1 Corinthians 13
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 #[ch. 14:1, 39; Matt. 7:22]; See Acts 2:18 prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, #Matt. 17:20; Mark 11:23; [Luke 17:6]so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3#[Matt. 6:2] If I give away all I have, and #Dan. 3:28if I deliver up my body to be burned,#13:3 Some manuscripts deliver up my body [to death] that I may boast but have not love, I gain nothing.
4 # [Prov. 10:12; 17:9; 1 Thess. 5:14; 2 Tim. 2:10; 1 Pet. 4:8] Love is patient and #[2 Cor. 6:6; Gal. 5:22; Eph. 4:32; Col. 3:12] kind; love #Acts 7:9 does not envy or boast; it #See ch. 4:6is not arrogant 5or rude. It #See ch. 10:24 does not insist on its own way; it #[Rom. 4:6; 2 Cor. 5:19]is not irritable or resentful;#13:5 Greek irritable and does not count up wrongdoing 6it #[Rom. 1:32; 2 Thess. 2:12] does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but #[2 John 4; 3 John 3, 4]rejoices with the truth. 7#ch. 9:12 Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, #[See ver. 4 above]endures all things.
8Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away. 9For #[ch. 8:2]we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10but #[John 15:15]when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away. 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 #James 1:23; [Num. 12:8; Job 36:26; 2 Cor. 3:18; 5:7] now we see in a mirror dimly, but #1 John 3:2; See Matt. 5:8 then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as #See ch. 8:3I have been fully known.
13So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.
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The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.
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1 Corinthians 13
13
Love Is the Greatest
1If I could speak all the languages of earth and of angels, but didn’t love others, I would only be a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 2If I had the gift of prophecy, and if I understood all of God’s secret plans and possessed all knowledge, and if I had such faith that I could move mountains, but didn’t love others, I would be nothing. 3If I gave everything I have to the poor and even sacrificed my body, I could boast about it;#13:3 Some manuscripts read sacrificed my body to be burned. but if I didn’t love others, I would have gained nothing.
4Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud 5or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. 6It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. 7Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.
8Prophecy and speaking in unknown languages#13:8 Or in tongues. and special knowledge will become useless. But love will last forever! 9Now our knowledge is partial and incomplete, and even the gift of prophecy reveals only part of the whole picture! 10But when the time of perfection comes, these partial things will become useless.
11When I was a child, I spoke and thought and reasoned as a child. But when I grew up, I put away childish things. 12Now we see things imperfectly, like puzzling reflections in a mirror, but then we will see everything with perfect clarity.#13:12 Greek see face to face. All that I know now is partial and incomplete, but then I will know everything completely, just as God now knows me completely.
13Three things will last forever—faith, hope, and love—and the greatest of these is love.
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