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Love
13What if I could speak
all languages of humans
and even of angels?
If I did not love others,
I would be nothing more
than a noisy gong
or a clanging cymbal.
2(A) What if I could prophesy
and understand all mysteries
and all knowledge?
And what if I had faith
that moved mountains?
I would be nothing,
unless I loved others.
3What if I gave away all
that I owned
and let myself
be burned alive?[a]
I would gain nothing,
unless I loved others.
4Love is patient and kind,
never jealous, boastful,
proud, or 5rude.
Love isn't selfish
or quick tempered.
It doesn't keep a record
of wrongs that others do.
6Love rejoices in the truth,
but not in evil.
7Love is always supportive,
loyal, hopeful,
and trusting.
8Love never fails!
Everyone who prophesies
will stop,
and unknown languages
will no longer
be spoken.
All that we know
will be forgotten.
9We don't know everything,
and our prophecies
are not complete.
10But what is perfect
will someday appear,
and what isn't perfect
will then disappear.
11When we were children,
we thought and reasoned
as children do.
But when we grew up,
we quit our childish ways.
12Now all we can see of God
is like a cloudy picture
in a mirror.
Later we will see him
face to face.
We don't know everything,
but then we will,
just as God completely
understands us.
13For now there are faith,
hope, and love.
But of these three,
the greatest is love.
Footnotes
- 13.3 and let myself be burned alive: Some manuscripts have “so that I could brag.”
Cross references
- 13.2 : Mt 17.20,21; 21.21; Mk 11.23.
13If I speak in the tongues[a](A) of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 2If I have the gift of prophecy(B) and can fathom all mysteries(C) and all knowledge,(D) and if I have a faith(E) that can move mountains,(F) but do not have love, I am nothing. 3If I give all I possess to the poor(G) and give over my body to hardship that I may boast,[b](H) but do not have love, I gain nothing.
4Love is patient,(I) love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.(J) 5It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking,(K) it is not easily angered,(L) it keeps no record of wrongs.(M) 6Love does not delight in evil(N) but rejoices with the truth.(O) 7It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.(P)
8Love never fails. But where there are prophecies,(Q) they will cease; where there are tongues,(R) they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. 9For we know in part(S) and we prophesy in part, 10but when completeness comes,(T) what is in part disappears. 11When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood(U) behind me. 12For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror;(V) then we shall see face to face.(W) Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.(X)
13And now these three remain: faith, hope and love.(Y) But the greatest of these is love.(Z)
Footnotes
- 1 Corinthians 13:1 Or languages
- 1 Corinthians 13:3 Some manuscripts body to the flames
Cross references
- 1 Corinthians 13:1 : ver 8; S Mk 16:17
- 1 Corinthians 13:2 : ver 8; S Eph 4:11; S Ac 11:27
- 1 Corinthians 13:2 : 1Co 14:2
- 1 Corinthians 13:2 : S 2Co 8:7
- 1 Corinthians 13:2 : 1Co 12:9
- 1 Corinthians 13:2 : Mt 17:20; 21:21
- 1 Corinthians 13:3 : Lk 19:8; S Ac 2:45
- 1 Corinthians 13:3 : Da 3:28
- 1 Corinthians 13:4 : 1Th 5:14
- 1 Corinthians 13:4 : 1Co 5:2
- 1 Corinthians 13:5 : S 1Co 10:24
- 1 Corinthians 13:5 : S Mt 5:22
- 1 Corinthians 13:5 : Job 14:16, 17; Pr 10:12; 17:9; 1Pe 4:8
- 1 Corinthians 13:6 : 2Th 2:12
- 1 Corinthians 13:6 : 2Jn 4; 3Jn 3, 4
- 1 Corinthians 13:7 : ver 8, 13
- 1 Corinthians 13:8 : ver 2
- 1 Corinthians 13:8 : ver 1
- 1 Corinthians 13:9 : ver 12; S 1Co 8:2
- 1 Corinthians 13:10 : Php 3:12
- 1 Corinthians 13:11 : Ps 131:2
- 1 Corinthians 13:12 : Job 26:14; 36:26
- 1 Corinthians 13:12 : Ge 32:30; Job 19:26; 1Jn 3:2
- 1 Corinthians 13:12 : 1Co 8:3; Gal 4:9
- 1 Corinthians 13:13 : Ro 5:2-5; Gal 5:5, 6; Eph 4:2-5; Col 1:4, 5; 1Th 1:3; 5:8; Heb 6:10-12
- 1 Corinthians 13:13 : Mt 22:37-40; 1Co 16:14; Gal 5:6; 1Jn 4:7-12, 16
Contemporary English Version (CEV)
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New International Version (NIV)
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NIV Reverse Interlinear Bible: English to Hebrew and English to Greek. Copyright © 2019 by Zondervan.
