wisdom

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The Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek that is translated as “wisdom” in English is rendered in Amganad Ifugao and Tabasco Chontal as “(big) mind,” in Bulu and Yamba as “heart-thinking,” in Tae’ as “cleverness of heart” (source for this and all above: Reiling / Swellengrebel), in Palauan as “bright spirit (innermost)” (source: Bratcher / Hatton), in Ixcatlán Mazatec as “with your best/biggest thinking” (source: Robert Bascom), in Noongar as dwangka-boola, lit. “ear much” (source: Portions of the Holy Bible in the Nyunga language of Australia, 2018 — see also remember), and in Dobel, it is translated with the idiom “their ear holes are long-lasting” (in Acts 6:3) (source: Jock Hughes).

See also wisdom (Proverbs).

I will destroy the wisdom of the wise

The Greek that is translated as “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise” or similar in English is translated in Huixtán Tzotzil as “I will destroy the wisdom of the hearts of those who mistakenly think they are wise.” Huixtán Tzotzil frequently uses the verb -cuy to express “to mistakenly think something” from the point of view of the speaker. (Source: Marion M. Cowan in Notes on Translation 20/1966, pp. 6ff.)

wisdom of the wise - discernment of the discerning

The parallelism of the Greek text sofían tón sofón — sýnesin tón synetón can be maintained by a number of languages, including English with wisdom of the wise — discernment of the discerning or wisdom of the wise — intelligence of the intelligent, Spanish with sabiduría de sus sabios — entendimiento de sus entendidos, German with Weisheit der Weisen — Verstand der Verständigen, or French with sagesse des sages, intelligence des intelligents. (Source: Roy Ciampa)

complete verse (1 Corinthians 1:19)

Following are a number of back-translations of 1 Corinthians 1:19:

  • Uma: “In the Holy Book God says: ‘No matter how clever man is, I will always defeat them, and I do not pay-any-attention-to the schemes of schemers.'” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “There is (something) written in the holy-book, God says, ‘I destroy the knowledge of the people with deep knowledge. And I remove the knowledge of people with high learning.'” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “There is a written word of God about this which says, ‘The wisdom of the wise people, I will make it so that it has no value. And the understanding of those who have studied, I will show it to be a lie,’ He said.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “Because there is that which God caused-to-be-written which says, ‘I will destroy the wisdom/knowledge/skill of wise and educated people and I will show that their wisdom is of no value.'” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “Because it is written already in the word of God which says, ‘I will destroy the perception of the wise/thinkers. Yes indeed, I will make to become of no worth/usefulness the perception of the knowledgeable.'” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
  • Tenango Otomi: “It says in the Holy Book the word which God spoke. It says, ‘I will show that there is no value in the words of the people who say they have wisdom. Concerning the person who says that he knows words, it will be seen that it is of no value,’ says God.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)

Translation commentary on 1 Corinthians 1:19

Some scholars have thought that verses 18-31 are from a sermon based on the quotation from Jer 9.24 in verse 31. Jewish preachers sometimes put their text at the end of the sermon. However, Paul seems to link his thinking more closely to the quotation from Isa 29.14 in this verse, especially to its keyword “wisdom.”

Revised Standard Version‘s For should be omitted in translation, as in New Jerusalem Bible, Revised English Bible; it is vague and possibly misleading. Paul seems to mean “What I have just said is confirmed by scripture when it says….”

It is written is literally “it has been written.” The tense of the verb in Greek implies that what has been written in the past remains valid in the present. Paul often uses this phrase to introduce quotations from the Old Testament. Revised Standard Version‘s rather literal translation it is written may not be enough to tell some readers that the quotation is from the Old Testament. Good News Bible renders this phrase as “the scripture says.” In a number of languages, though, one cannot talk about scripture’s “talking” or “saying” something. In these languages only humans can normally talk. In such cases the translator may say “In a passage of the Scriptures (or, Holy Writings) we find the following” or “One may read in the Scriptures the following.” Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch has the excellent translation “God has said.” Parola Del Signore: La Bibbia in Lingua Corrente has “the Bible says,” but has to add a glossary note explaining that this is not the whole Bible, but what Christians would now call the Old Testament. It is better to avoid the word “Bible” and to translate “the holy writings” or to follow the example of Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch.

Like most of Paul’s quotations, this one is taken from the Septuagint (the Greek Old Testament), though Paul as a rabbi could have quoted the Hebrew text (see Acts 22.3; Phil 3.5). Books were bulky and expensive, and Paul very likely could not take them with him on his frequent travels. So he made many of his quotations from memory. Sometimes, therefore, he gave the general sense rather than the exact wording. This is what he does here. At the end of the quotation, in place of the Septuagint’s rendering “I will hide,” Paul writes “I will set aside.” He may be thinking of Psa 33.10 (Psa 32.10 in Greek), where the phrase “set aside” is used twice in the Greek text about God’s “setting aside” the plans of the Gentiles.

As often in Old Testament poetry, the two lines of the quotation mean the same:

I will destroy — the wisdom — of the wise
I will thwart — the cleverness — of the clever

In some languages, including English, it is not natural to write poetry in pairs of synonymous parallel lines. It may be better, then, to combine the two lines into one. The keyword wisdom must be kept because it is important in the following verses. But Paul does not use cleverness again in 1 or 2 Corinthians. If a translator decides to translate both halves of the quotation, the and should be omitted if it suggests that something new is about to be said. In this case, I will may be repeated.

Destroy in this context may also be rendered as “cause to be of no effect” or “make useless.” Thwart has a very similar meaning to destroy. Other possible renderings are “defeat,” “frustrate,” “put a road block in the way of,” and so on.

On wisdom, see comments on verses 5 and 17. Wisdom and cleverness are used in an ironic, negative sense, of human intelligence used without God’s help. Both halves of the sentence imply that God will prevent the plans made by this kind of human wisdom from being realized. It may be necessary to make this explicit by translating, for example, “I will prevent the plans of those who think they are wise or clever from coming into effect.”

Translators should also consider whether the subject of this quotation is one about which poetry would naturally be written in their own languages. Good News Bible translates this verse as prose in the Old Testament (Isa 29.14). Speakers of each languages normally have their own views of what subjects are suitable for poetry.

Quoted with permission from Ellingworth, Paul and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on Paul’s First Letter to the Corinthians, 2nd edition. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1985/1994. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .