First Epistle to the Corinthians

For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness...Where is the wise? hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world?

The First Epistle to the Corinthians is one of the Pauline epistles of the New Testament. The epistle is attributed to Paul the Apostle and a co-author, Sosthenes, and is addressed to the Christian church in Corinth.

Quotes

Chapter 1

• Ὁ λόγος γὰρ ὁ τοῦ σταυροῦ τοῖς μὲν ἀπολλυμένοις μωρία ἐστίν, τοῖς δὲ σῳζομένοις ἡμῖν δύναμις θεοῦ ἐστιν.
  • 18
  • For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God.

    (KJV)

    • Compare:
    • The time's set forth already which shall quell
      Stiff reason, when it offers to rebel;
         Which these great secrets shall unseal,
         And new philosophies reveal.
      A few years more, so soon hadst thou not died,
      Would have confounded human virtue's pride,
         And shew'd thee a God crucified.
      • Cowley's apostrophe to Brutus

• Ποῦ σοφός; ποῦ γραμματεύς; ποῦ συζητητὴς τοῦ αἰῶνος τούτου; οὐχὶ ἐμώρανεν ὁ θεὸς τὴν σοφίαν τοῦ κόσμου; ἐπειδὴ γὰρ ἐν τῇ σοφίᾳ τοῦ θεοῦ οὐκ ἔγνω ὁ κόσμος διὰ τῆς σοφίας τὸν θεόν, εὐδόκησεν ὁ θεὸς διὰ τῆς μωρίας τοῦ κηρύγματος σῶσαι τοὺς πιστεύοντας.
  • 20–21
  • Where is the wise? where is the scribe? where is the disputer of this world? hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world?
    For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe.

    (KJV)

• Ἐπειδὴ καὶ Ἰουδαῖοι σημεῖα αἰτοῦσιν καὶ Ἕλληνες σοφίαν ζητοῦσιν, ἡμεῖς δὲ κηρύσσομεν Χριστὸν ἐσταυρωμένον, Ἰουδαίοις μὲν σκάνδαλον ἔθνεσιν δὲ μωρίαν, αὐτοῖς δὲ τοῖς κλητοῖς, Ἰουδαίοις τε καὶ Ἕλλησιν, Χριστὸν θεοῦ δύναμιν καὶ θεοῦ σοφίαν·
  • 22–24
  • For the Jews require a sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom:
    But we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumblingblock, and unto the Greeks foolishness;
    But unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God.

    (KJV)

  • For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom,
    But we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles,
    But to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.

    (ESV)

The foolishness of God is wiser than men; and the weakness of God is stronger than men.

• Ὅτι τὸ μωρὸν τοῦ θεοῦ σοφώτερον τῶν ἀνθρώπων ἐστίν, καὶ τὸ ἀσθενὲς τοῦ θεοῦ ἰσχυρότερον τῶν ἀνθρώπων.
  • 25
  • The foolishness of God is wiser than men; and the weakness of God is stronger than men.

    (KJV)

• Βλέπετε γὰρ τὴν κλῆσιν ὑμῶν, ἀδελφοί, ὅτι οὐ πολλοὶ σοφοὶ κατὰ σάρκα, οὐ πολλοὶ δυνατοί, οὐ πολλοὶ εὐγενεῖς.
  • 26
  • Ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called.

    (KJV)

    • Compare:
    • Were this the charter of our state,
      'On pain o' hell be rich and great,'
      Damnation then would be our fate,
         Beyond remead;
      But, thanks to Heaven! that's no the gate
         We learn our creed.
      • Burns, "Second Epistle to J. Lapraik"

• Ἀλλὰ τὰ μωρὰ τοῦ κόσμου ἐξελέξατο ὁ θεὸς ἵνα καταισχύνῃ τοὺς σοφούς, καὶ τὰ ἀσθενῆ τοῦ κόσμου ἐξελέξατο ὁ θεὸς ἵνα καταισχύνῃ τὰ ἰσχυρά.
  • 27
  • God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty.

    (KJV)

Chapter 2

• Σοφίαν δὲ λαλοῦμεν ἐν τοῖς τελείοις, σοφίαν δὲ οὐ τοῦ αἰῶνος τούτου οὐδὲ τῶν ἀρχόντων τοῦ αἰῶνος τούτου τῶν καταργουμένων.
  • 6
  • Howbeit we speak wisdom among them that are perfect: yet not the wisdom of this world, nor of the princes of this world, that come to nought.

