Wycliffe's Bible 1If I speak with tongues of men and of angels, and I have not charity, I am made as brass sounding, or a cymbal tinkling. (If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but if I have no love, I am made like a sounding brass, or like a tinkling cymbal.)
2And if I have prophecy, and know all mysteries, and all knowing, (or all science), and if I have all faith, so that I (can) move hills from their place(s), (or from one place to another), and I have not charity, I am nought. (And if I have prophecy, and know all mysteries, and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so that I can move mountains from one place to another, but if I have no love, I am nothing.)
3And if I part all my goods into the meats of poor men, and if I betake my body, so that I burn, and if I have not charity, it profiteth to me nothing. (And if I part with, or I divide up, all my goods, to provide food for the poor, and if I deliver, or I give up, my body, to be burned, but if I have no love, it profiteth nothing to me.) 4Charity is patient, it is benign; charity envieth not, it doeth not wickedly, it is not blown (with pride), (Love is patient, it is kind; love envieth not, it doeth not wickedly, it is not swollen with pride,) 5it is not covetous [it is not ambitious, or covetous of worships, (or of honours)], it seeketh not those things that be his own, (or her own), it is not stirred to wrath, it thinketh not evil, 6it joyeth not on wickedness, but it joyeth together to (the) truth; [it joyeth not in wickedness, forsooth it joyeth together with (the) truth;] 7it suffereth all things, it believeth all things, it hopeth all things, it sustaineth all things. 8Charity falleth never down, whether prophecies shall be voided, either languages shall cease, either science shall be destroyed. (Love never falleth down, whether prophecies shall be made null and void, or strange and ecstatic tongues shall cease, or knowledge shall be destroyed.) 9For a part we know, and a part we prophesy; 10but when that shall come that is perfect, that thing that is of part shall be voided. (but when that shall come which is complete, or which is finished, that which is but partial, or is unfinished, shall be done away.) 11When I was a little child, I spake as a little child, I understood as a little child, I thought as a little child; but when I was made a man, I avoided those things/I voided those things that were of a little child. (When I was a little child, I spoke like a little child, I understood like a little child, I thought like a little child; but when I became a man, I put away those things that were a little child’s.) 12And we see now by a mirror in darkness, but then face to face; now I know of part, but then I shall know, as I am known (now I know a part, but then I shall know, like I am known by God). 13And now dwelleth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the most of these is charity. (And now remaineth faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.) WYCLIFFE’S BIBLE Comprising of Wycliffe’s Old Testament and Wycliffe’s New Testament (Revised Edition) Translated by JOHN WYCLIFFE and JOHN PURVEY A modern-spelling edition of their 14TH century Middle English translation, the first complete English vernacular version, with an Introduction by TERENCE P. NOBLE Used by Permission Bible Hub |