone truly wise, truly educated, truly intelligent in this day and age? Hasn't God exposed it all as pretentious nonsense? Since the world in all its fancy wisdom never had a clue when it came to knowing God, God in his wisdom took delight in using what the world considered dumb—preaching, of all things!—to bring those who trust him into the way of salvation. ²²While Jews clamor for miraculous demonstrations and Greeks go in for philosophical wisdom, we go right on proclaiming Christ, the Crucified. Jews treat this like an anti-miracle—and Greeks pass it off as absurd. But to us who are personally called by God himself—both Jews and Greeks—Christ is God's ultimate miracle and wisdom all wrapped up in one. Human wisdom is so tinny, so impotent, next to the seeming absurdity of God. Human strength can't begin to compete with God's "weakness." ²⁶Take a good look, friends, at who you were when you got called into this life. I don't see many of "the brightest and the best" among you, not many influential, not many from high-society families. Isn't it obvious that God deliberately chose men and women that the culture overlooks and exploits and abuses, chose these "nobodies" to expose the hollow pretensions of the "somebodies"? That makes it quite clear that none of you can get by with blowing your own horn before God. Everything that we have—right thinking and right living, a clean slate and a fresh start—comes from God by way of Jesus Christ. That's why we have the saying, "If you're going to blow a horn, blow a trumpet for God."

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

1 Chronicles 16:10, 1 Chronicles 16:35, Psalms 105:3, Isaiah 41:16, Isaiah 45:25, Jeremiah 4:2, Jeremiah 9:23, Jeremiah 9:24, 2 Corinthians 10:17, Galatians 6:13, Galatians 6:14, Philippians 3:3,*Gr.

Reciprocal: Exodus 28:2 - glory Psalms 4:2 - my glory Psalms 33:1 - Rejoice Psalms 34:2 - make Psalms 62:7 - In God Psalms 64:10 - upright Psalms 89:17 - For thou Ecclesiastes 2:26 - wisdom Isaiah 28:5 - shall the Isaiah 45:17 - Israel Luke 1:46 - General Luke 2:32 - and 1 Corinthians 1:29 - General Colossians 2:10 - complete

Cross-References

Genesis 1:1
First this: God created the Heavens and Earth—all you see, all you don't see. Earth was a soup of nothingness, a bottomless emptiness, an inky blackness. God's Spirit brooded like a bird above the watery abyss.

Genesis 2:2
By the seventh day God had finished his work. On the seventh day he rested from all his work. God blessed the seventh day. He made it a Holy Day Because on that day he rested from his work, all the creating God had done. This is the story of how it all started, of Heaven and Earth when they were created.

Psalms 104:24
What a wildly wonderful world, God ! You made it all, with Wisdom at your side, made earth overflow with your wonderful creations. Oh, look—the deep, wide sea, brimming with fish past counting, sardines and sharks and salmon. Ships plow those waters, and Leviathan, your pet dragon, romps in them. All the creatures look expectantly to you to give them their meals on time. You come, and they gather around; you open your hand and they eat from it. If you turned your back, they'd die in a minute— Take back your Spirit and they die, revert to original mud; Send out your Spirit and they spring to life— the whole countryside in bloom and blossom.

Psalms 104:31
The glory of God —let it last forever! Let God enjoy his creation! He takes one look at earth and triggers an earthquake, points a finger at the mountains, and volcanoes erupt.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

That, according as it is written,.... Jeremiah 9:23.

He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord; not in his own wisdom, riches, and strength; but in Christ, as his wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

As it is written - This is evidently a quotation made from Jeremiah 9:23-24. It is not made literally; but the apostle has “condensed” the sense of the prophet into a few words, and has retained essentially his idea.

He that glorieth - He that boasts or exults.

In the Lord - Not ascribing his salvation to human abilities, or learning, or rank, but entirely to God. And from this we see:

(1) That the design of the plan of salvation is to exalt God in view of the mind.

(2) That the design is to make us humble; and this is the design also of all his works no less than of the plan of salvation. All just views of the creation tend to produce true humility.

(3) It is an evidence of piety when we are thus disposed to exalt God, and to be humble. It shows that the heart is changed; and that we are truly disposed to honor him.

(4) We may rejoice in God. We have no strength, and no righteousness of which to boast; but we may rejoice in him. He is full of goodness and mercy. He is able to save us. He can redeem us out of the hand of all our enemies. And when we are conscious that we are poor, and feeble, and helpless; when oppressed with a sense of sin, we may rejoice in him as our God; and exult in him as our Saviour and Redeemer. True piety will delight to come and lay everything at his feet; and whatever may be our rank, or talent, or learning, we shall rejoice to come with the temper of the humblest child of poverty, and sorrow, and lack, and to say, “not unto us, not unto us, but unto thy name give glory for thy mercy, and for thy truth’s sake,” Psalms 115:1.

“Not to our names, thou only just and true,

Not to our worthless names is glory due;

Thy power and grace, thy truth and justice claim.

Immortal honours to thy sovereign name.”

Watts.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse 1 Corinthians 1:31. According as it is written — In Jeremiah 9:23-24: Thus saith the Lord, Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his might; let not the rich man glory in his riches; but let him that glorieth glory in this: That he understandeth and knoweth me, that I am the Lord, which exercise loving-kindness, judgment, and righteousness, in the earth. So then, as all good is of and from God, let him that has either wisdom, strength, riches, pardon, holiness, or any other blessing, whether temporal or spiritual, acknowledge that he has nothing but what he has received; and that, as he has cause of glorying (boasting or exultation) in being made a partaker of these benefits and mercies of his Creator and Redeemer, let him boast in God alone, by whom, through Christ Jesus, he has received the whole.

1. THIS is an admirable chapter, and drawn up with great skill and address. The divided state of the Corinthian Church we have already noticed, and it appears that in these factions the apostle's authority had been set at nought by some, and questioned by many. St. Paul begins his letter with showing his authority; he had it immediately through Christ Jesus himself, by the will of God. And indeed the success of his preaching was a sufficient proof of the Divinity of his call. Had not God been with him he never could have successfully opposed the whole system of the national religion of the Corinthians, supported as it was by the prejudice of the people, the authority of the laws, and the eloquence and learning of their most eminent philosophers. It was necessary, therefore, that he should call the attention of this people to the Divine origin of his mission, that they might acknowledge that the excellency of the power was of God, and not of man.

2. It was necessary also that he should conciliate their esteem, and therefore speak as favourably concerning them as truth would allow; hence he shows them that they were a Church of God, sanctified in Christ Jesus, and called to be saints; that they abounded and even excelled in many extraordinary gifts and graces; and that they were not inferior to any Church of God in any gift. And he shows them that they received all these through God's confirmation of that testimony which he had delivered among them, 1 Corinthians 1:4-7.

3. When he had thus prepared their minds to receive and profit by his admonitions he proceeds to their schisms, which he mentions and reprehends in the most delicate manner, so that the most obstinate and prejudiced could take no offence.

4. Having gained this point, he gently leads them to consider that, as God is the fountain of all good, so their good had all come from him; and that none of them should rest in the gift, but in the giver; nor should they consider themselves as of particular consequence on account of possessing such gifts, because all earthly good is transitory, and those who trust in power, wisdom, or wealth, are confounded and brought to nought; and that they alone are safe who receive every thing as from the hand of God, and, in the strength of his gifts, glorify him who is the donor of all good. He who can read this chapter without getting much profit has very little spirituality in his soul, and must be utterly unacquainted with the work of God in the heart.