    (KJV)

  • We do, however, speak a message of wisdom among the mature, but not the wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing.

    (NIV)

• Ἀλλὰ καθὼς γέγραπται: Ἃ ὀφθαλμὸς οὐκ εἶδεν, καὶ οὖς οὐκ ἤκουσεν, καὶ ἐπὶ καρδίαν ἀνθρώπου οὐκ ἀνέβη ὅσα ἡτοίμασεν ὁ Θεὸς τοῖς ἀγαπῶσιν αὐτόν.
  • 9
  • As it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.

    (KJV)

  • As it is written, "What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him."

    (ESV)

    • See: Isaiah 64:4 (Sept.)
    • Compare:
    • A deep below the deep,
        And a height beyond the height!
      Our hearing is not hearing,
        And our seeing is not sight.
      • Tennyson, "The Voice and the Peak"

Chapter 3

• Κἀγώ, ἀδελφοί, οὐκ ἠδυνήθην λαλῆσαι ὑμῖν ὡς πνευματικοῖς ἀλλ’ ὡς σαρκίνοις, ὡς νηπίοις ἐν Χριστῷ. Γάλα ὑμᾶς ἐπότισα, οὐ βρῶμα· οὔπω γὰρ ἐδύνασθε. Ἀλλ’ οὐδὲ ἔτι νῦν δύνασθε, ἔτι γὰρ σαρκικοί ἐστε. ὅπου γὰρ ἐν ὑμῖν ζῆλος καὶ ἔρις, οὐχὶ σαρκικοί ἐστε καὶ κατὰ ἄνθρωπον περιπατεῖτε.
  • 1-3
  • And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ.
    I have fed you with milk, and not with meat: for hitherto ye were not able to bear it, neither yet now are ye able.
    For ye are yet carnal: for whereas there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as men?

    (KJV)

  • But I, brothers, could not address you as spiritual people, but as people of the flesh, as infants in Christ.
    I fed you with milk, not solid food, for you were not ready for it. And even now you are not yet ready,
    For you are still of the flesh. For while there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not of the flesh and behaving only in a human way?

    (ESV)

• Ἐγὼ ἐφύτευσα, Ἀπολλῶς ἐπότισεν, ἀλλὰ ὁ θεὸς ηὔξανεν· ὥστε οὔτε ὁ φυτεύων ἐστίν τι οὔτε ὁ ποτίζων, ἀλλ' ὁ αὐξάνων θεός.
  • 6-7
  • I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase.
    So then neither is he that planteth any thing, neither he that watereth; but God that giveth the increase.

    (KJV)

  • I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth.
    So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth.

    (ESV)

• Θεοῦ γάρ ἐσμεν συνεργοί· θεοῦ γεώργιον, θεοῦ οἰκοδομή ἐστε.
  • 9
  • For we are labourers together with God: ye are God’s husbandry, ye are God’s building.

    (KJV)

• Ἑκάστου τὸ ἔργον φανερὸν γενήσεται, ἡ γὰρ ἡμέρα δηλώσει· ὅτι ἐν πυρὶ ἀποκαλύπτεται, καὶ ἑκάστου τὸ ἔργον ὁποῖόν ἐστιν τὸ πῦρ [αὐτὸ] δοκιμάσει.
  • 13
  • Every man’s work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is.

    (KJV)

• Οὐκ οἴδατε ὅτι ναὸς Θεοῦ ἐστε καὶ τὸ Πνεῦμα τοῦ Θεοῦ ἐν ὑμῖν οἰκεῖ.
  • 16
  • Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?

    (KJV)

  • Do you not know that you are God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells in you?

    (ESV)

• Εἴ τις τὸν ναὸν τοῦ θεοῦ φθείρει, φθερεῖ τοῦτον ὁ θεός· ὁ γὰρ ναὸς τοῦ θεοῦ ἅγιός ἐστιν, οἵτινές ἐστε ὑμεῖς.
  • 17
  • If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are.

