1 I f I speak with the languages of men and of angels, but don’t have love, I have become sounding brass, or a clanging cymbal.

I may be able to speak the languages of men and even of angels, but if I do not have love, it will sound like noisy brass.

2 I f I have the gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge; and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but don’t have love, I am nothing.

If I have the gift of speaking God’s Word and if I understand all secrets, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I know all things and if I have the gift of faith so I can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing.

3 I f I dole out all my goods to feed the poor, and if I give my body to be burned, but don’t have love, it profits me nothing.

If I give everything I have to feed poor people and if I give my body to be burned, but do not have love, it will not help me.

4 L ove is patient and is kind; love doesn’t envy. Love doesn’t brag, is not proud,

Love does not give up. Love is kind. Love is not jealous. Love does not put itself up as being important. Love has no pride.

5 d oesn’t behave itself inappropriately, doesn’t seek its own way, is not provoked, takes no account of evil;

Love does not do the wrong thing. Love never thinks of itself. Love does not get angry. Love does not remember the suffering that comes from being hurt by someone.

6 d oesn’t rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth;

Love is not happy with sin. Love is happy with the truth.

7 b ears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

Love takes everything that comes without giving up. Love believes all things. Love hopes for all things. Love keeps on in all things.

8 L ove never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will be done away with. Where there are various languages, they will cease. Where there is knowledge, it will be done away with.

Love never comes to an end. The gift of speaking God’s Word will come to an end. The gift of speaking in special sounds will be stopped. The gift of understanding will come to an end.

9 F or we know in part, and we prophesy in part;

For we only know a part now, and we speak only a part.

10 b ut when that which is complete has come, then that which is partial will be done away with.

When everything is perfect, then we will not need these gifts that are not perfect.

11 W hen I was a child, I spoke as a child, I felt as a child, I thought as a child. Now that I have become a man, I have put away childish things.

When I was a child, I spoke like a child. I thought like a child. I understood like a child. Now I am a man. I do not act like a child anymore.

12 F or now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I will know fully, even as I was also fully known.

Now that which we see is as if we were looking in a broken mirror. But then we will see everything. Now I know only a part. But then I will know everything in a perfect way. That is how God knows me right now.

13 B ut now faith, hope, and love remain—these three. The greatest of these is love.

And now we have these three: faith and hope and love, but the greatest of these is love.