I Corinthians 13
13
The Greatest Gift
1Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. 2And though I have the gift of #Matt. 7:22; 1 Cor. 12:8–10, 28; 14:1prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, #Matt. 17:20; 21:21; Mark 11:23; Luke 17:6so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3And #Matt. 6:1, 2though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing.
4#Prov. 10:12; 17:9; 1 Thess. 5:14; (1 Pet. 4:8)Love suffers long and is #Eph. 4:32kind; love #Gal. 5:26does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; 5does not behave rudely, #1 Cor. 10:24; Phil. 2:4does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; 6#Ps. 10:3; Rom. 1:32does not rejoice in iniquity, but #2 John 4; 3 John 3rejoices in the truth; 7#Rom. 15:1; Gal. 6:2; 2 Tim. 2:24bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
8Love never fails. But whether there are prophecies, they will fail; whether there are tongues, they will cease; whether there is knowledge, it will vanish away. 9#1 Cor. 8:2; 13:12For we know in part and we prophesy in part. 10But when that which is perfect has come, then that which is in part will be done away.
11When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things. 12For #(2 Cor. 3:18; 5:7); Phil. 3:12; James 1:23now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then #Gen. 32:30; Num. 12:8; Matt. 18:10; (1 John 3:2)face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known.
13And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.
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I Corinthians 13: NKJV
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The Holy Bible, New King James Version, Copyright © 1982 Thomas Nelson. All rights reserved.
1 Corinthians 13
13
SONG 49
8,6,8,6
tune: Howard, 70; St. Andrew, 93.
1 Cor 13
1-13 Though perfect eloquence adorn’d
my sweet persuading tongue,
Though I could speak in higher strains
than ever angel sung;
2 Though prophecy my soul inspir’d,
and made all myst’ries plain:
Yet, were I void of Christian love,
these gifts were all in vain.
3 Nay, though my faith with boundless pow’r
ev’n mountains could remove,
I still am nothing, if I’m void
of charity and love.
4 Although with lib’ral hand I gave
my goods the poor to feed,
Nay, gave my body to the flames,
still fruitless were the deed.
5 Love suffers long; love envies not;
but love is ever kind;
She never boasteth of herself,
nor proudly lifts the mind.
6 Love harbours no suspicious thought,
is patient to the bad;
Griev’d when she hears of sins and crimes,
and in the truth is glad.
7 Love no unseemly carriage shows,
nor selfishly confin’d;
She glows with social tenderness,
and feels for all mankind.
8 Love beareth much, much she believes,
and still she hopes the best;
Love meekly suffers many a wrong,
though sore with hardship press’d.
9 Love still shall hold an endless reign
in earth and heav’n above,
When tongues shall cease, and prophets fail,
and ev’ry gift but love.
10 Here all our gifts imperfect are;
but better days draw nigh,
When perfect light shall pour its rays,
and all those shadows fly.
11 Like children here we speak and think,
amus’d with childish toys;
But when our pow’rs their manhood reach,
we’ll scorn our present joys.
12 Now dark and dim, as through a glass,
are God and truth beheld;
Then shall we see as face to face,
and God shall be unvail’d.
13 Faith, Hope, and Love, now dwell on earth,
and earth by them is blest;
But Faith and Hope must yield to Love,
of all the graces best.
14 Hope shall to full fruition rise,
and Faith be sight above:
These are the means, but this the end;
for saints for ever love.
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First published by the Church of Scotland in 1781.