    (KJV)

Chapter 4

• Stewards of the mysteries of God.
  • 1 (KJV)

• God hath set forth us the apostles last, as it were appointed to death: for we are made a spectacle unto the world, and to angels, and to men.
  We are fools for Christ’s sake, but ye are wise in Christ; we are weak, but ye are strong; ye are honourable, but we are despised.
  Even unto this present hour we both hunger, and thirst, and are naked, and are buffeted, and have no certain dwellingplace;
  And labour, working with our own hands: being reviled, we bless; being persecuted, we suffer it:
  Being defamed, we intreat: we are made as the filth of the world, and are the offscouring of all things unto this day.
  • 9-13 (KJV)

Chapter 5

• Absent in body, but present in spirit.
  • 3 (KJV)

• Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump?
  • 6 (KJV)

• Christ our passover is sacrificed for us:
  Therefore let us keep the feast, not with the old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.
  • 7–8 (KJV)

Chapter 6

• Τὸ σῶμα ὑμῶν ναὸς τοῦ ἐν ὑμῖν ἁγίου πνεύματός ἐστιν.
  • 19
  • Your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you.

    (KJV)

    • Compare:
    • Not in the world of light alone,
      Where God has built his blazing throne,
      Nor yet alone in earth below,
      With belted seas that come and go,
      And endless isles of sunlit green,
      Is all thy Maker's glory seen:
      Look in upon thy wondrous frame,—
      Eternal wisdom still the same.
      O Father, grant thy love divine
      To make these mystic temples thine!
      When wasting age and wearying strife
      Have sapped the leaning walls of life,
      When darkness gathers over all,
      And the last tottering pillars fall,
      Take the poor dust thy mercy warms,
      And mould it into human forms.
      • O. W. Holmes

Chapter 7

• Κρεῖττον γάρ ἐστιν γαμῆσαι ἢ πυροῦσθαι.
  • 9
  • It is better to marry than to burn.

    (KJV)

• Ἡγίασται γὰρ ὁ ἀνὴρ ὁ ἄπιστος ἐν τῇ γυναικί
  • 14
  • The unbelieving husband is sanctified by the wife.

    (KJV)

• Ὁ γὰρ ἐν Κυρίῳ κληθεὶς δοῦλος ἀπελεύθερος Κυρίου ἐστίν· ὁμοίως ὁ ἐλεύθερος κληθεὶς δοῦλός ἐστιν Χριστοῦ.
  • 22
  • He that is called in the Lord, being a servant, is the Lord’s freeman: likewise also he that is called, being free, is Christ’s servant.

    (KJV)

  • He who was called in the Lord as a bondservant is a freedman of the Lord. Likewise he who was free when called is a bondservant of Christ.

    (ESV)

• Παράγει γὰρ τὸ σχῆμα τοῦ κόσμου τούτου.
  • 31
  • The fashion of this world passeth away.

    (KJV)

Chapter 8

• Ἡ γνῶσις φυσιοῖ, ἡ δὲ ἀγάπη οἰκοδομεῖ.
  • 1
  • Knowledge puffeth up, but charity edifieth.

    (KJV)

    • Compare:
    • In him goodness joy'd to see
      Learning learn humility.
      • Crashaw

Chapter 9

• Τίς στρατεύεται ἰδίοις ὀψωνίοις ποτέ; τίς φυτεύει ἀμπελῶνα καὶ τὸν καρπὸν αὐτοῦ οὐκ ἐσθίει.
  • 7
  • Who goeth a warfare any time at his own charges? who planteth a vineyard, and eateth not of the fruit thereof?

    (KJV)

• Ἐλεύθερος γὰρ ὢν ἐκ πάντων πᾶσιν ἐμαυτὸν ἐδούλωσα, ἵνα τοὺς πλείονας κερδήσω.
  • 19
  • Though I be free from all men, yet have I made myself servant unto all, that I might gain the more.

    (KJV)

  • Though I am free from all, I have made myself a servant to all, that I might win more of them.

    (ESV)

• Τοῖς πᾶσιν γέγονα πάντα.
  • 22
  • I am made all things to all men.

    (KJV)

• Οὐκ οἴδατε ὅτι οἱ ἐν σταδίῳ τρέχοντες πάντες μὲν τρέχουσιν, εἷς δὲ λαμβάνει τὸ βραβεῖον; οὕτως τρέχετε ἵνα καταλάβητε.
  • 24
  • Know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize? So run, that ye may obtain.

