1 Corinthians 13
1 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.
Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal.
2 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.
And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing.
3 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.
And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing.
4 Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous. Love is not boastful. Love is not proud.
Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up,
5 Love does not act improperly, or insist on having its own way. Love is not argumentative and doesn't keep a record of wrongs.
Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil;
6 Love takes no delight in evil but celebrates the truth.
Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth;
7 Love never gives up, keeps on trusting, stays confident, and remains patient whatever happens.
Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.
8 Love never fails. Prophecies will come to an end. Tongues will become silent. Knowledge will become useless.
Charity never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away.
9 For our knowledge and our prophetic understanding are incomplete.
For we know in part, and we prophesy in part.
10 But when completeness comes, then what is incomplete disappears.
But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away.
11 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.
When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things.
12 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.
For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.
13 Trust, hope, and love last forever—but the most important is love.
And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity.
