1 Corinthians 13
1 If I were to have eloquence in human languages—even the language of angels—but have no love, then I would only be an echoing gong or a clashing cymbal.
2 If I were to speak prophecies, to know every secret mystery and be completely knowledgeable, and if I were able to have so much faith I could move mountains, but have no love, then I am nothing.
3 If I were to donate everything I own to the poor, or if I were to sacrifice myself to be burned as a martyr, and have no love, then I gain nothing.
4 Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous. Love is not boastful. Love is not proud.
5 Love does not act improperly, or insist on having its own way. Love is not argumentative and doesn't keep a record of wrongs.
6 Love takes no delight in evil but celebrates the truth.
7 Love never gives up, keeps on trusting, stays confident, and remains patient whatever happens.
8 Love never fails. Prophecies will come to an end. Tongues will become silent. Knowledge will become useless.
9 For our knowledge and our prophetic understanding are incomplete.
10 But when completeness comes, then what is incomplete disappears.
11 When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I grew up I left behind such child-like ways.
12 At the moment we peer into a mirror's dim reflection, but then we shall see face to face. For now I only have partial knowledge, but then I shall know completely, just as I am completely known.
13 Trust, hope, and love last forever—but the most important is love.
Cross-references
98
- 11Pe 4:8, 1Ti 1:5, Gal 5:22, 1Co 13:8, Gal 5:6, 1Co 13:2–3, 1Co 8:1, 2Pe 2:18
- 21Jn 4:8, 1Co 13:3, 1Jn 4:20–21, Mat 17:20, Mat 21:21, 1Co 16:22, 1Co 12:8–10, 1Co 13:1
- 3Jas 2:14–17, Jhn 15:13, Mat 23:5, Mat 6:1–4, Mat 7:22–23, 1Ti 4:8, Heb 13:9, Luk 18:28
- 41Pe 4:8, Eph 4:32, Gal 5:21–22, Pro 10:12, Col 3:12, 1Jn 4:11, Pro 17:9, Jas 3:14–17
- 51Co 10:24, Php 2:3–5, 1Jn 3:16–17, Jas 1:19, Php 2:21, Php 4:8, Gal 6:1–2, Rom 15:1–2
- 6Rom 12:9, 3Jn 1:3–4, 2Jn 1:4, Rom 1:32, 2Th 2:12, Hos 4:8, Pro 14:9, Mic 7:8
- 71Pe 4:8, 1Co 13:4, 1Pe 2:24, 2Ti 2:24, Pro 10:12, Gal 6:2, 1Co 9:12, Sng 8:6–7
- 81Co 13:13, 1Co 13:1–2, Gal 5:6, 1Co 13:10, Act 2:4, Heb 8:13, 1Co 12:10, Act 19:6
- 9Col 2:2–3, Eph 3:18–19, Psa 139:6, 1Co 2:9, 1Co 8:2, 1Co 13:12, Job 11:7–8, Pro 30:4
- 10Isa 60:19–20, 1Co 13:12, 2Co 5:7–8, Isa 24:23, Rev 22:4–5, Rev 21:22–23
- 111Co 14:20, 1Co 3:1–2, Gal 4:1, Ecc 11:10
- 121Jn 3:2, 2Co 3:18, 1Co 13:9–10, Php 3:12, Rev 22:4, 2Co 5:7, Mat 5:8, Jas 1:23
- 131Co 16:14, Col 3:14, 1Jn 4:7–18, 1Co 13:1–8, Gal 5:6, Mrk 12:29–31, Php 1:9, Lam 3:21–26
Topics in this chapter
41
Beneficence, Blessing, Brass, Charitableness, Children, Cymbal, Envy, Gifts From God, Graces, Hope, Humility, Hypocrisy, Ignorance, Justice, Kindness, Knowledge, Liberality, Longsuffering, Love, Martyrdom, Meekness, Miracles, Mirror, Patience, Persecution, Poor, Pride, Readings, Select, Religion, Righteous, Righteousness, Sanctification, Testimony, Tongues (the Gift), Truth, Uncharitableness, Unselfishness, Vanity, Wisdom, Works, Zeal, Religious