A-Z: Common sayings from the Bible: Offscouring of all things

Usage

Rubbish, like filth to be scraped off the skin.

Definition

Paul describes his ministry and the ill-treatment he receives, and compares that with the relative comfort of the Corinthians. Paul has no concern for status and repays evil for good.

Bible References

1 Corinthians 4:13; Lamentations 3:45

English Standard Version
King James Version

¹This is how one should regard us, as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God. ²Moreover, it is required of stewards that they be found faithful. ³But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged by you or by any human court. In fact, I do not even judge myself. ⁴For I am not aware of anything against myself, but I am not thereby acquitted. It is the Lord who judges me. ⁵Therefore do not pronounce judgment before the time, before the Lord comes, who will bring to light the things now hidden in darkness and will disclose the purposes of the heart. Then each one will receive his commendation from God. ⁶I have applied all these things to myself and Apollos for your benefit, brothers, that you may learn by us not to go beyond what is written, that none of you may be puffed up in favor of one against another. ⁷For who sees anything different in you? What do you have that you did not receive? If then you received it, why do you boast as if you did not receive it? ⁸Already you have all you want! Already you have become rich! Without us you have become kings! And would that you did reign, so that we might share the rule with you! ⁹For I think that God has exhibited us apostles as last of all, like men sentenced to death, because we have become a spectacle to the world, to angels, and to men. ¹⁰We are fools for Christ's sake, but you are wise in Christ. We are weak, but you are strong. You are held in honor, but we in disrepute. ¹¹To the present hour we hunger and thirst, we are poorly dressed and buffeted and homeless, ¹²and we labor, working with our own hands. When reviled, we bless; when persecuted, we endure; ¹³when slandered, we entreat. We have become, and are still, like the scum of the world, the refuse of all things. ¹⁴I do not write these things to make you ashamed, but to admonish you as my beloved children. ¹⁵For though you have countless guides in Christ, you do not have many fathers. For I became your father in Christ Jesus through the gospel. ¹⁶I urge you, then, be imitators of me. ¹⁷That is why I sent you Timothy, my beloved and faithful child in the Lord, to remind you of my ways in Christ, as I teach them everywhere in every church. ¹⁸Some are arrogant, as though I were not coming to you. ¹⁹But I will come to you soon, if the Lord wills, and I will find out not the talk of these arrogant people but their power. ²⁰For the kingdom of God does not consist in talk but in power. ²¹What do you wish? Shall I come to you with a rod, or with love in a spirit of gentleness?

¹Let a man so account of us, as of the ministers of Christ, and stewards of the mysteries of God. ²Moreover it is required in stewards, that a man be found faithful. ³But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged of you, or of man's judgment: yea, I judge not mine own self. ⁴For I know nothing by myself; yet am I not hereby justified: but he that judgeth me is the Lord. ⁵Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts: and then shall every man have praise of God. ⁶And these things, brethren, I have in a figure transferred to myself and to Apollos for your sakes; that ye might learn in us not to think of men above that which is written, that no one of you be puffed up for one against another. ⁷For who maketh thee to differ from another? and what hast thou that thou didst not receive? now if thou didst receive it, why dost thou glory, as if thou hadst not received it? ⁸Now ye are full, now ye are rich, ye have reigned as kings without us: and I would to God ye did reign, that we also might reign with you. ⁹For I think that 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. ¹⁰We 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. ¹¹Even unto this present hour we both hunger, and thirst, and are naked, and are buffeted, and have no certain dwellingplace; ¹²And labour, working with our own hands: being reviled, we bless; being persecuted, we suffer it: ¹³Being defamed, we intreat: we are made as the filth of the world, and are the offscouring of all things unto this day. ¹⁴I write not these things to shame you, but as my beloved sons I warn you. ¹⁵For though ye have ten thousand instructers in Christ, yet have ye not many fathers: for in Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the gospel. ¹⁶Wherefore I beseech you, be ye followers of me. ¹⁷For this cause have I sent unto you Timotheus, who is my beloved son, and faithful in the Lord, who shall bring you into remembrance of my ways which be in Christ, as I teach every where in every church. ¹⁸Now some are puffed up, as though I would not come to you. ¹⁹But I will come to you shortly, if the Lord will, and will know, not the speech of them which are puffed up, but the power. ²⁰For the kingdom of God is not in word, but in power. ²¹What will ye? shall I come unto you with a rod, or in love, and in the spirit of meekness?