    (KJV)

    • Compare:
    • Is there a man whose judgment clear,
      Can others teach the course to steer,
      Yet runs, himself, life's mad career,
         Wild as the waves;
      Here pause—and, thro' the starting tear,
         Survey this grave.
      The poor inhabitant below
      Was quick to learn and wise to know,
      And keenly felt the friendly glow,
         And softer flame,
      But thoughtless follies laid him low,
         And stain'd his name.
      Reader, attend-whether thy soul
      Soars fancy's flights beyond the pole,
      Or darkling grubs this earthly hole,
         In low pursuit;
      Know, prudent, cautious self-control
         Is wisdom's root.
      • Burns

• Ἐκεῖνοι μὲν οὖν ἵνα φθαρτὸν στέφανον λάβωσιν, ἡμεῖς δὲ ἄφθαρτον. ἐγὼ τοίνυν οὕτως τρέχω ὡς οὐκ ἀδήλως, οὕτως πυκτεύω ὡς οὐκ ἀέρα δέρων· ἀλλὰ ὑπωπιάζω μου τὸ σῶμα καὶ δουλαγωγῶ, μή πως ἄλλοις κηρύξας αὐτὸς ἀδόκιμος γένωμαι.
  • 25–27
  • Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible.
    I therefore so run, not as uncertainly; so fight I, not as one that beateth the air.
    But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection; lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway.

    (KJV)

    • Compare:
    • I go from a corruptible to an incorruptible Crown, where no disturbance can be, no disturbance in the World.
      • Charles I
    •    If some one now
      Would take that text and preach to us that preach—
      * * * Yes I preach to others
      And am—I know not what—a castaway?
      No, but a man who feels his heart asleep,
      As he might feel his hand or foot. The limb
      Will not awake without a little shock,
      A little pain perhaps, a nip or blow,
      And that one gives and feels the waking pricks.
      But for one's heart I know not. I can give
      No shock to make mine prick.
      • Augusta Webster
    • O ship of my soul, storm-tossed
         In the far and the fearful nights!
      Lost, lost in the blackness! lost
         In sight of the harbour lights.
      • F. L. Stanton

Chapter 10

• Πιστὸς δὲ ὁ θεός, ὃς οὐκ ἐάσει ὑμᾶς πειρασθῆναι ὑπὲρ ὃ δύνασθε, ἀλλὰ ποιήσει σὺν τῷ πειρασμῷ καὶ τὴν ἔκβασιν τοῦ δύνασθαι ὑπενεγκεῖν.
  • 13
  • God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.

    (KJV)

    • Compare:
    •    Allegiance
      Tempted too far is like the trial of
      A good sword on an anvil; as that often
      Flies in pieces without service to the owner,
      So trust enforced too far proves treachery.
      • Massinger, The Great Duke of Florence, act ii, sc. 3

• Πάντα ἔξεστιν, ἀλλ' οὐ πάντα συμφέρει. πάντα ἔξεστιν.
  • 23
  • Omnia mihi licent, sed omnia non expediunt.

    (Vulg.)

  • All things are lawful for me, but all things are not expedient.

    (KJV)

• Τοῦ κυρίου γὰρ ἡ γῆ καὶ τὸ πλήρωμα αὐτῆς.
  • 26
  • For the earth is the Lord’s and the fulness thereof.

    (KJV)

Chapter 11

• Μιμηταί μου γίνεσθε, καθὼς κἀγὼ Χριστοῦ.
  • 1
  • Be ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ.

    (KJV)

    • Compare:
    • The King will follow Christ, and we the King,
      In whom high God hath breathed a secret thing.
      • Tennyson, "The Coming of Arthur"

• Οὐδὲ ἡ φύσις αὐτὴ διδάσκει ὑμᾶς ὅτι ἀνὴρ μὲν ἐὰν κομᾷ ἀτιμία αὐτῷ ἐστιν, γυνὴ δὲ ἐὰν κομᾷ δόξα αὐτῇ ἐστιν; ὅτι ἡ κόμη ἀντὶ περιβολαίου δέδοται [αὐτῇ].
  • 14–15
  • Doth not even nature itself teach you, that if a man have long hair, it is a shame unto him?
    But if a woman have long hair, it is a glory to her; for her hair is given to her for a covering.

    (KJV)

• Τοῦτό μού ἐστιν τὸ σῶμα τὸ ὑπὲρ ὑμῶν· τοῦτο ποιεῖτε εἰς τὴν ἐμὴν ἀνάμνησιν.
  • 24
  • Take, eat: this is my body, which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of me.

    (KJV)

• Τοῦτο τὸ ποτήριον ἡ καινὴ διαθήκη ἐστὶν ἐν τῷ ἐμῷ αἵματι· τοῦτο ποιεῖτε, ὁσάκις ἐὰν πίνητε, εἰς τὴν ἐμὴν ἀνάμνησιν.
  • 25
  • This cup is the new testament in my blood: this do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of me.

