What Does 1 Corinthians 1:20 Mean in the King James?

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?

1 Corinthians 1:20 · KJV

The analysis reads the King James wording.

King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.

This verse in the Selah Decoded Version

THE KEY

The “wise” and the world’s “wisdom” grow from the same Greek root, placing both the people and the system they represent under God’s scrutiny.

THE MEANING

The experts, interpreters, and arguers of your age do not stand beyond God’s measure. The wisdom the world trusts can be exposed as foolishness, however impressive its claims sound.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

The lie is that learning, religious expertise, or winning an argument guarantees access to truth. This verse separates status from truth: the wisdom a culture prizes can be shown foolish.

THE ROOT

σοφός

sophos

GROWS FROM

σοφ-

soph-

Wise or skilled.

The “wise” person and the world’s “wisdom” share this root: ⁨σοφός⁩ and ⁨σοφία⁩ are two forms of the same claim to understanding. The verse asks where the people who embody that claim stand when God exposes the wisdom itself.

ALSO GROWS

sophia: Wisdom, skill.

σοφία

This is the same root in “wisdom of this world,” linking the people called wise to the system whose judgment God overturns.

sophizō: Make wise; teach or devise skillfully.

σοφίζω

This verb shows the root can describe wisdom as something cultivated or devised, not merely a status someone possesses.

ἐμώρανεν

emōranen

GROWS FROM

μωρ-

mōr-

Dull or foolish; the word family describes foolishness and making foolish.

“made foolish” in this verse is emōranen. The verb says God makes the world’s wisdom foolish: its claim is exposed as unable to deliver what it promises. The same word family appears as “foolishness” in the next verse, where what people judge foolish is set against human wisdom.

ALSO GROWS

mōros: Foolish, dull.

μωρός

This adjective names the quality the world’s wisdom is shown to have when measured by God.

mōria: Foolishness.

μωρία

This noun carries the same root into the next verse’s reversal, where God’s apparent foolishness surpasses human wisdom.

THE PATTERN

God exposes human wisdom when it mistakes status, cleverness, or control for truth.

Therefore, behold, I will proceed to do a marvellous work among this people, even a marvellous work and a wonder: for the wisdom of their wise men shall perish, and the understanding of their prudent men shall be hid.

Isaiah 29:14 · KJVThe wisdom and understanding people rely on can vanish when God’s work exposes their limits.

He taketh the wise in their own craftiness: and the counsel of the froward is carried headlong.

Job 5:13 · KJVHuman cleverness becomes the means by which its own counsel is caught and overturned.

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

1 Corinthians 3:19 · KJVThe verse states directly that the world’s wisdom is foolishness before God and echoes Job’s image of cleverness caught in itself.

THE THREAD

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

1 Corinthians 1:25 · KJV

“Made foolish” and “foolishness” share the Greek ⁨μωρ-⁩ word family. This verse sharpens the reversal: what human judgment calls foolish can exceed human wisdom.

Read the SDV Bible.

Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.

Get Selah Verse

The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.

Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us