1 Corinthians 13
Holman Christian Standard Bible  Par ▾ 

Love: The Superior Way

1If I speak human or angelic languages

but do not have love,a

I am a sounding gongb or a clanging cymbal.

2If I have the gift of prophecyc

and understand all mysteries

and all knowledge,

and if I have all faith

so that I can move mountainsd

but do not have love, I am nothing.

3And if I donate all my goods to feed the poor,

and if I give my body in order to boaste

but do not have love, I gain nothing.

4Love is patient,f love is kind.

Love does not envy,g

is not boastful, is not conceited,h

5does not act improperly,

is not selfish,i is not provoked,j

and does not keep a record of wrongs.

6Love finds no joy in unrighteousness

but rejoices in the truth.k

7It bears all things, believes all things,

hopes all things, enduresl all things.

8Love never ends.m

But as for prophecies,

they will come to an end;

as for languages, they will cease;

as for knowledge, it will come to an end.

9For we know in part,

and we prophesy in part.

10But when the perfect comes,

the partial will come to an end.

11When I was a child,

I spoke like a child,

I thought like a child,

I reasoned like a child.

When I became a man,

I put aside childish things.

12For now we see indistinctly,n as in a mirror,o

but then face to face.p

Now I know in part,

but then I will know fully,q

as I am fully known.r

13Now these three remain:

faith, hope,s and love.

But the greatest of these is love.


Footnotes:
a. 13:1 Jn 13:35; 1Jn 4:7-12
b. 13:1 Mt 10:9
c. 13:2 1Co 14:1,3-6,22-39; Eph 4:11; 1Th 5:20
d. 13:2 Mt 17:20
e. 13:3 Other mss read body to be burned
f. 13:4 1Th 5:14
g. 13:4 Nm 25:13; Gl 4:17
h. 13:4 1Co 4:6
i. 13:5 Mk 10:45; Php 2:4
j. 13:5 Ac 17:16
k. 13:6 Ps 119:142; Jn 8:14; 14:6
l. 13:7 Jms 1:12
m. 13:8 Mt 7:25,27; Lk 6:49; 11:17; 13:4; 16:17; Ac 15:16; Heb 11:30; Rv 11:13; 16:19
n. 13:12 Or indirectly
o. 13:12 Ancient mirrors were normally made out of polished metals and were not as clear as modern ones.
p. 13:12 1Jn 3:2
q. 13:12 Pr 2:6; Jn 17:3; 1Jn 4:8
r. 13:12 1Co 8:3; Gl 4:9
s. 13:13 1Th 1:3
1 Corinthians 12
Top of Page
Top of Page