1 Corinthians 13
1 If I were to speak in the language of men, or of Angels, yet not have charity, I would be like a clanging bell or a crashing cymbal.
If I were to have eloquence in human languages—even the language of angels—but have no love, then I would only be an echoing gong or a clashing cymbal.
2 And if I have prophecy, and learn every mystery, and obtain all knowledge, and possess all faith, so that I could move mountains, yet not have charity, then I am nothing.
If I were to speak prophecies, to know every secret mystery and be completely knowledgeable, and if I were able to have so much faith I could move mountains, but have no love, then I am nothing.
3 And if I distribute all my goods in order to feed the poor, and if I hand over my body to be burned, yet not have charity, it offers me nothing.
If I were to donate everything I own to the poor, or if I were to sacrifice myself to be burned as a martyr, and have no love, then I gain nothing.
4 Charity is patient, is kind. Charity does not envy, does not act wrongly, is not inflated.
Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous. Love is not boastful. Love is not proud.
5 Charity is not ambitious, does not seek for itself, is not provoked to anger, devises no evil.
Love does not act improperly, or insist on having its own way. Love is not argumentative and doesn't keep a record of wrongs.
6 Charity does not rejoice over iniquity, but rejoices in truth.
Love takes no delight in evil but celebrates the truth.
7 Charity suffers all, believes all, hopes all, endures all.
Love never gives up, keeps on trusting, stays confident, and remains patient whatever happens.
8 Charity is never torn away, even if prophecies pass away, or languages cease, or knowledge is destroyed.
Love never fails. Prophecies will come to an end. Tongues will become silent. Knowledge will become useless.
9 For we know only in part, and we prophesy only in part.
For our knowledge and our prophetic understanding are incomplete.
10 But when the perfect arrives, the imperfect passes away.
But when completeness comes, then what is incomplete disappears.
11 When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I understood like a child, I thought like a child. But when I became a man, I put aside the things of a child.
When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I grew up I left behind such child-like ways.
12 Now we see through a glass darkly. But then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know, even as I am known.
At the moment we peer into a mirror's dim reflection, but then we shall see face to face. For now I only have partial knowledge, but then I shall know completely, just as I am completely known.
13 But for now, these three continue: faith, hope, and charity. And the greatest of these is charity.
Trust, hope, and love last forever—but the most important is love.
