< 1 Corinthians 13 >
1 Although with the tongues of men, I be speaking, and of messengers, and have not, love, I have become resounding brass, or a clanging cymbal;
2 And, though I have [the gift of] prophesying, and know all sacred secrets, and all knowledge, —and though I have all faith, so as to be removing mountains, and have not, love, I am, nothing;
3 And, though I morsel out all my goods, —and though I deliver up my body, that I may boast, and have not, love, I am profited, nothing.
4 Love, is patient, is gracious. Love, is not envious, vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up,
5 Acteth not unbecomingly, seeketh not her own things, is not easily provoked, imputeth not that which is base,
6 Rejoiceth not over unrighteousness, but rejoiceth in sympathy with truth, —
7 All things, covereth, all things, believeth, all things, hopeth, all things, endureth.
8 Love, at no time, faileth; —but, whether prophesyings, they shall be done away, whether tongues, they shall cease, whether gaining knowledge, it shall be done away;
9 For, in part, are we gaining knowledge, and, in part, are we prophesying, —
10 But, as soon as that which is complete is come, that which is in part, shall be done away.
11 When I was a child, I used to speak as a child, to prefer as child, to reason as a child: now I have become a man, I have laid aside the things of the child!
12 For we see, as yet, through a dim window, obscurely, but, then, face to face: as yet, I gain knowledge, in part, but, then, shall I fully know, even as I was also fully known.
13 But, now abide—faith, hope, love, —these three; but, the greatest of these, is, love.