foolishness of God

The Greek that is translated as “foolishness of God” in English is translated into Bunun as “if God was foolish then even his foolishness would exceed our wisdom.” (“The notion that God was foolish was thought to be a problem.”) (Source: Graham Ogden)

TIn Huixtán Tzotzil it is translated as “they mistakenly think that it is in vain what God says.” 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.)

The German New Testament translation by Berger / Nord (publ. 1999) navigates the issue of calling God foolish (and weak) by putting the words “foolishness” (»Unsinn«) and “weakness” (»Schwäche«) in quotation marks.

See also tempt God / put God to the test.