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1 Suppose that I speak with the tongues of men and of angels. But if I do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.
2 Suppose that I have the gift of prophecy and understand all hidden truths and knowledge, and that I have all faith so as to remove mountains. But if I do not have love, I am nothing.
3 Suppose that I give all my possessions to feed the poor, and that I give my body to be burned. But if I do not have love, I gain nothing. [[ Most important and ancient Greek copies, and ancient translations read, " I give my body to be burned " . There are a few important and ancient Greek copies, and some ancient translations that read, " I give my body so that I might boast " . ]]
4 Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous and does not boast. It is not puffed up
5 or rude. It does not seek its own. It is not provoked, nor does it keep a count of wrongs.
6 It does not rejoice in unrighteousness. Instead, it rejoices in the truth.
7 Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, and endures all things.
8 Love never ends. If there are prophecies, they will pass away. If there are tongues, they will cease. If there is knowledge, it will pass away.
9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part.
10 But when the perfect comes, that which is incomplete will pass away.
11 When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became an adult, I put away childish things.
12 For now we see indirectly in a mirror, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I will know fully just as I have been fully known.
13 But now these three remain: faith, hope, and love. But the greatest of these is love.