    (KJV)

Chapter 12

• Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit.
  • 4 (KJV)
    • Compare:
    • O to be like my Lord! Yet must I be
         Mine own self too,
      And to the nature He bestowed on me
         Be frankly true.
      The olive fruits not as the clustering vine;
         Nor may we get
      Scent of the rose or lily from woodbine,
         Or violet.
      • W. C. Smith

• There are diversities of workings, but the same God, who worketh all things in all.
  • 6 (KJV)

Chapter 13

• Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal.
  And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith; so that I could remove mountains; and have not charity, I am nothing.
  And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing.
  Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up,
  Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil;
  Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth;
  Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.
  Charity never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues; they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away.
  For we know in part, and we prophesy in part.
  But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away.
  When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things.
  For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.
  And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity.
  • 1–13 (KJV)
    • Compare:
    • But was it thou—I think
      Surely it was!—that bard
      Unnamed, who, Goethe said,
      Had every other gift, but wanted love;
      Love, without which the tongue
      Even of angels sounds amiss.
      • M. Arnold, "Heine's Grave"
    • 'Tis love, not years or limb that can
      Make the martyr, or the man.
      • Crashaw, "Hymn to Saint Teresa"
    • Flavia, most tender of her own good name,
      Is rather careless of her sister's fame;
      Her superfluity the poor supplies,
      But, if she touch a character, it dies.
      • Cowper, "Charity"
    • Who nobly, if they cannot know
        Whether a 'scutcheon's dubious field
      Carries a falcon or a crow,
        Fancy a falcon on the shield.
      • Coventry Patmore, The Angel in the House, bk. 1, canto 10
    • O purblind race of miserable men,
      How many among us at this very hour
      Do forge a life-long trouble for ourselves
      By taking true for false, or false for true;
      Here, through the feeble twilight of this world
      Groping, how many, until we pass and reach
      That other, where we see as we are seen.
      • Tennyson, "Geraint and Enid"
    • What of the heart of love
         That bleeds in thy breast, O Man?—
         Thy kisses snatched 'neath the ban
      Of fangs that mock them above;
         Thy bells prolonged unto knells,
         Thy hope that a breath dispels,
         Thy bitter forlorn farewells
      And the empty echoes thereof?
         Still we say as we go,—
           'Strange to think by the way,
         Whatever there is to know,
           That shall we know one day'.
      • D. G. Rossetti, "Love's Pageant"
    • The summer of the heart is late or soon,
      The fever in the blood is less or more;
      But while the moons of time shall fill and wane,
      While there is earth below and heaven above,
      Wherever man is true and woman fair,
      Through all the circling cycles Love is Love!
      And when the stars have flower'd and fallen away,
      And of this earthly ball
      A little dust upon eternity
      Is all that shall remain, Love shall be Love...
      And we, whose wonted eyes
      Seek vainly the familiar universe,
      Shall feel the living worlds in the immortal soul.
      • Sydney Dobell

Chapter 14

I had rather speak five words with my understanding...than ten thousand words in an unknown tongue.

• If the trumpet give an uncertain sound, who shall prepare himself to the battle?
  • 8 (KJV)

• In the church I had rather speak five words with my understanding, that by my voice I might teach others also, than ten thousand words in an unknown tongue.
  • 19 (KJV)
    • Compare:
    • Resign the rhapsody, the dream,
         To men of larger reach;
      Be ours the quest of a plain theme,
         The piety of speech.
      • R. L. Stevenson

• Let your women keep silence in the churches: for it is not permitted unto them to speak.
  • 34 (KJV)

• If they will learn any thing, let them ask their husbands at home: for it is a shame for women to speak in the church.
  • 35 (KJV)

• Let all things be done decently and in order.
  • 40 (KJV)

Chapter 15

• Last of all he was seen of me also, as of one born out of due time.
  For I am the least of the apostles, that am not meet to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God.
  But by the grace of God I am what I am.
  • 8–10 (KJV)

• I laboured more abundantly than they all: yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.
  • 10 (KJV)

• If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable.
  • 19 (KJV)
    • Compare:
    • Eat, drink, and die, for we are souls bereaved:
         Of all the creatures under heaven's wide cope
         We are most hopeless, who had once most hope,
      And most beliefless that had most believed.
      • Clough, "Easter Day"

