1 Corinthians 13

The Way of Love

1If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.

2And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.[#14:1, 39; Matt. 7:22; #Matt. 17:20; Mark 11:23; Luke 17:6]

3If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.[#Matt. 6:2; #Dan. 3:28; #13:3 Some manuscripts [to death]]

4Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant[#Prov. 10:12; 17:9; 1 Thess. 5:14; 2 Tim. 2:10; 1 Pet. 4:8; #2 Cor. 6:6; Gal. 5:22; Eph. 4:32; Col. 3:12; #Acts 7:9; #4:6]

5or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful;[#10:24; #Rom. 4:6; 2 Cor. 5:19; #13:5 Greek]

6it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth.[#Rom. 1:32; 2 Thess. 2:12; #2 John 4; 3 John 3, 4]

7Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.[#9:12; #4]

8Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away.

9For we know in part and we prophesy in part,[#8:2]

10but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away.[#John 15:15]

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 gave up childish ways.

12For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.[#James 1:23; Num. 12:8; Job 36:26; 2 Cor. 3:18; 5:7; #1 John 3:2; Matt. 5:8; #8:3]

13So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.

The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.
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