1 I f with the tongues of men and of messengers I speak, and have not love, I have become brass sounding, or a cymbal tinkling;

If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love (that reasoning, intentional, spiritual devotion such as is inspired by God’s love for and in us), I am only a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.

2 a nd if I have prophecy, and know all the secrets, and all the knowledge, and if I have all the faith, so as to remove mountains, and have not love, I am nothing;

And if I have prophetic powers ( the gift of interpreting the divine will and purpose), and understand all the secret truths and mysteries and possess all knowledge, and if I have faith so that I can remove mountains, but have not love (God’s love in me) I am nothing (a useless nobody).

3 a nd if I give away to feed others all my goods, and if I give up my body that I may be burned, and have not love, I am profited nothing.

Even if I dole out all that I have food, and if I surrender my body to be burned or in order that I may glory, but have not love (God’s love in me), I gain nothing.

4 T he love is long-suffering, it is kind, the love doth not envy, the love doth not vaunt itself, is not puffed up,

Love endures long and is patient and kind; love never is envious nor boils over with jealousy, is not boastful or vainglorious, does not display itself haughtily.

5 d oth not act unseemly, doth not seek its own things, is not provoked, doth not impute evil,

It is not conceited (arrogant and inflated with pride); it is not rude (unmannerly) and does not act unbecomingly. Love (God’s love in us) does not insist on its own rights or its own way, for it is not self-seeking; it is not touchy or fretful or resentful; it takes no account of the evil done to it.

6 r ejoiceth not over the unrighteousness, and rejoiceth with the truth;

It does not rejoice at injustice and unrighteousness, but rejoices when right and truth prevail.

7 a ll things it beareth, all it believeth, all it hopeth, all it endureth.

Love bears up under anything and everything that comes, is ever ready to believe the best of every person, its hopes are fadeless under all circumstances, and it endures everything.

8 T he love doth never fail; and whether prophecies, they shall become useless; whether tongues, they shall cease; whether knowledge, it shall become useless;

Love never fails. As for prophecy ( the gift of interpreting the divine will and purpose), it will be fulfilled and pass away; as for tongues, they will be destroyed and cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away.

9 f or in part we know, and in part we prophecy;

For our knowledge is fragmentary (incomplete and imperfect), and our prophecy (our teaching) is fragmentary (incomplete and imperfect).

10 a nd when that which is perfect may come, then that which in part shall become useless.

But when the complete and perfect (total) comes, the incomplete and imperfect will vanish away (become antiquated, void, and superseded).

11 W hen I was a babe, as a babe I was speaking, as a babe I was thinking, as a babe I was reasoning, and when I have become a man, I have made useless the things of the babe;

When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child; now that I have become a man, I am done with childish ways and have put them aside.

12 f or we see now through a mirror obscurely, and then face to face; now I know in part, and then I shall fully know, as also I was known;

For now we are looking in a mirror that gives only a dim (blurred) reflection '> in a riddle or enigma], but then we shall see in reality and face to face! Now I know in part (imperfectly), but then I shall know and understand fully and clearly, even in the same manner as I have been fully and clearly known and understood '> by God].

13 a nd now there doth remain faith, hope, love -- these three; and the greatest of these love.

And so faith, hope, love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.