• But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept.
  For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead.
  For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.
  • 20–22 (KJV)

• For he must reign, till he hath put all enemies under his feet.
  • 25 (KJV)
    • Compare:
    • Another Athens shall arise,
        And to remoter time
      Bequeath, like sunset to the skies,
         The splendour of its prime;
      And leave, if naught so bright may live,
      All earth can take or heaven can give.
      Saturn and Love, their long repose
         Shall burst, more bright and good
      Than all who fell, than One who rose,
         Than many unsubdued.
      • Shelley, Hellas, closing stanzas

• The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.
  • 26 (KJV)

• I die daily.
  • 31 (KJV)
    • Compare:
    •    Thy royal father
      Was a most sainted king: the queen that bore thee,
      Oftener upon her knees than on her feet,
      Died every day she lived.
      • Shakespeare, Macbeth, act iv, sc. 3

• If after the manner of men I have fought with beasts at Ephesus, what advantageth it me, if the dead rise not? let us eat and drink; for to-morrow we die.
  • 32 (KJV)
    • Compare:
    • But feast to-night! to-morrow we depart.
      Strike up the dance! the carvèd bowl fill high!
      Drain every drop!— to-morrow we may die.
      • Byron, The Island, canto 2

• Φθείρουσιν ἤθη χρηστὰ ὁμιλίαι κακαί.
  • 33
  • Corrumpunt bonos mores colloquia mala.

    (Vulg.)

  • Evil communications corrupt good manners.

    (KJV)

• Thou fool, that which thou sowest is not quickened, except it die.
  • 36 (KJV)

• One star differeth from another star in glory.
  • 41 (KJV)

• So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption; it is raised in incorruption.
  • 42 (KJV)

• The first man is of the earth, earthy.
  • 47 (KJV)

• Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption.
  • 50 (KJV)

In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump.

The trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.

• Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed,
  In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump; for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.
  For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.
  • 51–53 (KJV)
    • Compare:
    • Not alone those camps of white, old comrades of the wars,
      When as order'd forward, after a long march,
      Footsore and weary, soon as the light lessens we halt for the night,
      Some of us so fatigued carrying the gun and knapsack, dropping asleep in our tracks.
      Others pitching the little tents, and the fires lit up begin to sparkle.
      Outposts of pickets posted surrounding alert through the dark,
      And a word provided for countersign, careful for safety,
      Till to the call of the drummer at daybreak loudly beating the drums,
      We rise up refreshed, the night and sleep pass'd over, and resume our journey,
      Or proceed to battle.
      Lo, the camps of the tents of green,
      Which the days of peace keep filling, and the days of war keep filling,
      With a mystic army (is it too order'd forward? is it too only halting awhile,
      Till night and sleep pass over?)...
      For presently, O soldiers, we too camp in our place in the bivouac-camps of green,
      But we need not provide for outposts, nor word for the countersign,
      Nor drummer to beat the morning drum.
      • Walt Whitman, "Camps of Green"

• So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory.
  • 54 (KJV)
    • See: Isaiah 25:8 · Hebrews 2:14–15

• O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?
  • 55 (KJV)
    • Compare: Pope, "The Dying Christian to His Soul"

• The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law.
  But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
  • 56-57 (KJV)
    • Compare:
    • They talk of short-lived pleasure—be it so—
      Pain dies as quickly: stern, hard-featured pain
      Expires, and lets her weary prisoner go.
      The fiercest agonies have shortest reign;
      And after dreams of horror, comes again
      The welcome morning with its rays of peace.
      • W. C. Bryant, "Mutation"

• Be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.
  • 58 (KJV)
    • Compare:
    • Happy is he who, caring not for Pope,
      Consul, or King, can sound himself to know
      The destiny of Man and live in hope.
      • Wordsworth, "Calais"
    • Ah yes! some of us strive
      Not without action to die
      Fruitless, but something to snatch
      From dull oblivion, not all
      Glut the devouring grave!
      • M. Arnold, "Rugby Chapel"

Chapter 16

• Watch ye, stand fast in the faith, quit you like men, be strong.
  • 13 (KJV)

• If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be Anathema Maranatha.
  • 22 (KJV)

External links

• James Moffatt (ed.) The Expositor's Dictionary of Poetical Quotations (London: Hodder and Stroughton, 1913) pp. 155–59