1 Wakorintho 13

1 Hata kama nikinena lugha za watu na hata za malaika, lakini kama sina upendo mimi nimekuwa tu kama sauti ya debe tupu au kengele.

If I may speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not divine love, I have become a sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal.

2 Tena, naweza kuwa na kipaji cha kutangaza ujumbe wa Mungu, nikafahamu siri zote na kujua kila kitu; naweza kuwa na imani yote hata nikaweza kuihamisha milima, lakini kama sina upendo mimi si kitu.

And if I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, and have not divine love, I am nothing.

3 Nikitoa mali yangu yote na kuwapa maskini, na tena nikiutoa mwili wangu uchomwe, kama sina upendo hiyo hainifai chochote.

And if I give all my goods to feed the poor, and if I may give my body that I shall be burnt, and have not divine love, I am profited as to nothing.

4 Mwenye upendo huvumilia, hufadhili; mwenye upendo hana wivu, hajidai, wala hajivuni.

Divine love suffers long; divine love is kind; divine love envies not; does not make a display of itself, is not puffed up,

5 Mwenye upendo hakosi adabu, hatafuti faida yake binafsi, wala hana wepesi wa hasira; haweki kumbukumbu ya mabaya,

does not behave itself uncomely, seeks not its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil;

6 hafurahii uovu, bali hufurahia ukweli.

it does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but it rejoices in the truth;

7 Mwenye upendo huvumilia yote, huamini yote, na hustahimili yote.

it bears all things, it believes all things, it hopes all things, it endures all things.

8 Upendo hauna kikomo kamwe. Kama kuna vipaji vya kutangaza ujumbe wa Mungu, hivyo vitatoweka siku moja; kama ni vipaji vya kusema lugha ngeni, vitakoma; kama kuna elimu, nayo itapita.

Divine love never falls: but whether there are prophecies, they shall be done away; whether there are tongues, they shall cease; whether there is knowledge, it shall vanish away.

9 Maana ujuzi wetu si kamili, na kipaji chetu cha kutangaza neno la Mungu si kamili.

For we know in part, and prophesy in part:

10 Lakini kile kilicho kikamilifu kitakapofika, vyote visivyo vikamilifu vitatoweka.

but when the perfect may come, that which is in part shall be done away.

11 Nilipokuwa mtoto mchanga nilisema kitoto, nilifahamu kitoto, nilifikiri kitoto. Lakini sasa, maadam mimi ni mtu mzima, mambo ya kitoto nimeyaacha.

When I was an infant, I talked like an infant, I thought like an infant, I reasoned like an infant: when I became a man, I put away the things of the infant.

12 Tunachoona sasa ni kama tu sura hafifu katika kioo, lakini hapo baadaye tutaona uso kwa uso. Sasa ninajua kiasi fulani tu, lakini hapo baadaye nitajua yote kikamilifu, kama vile Mungu anavyonijua mimi.

For we now see through a mirror in an enigma; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know perfectly even as I am perfectly known.

13 Sasa yanadumu haya matatu: imani, tumaini na upendo; lakini lililo kuu kupita yote ni upendo.

But now abide faith, hope, divine love, these three; but the greatest of these is divine love.