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The Superior Way of Love

13 If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels
but have not love,
    I have become a noisy gong
    or a clanging cymbal.

If I have the gift of prophecy
and know all mysteries and all knowledge,
and if I have all faith so as to remove mountains
but have not love,
    I am nothing.

If I give away all that I own
and if I hand over my body so I might boast[a]
but have not love,
    I gain nothing.

Love is patient,
love is kind,
it does not envy,
it does not brag,
it is not puffed up,
it does not behave inappropriately,
it does not seek its own way,
it is not provoked,
it keeps no account of wrong,
it does not rejoice over injustice
    but rejoices in the truth;
it bears all things,
it believes all things,
it hopes all things,
it endures all things.

Love never fails—
but where there are prophecies,
    they will pass away;
where there are tongues,
    they will cease;
where there is knowledge,
    it will pass away.

For we know in part
and we prophesy in part;
10 but when that which is perfect has come,
    then that which is partial will pass away.

11 When I was a child,
    I spoke like a child,
    I thought like a child,
    I reasoned like a child.
When I became a man,
    I put away childish things.

12 For now we see in a mirror dimly,
    but then face to face.
Now I know in part,
    but then I will know fully,
    even as I have been fully known.

13 But now these three remain—
    faith, hope, and love.
    And the greatest of these is love.

Footnotes

  1. 1 Corinthians 13:3 Other mss. say be burned.

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