English Standard Version
King James Version

¹I am the man who has seen affliction under the rod of his wrath; ²he has driven and brought me into darkness without any light; ³surely against me he turns his hand again and again the whole day long. ⁴He has made my flesh and my skin waste away; he has broken my bones; ⁵he has besieged and enveloped me with bitterness and tribulation; ⁶he has made me dwell in darkness like the dead of long ago. ⁷He has walled me about so that I cannot escape; he has made my chains heavy; ⁸though I call and cry for help, he shuts out my prayer; ⁹he has blocked my ways with blocks of stones; he has made my paths crooked. ¹⁰He is a bear lying in wait for me, a lion in hiding; ¹¹he turned aside my steps and tore me to pieces; he has made me desolate; ¹²he bent his bow and set me as a target for his arrow. ¹³He drove into my kidneys the arrows of his quiver; ¹⁴I have become the laughingstock of all peoples, the object of their taunts all day long. ¹⁵He has filled me with bitterness; he has sated me with wormwood. ¹⁶He has made my teeth grind on gravel, and made me cower in ashes; ¹⁷my soul is bereft of peace; I have forgotten what happiness is; ¹⁸so I say, My endurance has perished; so has my hope from the Lord. ¹⁹Remember my affliction and my wanderings, the wormwood and the gall! ²⁰My soul continually remembers it and is bowed down within me. ²¹But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope: ²²The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; ²³they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. ²⁴The Lord is my portion, says my soul, therefore I will hope in him. ²⁵The Lord is good to those who wait for him, to the soul who seeks him. ²⁶It is good that one should wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord. ²⁷It is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth. ²⁸Let him sit alone in silence when it is laid on him; ²⁹let him put his mouth in the dust - there may yet be hope; ³⁰let him give his cheek to the one who strikes, and let him be filled with insults. ³¹For the Lord will not cast off forever, ³²but, though he cause grief, he will have compassion according to the abundance of his steadfast love; ³³for he does not afflict from his heart or grieve the children of men. ³⁴To crush underfoot all the prisoners of the earth, ³⁵to deny a man justice in the presence of the Most High, ³⁶to subvert a man in his lawsuit, the Lord does not approve. ³⁷Who has spoken and it came to pass, unless the Lord has commanded it? ³⁸Is it not from the mouth of the Most High that good and bad come? ³⁹Why should a living man complain, a man, about the punishment of his sins? ⁴⁰Let us test and examine our ways, and return to the Lord! ⁴¹Let us lift up our hearts and hands to God in heaven: ⁴²We have transgressed and rebelled, and you have not forgiven. ⁴³You have wrapped yourself with anger and pursued us, killing without pity; ⁴⁴you have wrapped yourself with a cloud so that no prayer can pass through. ⁴⁵You have made us scum and garbage among the peoples. ⁴⁶All our enemies open their mouths against us; ⁴⁷panic and pitfall have come upon us, devastation and destruction; ⁴⁸my eyes flow with rivers of tears because of the destruction of the daughter of my people. ⁴⁹My eyes will flow without ceasing, without respite, ⁵⁰until the Lord from heaven looks down and sees; ⁵¹my eyes cause me grief at the fate of all the daughters of my city. ⁵²I have been hunted like a bird by those who were my enemies without cause; ⁵³they flung me alive into the pit and cast stones on me; ⁵⁴water closed over my head; I said, I am lost. ⁵⁵I called on your name, O Lord, from the depths of the pit; ⁵⁶you heard my plea, Do not close your ear to my cry for help! ⁵⁷You came near when I called on you; you said, Do not fear! ⁵⁸You have taken up my cause, O Lord; you have redeemed my life. ⁵⁹You have seen the wrong done to me, O Lord; judge my cause. ⁶⁰You have seen all their vengeance, all their plots against me. ⁶¹You have heard their taunts, O Lord, all their plots against me. ⁶²The lips and thoughts of my assailants are against me all the day long. ⁶³Behold their sitting and their rising; I am the object of their taunts. ⁶⁴You will repay them, O Lord, according to the work of their hands. ⁶⁵You will give them dullness of heart; your curse will be on them. ⁶⁶You will pursue them in anger and destroy them from under your heavens, O Lord.

