1 Corinthians 13
13
Let Love Be Your Guide
1I may speak in different languages, whether human or even of angels. But if I don’t have love, I am only a noisy bell or a ringing cymbal. 2I may have the gift of prophecy, I may understand all secrets and know everything there is to know, and I may have faith so great that I can move mountains. But even with all this, if I don’t have love, I am nothing. 3I may give away everything I have to help others, and I may even give my body as an offering to be burned. But I gain nothing by doing all this if I don’t have love.
4Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous, it does not brag, and it is not proud. 5Love is not rude, it is not selfish, and it cannot be made angry easily. Love does not remember wrongs done against it. 6Love is never happy when others do wrong, but it is always happy with the truth. 7Love never gives up on people. It never stops trusting, never loses hope, and never quits.
8Love will never end. But all those gifts will come to an end—even the gift of prophecy, the gift of speaking in different kinds of languages, and the gift of knowledge. 9These will all end because this knowledge and these prophecies we have are not complete. 10But when perfection comes, the things that are not complete will end.
11When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, and I made plans like a child. When I became a man, I stopped those childish ways. 12It is the same with us. Now we see God as if we are looking at a reflection in a mirror. But then, in the future, we will see him right before our eyes. Now I know only a part, but at that time I will know fully, as God has known me. 13So these three things continue: faith, hope, and love. And the greatest of these is love.
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© 1987, 2004 Bible League International
1 Corinthians 13
13
Love: The Superior Way
1If I speak human or angelic languages
but do not have love, # Jn 13:35; 1Jn 4:7-12
I am a sounding gong # Mt 10:9 or a clanging cymbal.
2If I have the gift of prophecy # 1Co 14:1,3-6,22-39; Eph 4:11; 1Th 5:20
and understand all mysteries
and all knowledge,
and if I have all faith
so that I can move mountains # Mt 17:20
but do not have love, I am nothing.
3And if I donate all my goods to feed the poor,
and if I give my body in order to boast # Other mss read body to be burned
but do not have love, I gain nothing.
4Love is patient, # 1Th 5:14 love is kind.
Love does not envy, # Nm 25:13; Gl 4:17
is not boastful, is not conceited, # 1Co 4:6
5does not act improperly,
is not selfish, # Mk 10:45; Php 2:4 is not provoked, # Ac 17:16
and does not keep a record of wrongs.
6Love finds no joy in unrighteousness
but rejoices in the truth. # Ps 119:142; Jn 8:14; 14:6
7It bears all things, believes all things,
hopes all things, endures # Jms 1:12 all things.
8Love never ends. # Mt 7:25,27; Lk 6:49; 11:17; 13:4; 16:17; Ac 15:16; Heb 11:30; Rv 11:13; 16:19
But as for prophecies,
they will come to an end;
as for languages, they will cease;
as for knowledge, it will come to an end.
9For we know in part,
and we prophesy in part.
10But when the perfect comes,
the partial will come to an end.
11When 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 aside childish things.
12For now we see indistinctly, # Or indirectly as in a mirror, # Ancient mirrors were normally made out of polished metals and were not as clear as modern ones.
but then face to face. # 1Jn 3:2
Now I know in part,
but then I will know fully, # Pr 2:6; Jn 17:3; 1Jn 4:8
as I am fully known. # 1Co 8:3; Gl 4:9
13Now these three remain:
faith, hope, # 1Th 1:3 and love.
But the greatest of these is love.
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© 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2009 by Holman Bible Publishers, Nashville, Tennessee. All rights reserved.