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Love

13 What if I could speak
all languages of humans
    and even of angels?
If I did not love others,
    I would be nothing more
than a noisy gong
    or a clanging cymbal.
(A) What if I could prophesy
and understand all mysteries
    and all knowledge?
And what if I had faith
    that moved mountains?
I would be nothing,
    unless I loved others.
What if I gave away all
    that I owned
and let myself
    be burned alive?[a]
I would gain nothing,
    unless I loved others.
Love is patient and kind,
never jealous, boastful,
proud, or     rude.
Love isn't selfish
    or quick tempered.
It doesn't keep a record
    of wrongs that others do.
Love rejoices in the truth,
    but not in evil.
Love is always supportive,
loyal, hopeful,
    and trusting.
Love never fails!

Everyone who prophesies
    will stop,
and unknown languages
will no longer
    be spoken.
All that we know
    will be forgotten.
We don't know everything,
and our prophecies
    are not complete.
10 But what is perfect
    will someday appear,
and what isn't perfect
    will then disappear.

11 When we were children,
we thought and reasoned
    as children do.
But when we grew up,
    we quit our childish ways.
12 Now all we can see of God
is like a cloudy picture
    in a mirror.
Later we will see him
    face to face.
We don't know everything,
    but then we will,
just as God completely
    understands us.
13 For now there are faith,
    hope, and love.
But of these three,
    the greatest is love.

Footnotes

  1. 13.3 and let myself be burned alive: Some manuscripts have “so that I could brag.”

13 If I speak in the tongues[a](A) of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy(B) and can fathom all mysteries(C) and all knowledge,(D) and if I have a faith(E) that can move mountains,(F) but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor(G) and give over my body to hardship that I may boast,[b](H) but do not have love, I gain nothing.

Love is patient,(I) love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.(J) It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking,(K) it is not easily angered,(L) it keeps no record of wrongs.(M) Love does not delight in evil(N) but rejoices with the truth.(O) It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.(P)

Love never fails. But where there are prophecies,(Q) they will cease; where there are tongues,(R) they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part(S) and we prophesy in part, 10 but when completeness comes,(T) what is in part disappears. 11 When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood(U) behind me. 12 For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror;(V) then we shall see face to face.(W) Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.(X)

13 And now these three remain: faith, hope and love.(Y) But the greatest of these is love.(Z)

Footnotes

  1. 1 Corinthians 13:1 Or languages
  2. 1 Corinthians 13:3 Some manuscripts body to the flames