¹I AM the man that hath seen affliction by the rod of his wrath. ²He hath led me, and brought me into darkness, but not into light. ³Surely against me is he turned; he turneth his hand against me all the day. ⁴My flesh and my skin hath he made old; he hath broken my bones. ⁵He hath builded against me, and compassed me with gall and travail. ⁶He hath set me in dark places, as they that be dead of old. ⁷He hath hedged me about, that I cannot get out: he hath made my chain heavy. ⁸Also when I cry and shout, he shutteth out my prayer. ⁹He hath inclosed my ways with hewn stone, he hath made my paths crooked. ¹⁰He was unto me as a bear lying in wait, and as a lion in secret places. ¹¹He hath turned aside my ways, and pulled me in pieces: he hath made me desolate. ¹²He hath bent his bow, and set me as a mark for the arrow. ¹³He hath caused the arrows of his quiver to enter into my reins. ¹⁴I was a derision to all my people; and their song all the day. ¹⁵He hath filled me with bitterness, he hath made me drunken with wormwood. ¹⁶He hath also broken my teeth with gravel stones, he hath covered me with ashes. ¹⁷And thou hast removed my soul far off from peace: I forgat prosperity. ¹⁸And I said, My strength and my hope is perished from the LORD: ¹⁹Remembering mine affliction and my misery, the wormwood and the gall. ²⁰My soul hath them still in remembrance, and is humbled in me. ²¹This I recall to my mind, therefore have I hope. ²²It is of the LORD's mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. ²³They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness. ²⁴The LORD is my portion, saith my soul; therefore will I hope in him. ²⁵The LORD is good unto them that wait for him, to the soul that seeketh him. ²⁶It is good that a man should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the LORD. ²⁷It is good for a man that he bear the yoke of his youth. ²⁸He sitteth alone and keepeth silence, because he hath borne it upon him. ²⁹He putteth his mouth in the dust; if so be there may be hope. ³⁰He giveth his cheek to him that smiteth him: he is filled full with reproach. ³¹For the LORD will not cast off for ever: ³²But though he cause grief, yet will he have compassion according to the multitude of his mercies. ³³For he doth not afflict willingly nor grieve the children of men. ³⁴To crush under his feet all the prisoners of the earth. ³⁵To turn aside the right of a man before the face of the most High, ³⁶To subvert a man in his cause, the LORD approveth not. ³⁷Who is he that saith, and it cometh to pass, when the Lord commandeth it not? ³⁸Out of the mouth of the most High proceedeth not evil and good? ³⁹Wherefore doth a living man complain, a man for the punishment of his sins? ⁴⁰Let us search and try our ways, and turn again to the LORD. ⁴¹Let us lift up our heart with our hands unto God in the heavens. ⁴²We have transgressed and have rebelled: thou hast not pardoned. ⁴³Thou hast covered with anger, and persecuted us: thou hast slain, thou hast not pitied. ⁴⁴Thou hast covered thyself with a cloud, that our prayer should not pass through. ⁴⁵Thou hast made us as the offscouring and refuse in the midst of the people. ⁴⁶All our enemies have opened their mouths against us. ⁴⁷Fear and a snare is come upon us, desolation and destruction. ⁴⁸Mine eye runneth down with rivers of water for the destruction of the daughter of my people. ⁴⁹Mine eye trickleth down, and ceaseth not, without any intermission. ⁵⁰Till the LORD look down, and behold from heaven. ⁵¹Mine eye affecteth mine heart because of all the daughters of my city. ⁵²Mine enemies chased me sore, like a bird, without cause. ⁵³They have cut off my life in the dungeon, and cast a stone upon me. ⁵⁴Waters flowed over mine head; then I said, I am cut off. ⁵⁵I called upon thy name, O LORD, out of the low dungeon. ⁵⁶Thou hast heard my voice: hide not thine ear at my breathing, at my cry. ⁵⁷Thou drewest near in the day that I called upon thee: thou saidst, Fear not. ⁵⁸O LORD, thou hast pleaded the causes of my soul; thou hast redeemed my life. ⁵⁹O LORD, thou hast seen my wrong: judge thou my cause. ⁶⁰Thou hast seen all their vengeance and all their imaginations against me. ⁶¹Thou hast heard their reproach, O LORD, and all their imaginations against me; ⁶²The lips of those that rose up against me, and their device against me all the day. ⁶³Behold their sitting down, and their rising up; I am their musick. ⁶⁴Render unto them a recompence, O LORD, according to the work of their hands. ⁶⁵Give them sorrow of heart, thy curse unto them. ⁶⁶Persecute and destroy them in anger from under the heavens of the LORD.

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