1 Corinthians 13

Let Love Be Your Guide

And now I will show you the best way of all.

13 <1> I may speak in different languages, whether human or even of angels. But if I don't have love, I am only a noisy bell or a ringing cymbal. <2> I may have the gift of prophecy,[109] I may understand all secrets and know everything there is to know, and I may have faith so great that I can move mountains. But even with all this, if I don't have love, I am nothing. <3> I may give away everything I have to help others, and I may even give my body as an offering to be burned. But I gain nothing by doing all this if I don't have love.

<4> Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous, it does not brag, and it is not proud. <5> Love is not rude, it is not selfish, and it cannot be made angry easily. Love does not remember wrongs done against it. <6> Love is never happy to see others do wrong, but it is always happy to hear the truth. <7> Love never gives up on people. It never stops trusting, never loses hope, and never quits.

<8> Love will never end. But all those gifts will come to an end-even the gift of prophecy, the gift of speaking in different kinds of languages, and the gift of knowledge. <9> These will all end because this knowledge and these prophecies we have are not complete. <10> But when perfection comes, the things that are not complete will end.

<11> When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, and I made plans like a child. When I became a man, I stopped those childish ways. <12> It is the same with us. Now we see God as if we are looking at a reflection in a mirror. But then, in the future, we will see him right before our eyes. Now I know only a part, but at that time I will know fully, as God has known me. <13> So these three things continue: faith, hope, and love. And the greatest of these is love.