1 Corinthians 13

Love: The Superior Way

¹If I speak human or angelic tongues ^a but do not have love, ^b I am a noisy gong ^c or a clanging cymbal. ²If I have the gift of prophecy ^d and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith so that I can move mountains ^e but do not have love, I am nothing. ³And if I give away all my possessions, and if I give over my body in order to boast ^f but do not have love, I gain nothing.

⁴Love is patient, ^g love is kind. Love does not envy, ^h is not boastful, is not arrogant, ^{i 5}is not rude, is not self-seeking, ^j is not irritable, ^k and does not keep a record of wrongs. ⁶Love finds no joy in unrighteousness but rejoices in the truth. ^{l 7}It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures ^m all things.

⁸Love never ends. ⁿ But as for prophecies, they will come to an end; as for tongues, 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 only a reflection ^o as in a mirror, but then face to face. ^p Now I know in part, but then I will know fully, ^q as I am fully known. ^{r 13}Now these three remain: faith, hope, ^s and love #— #but the greatest of these is love.