Love Is the Greatest Gift

13 I may speak in ·different languages [^Ltongues; 12:10, 29, 30] of people or even angels. But if I do not have love, I am only a ·noisy [resounding] ·bell [gong] or a ·crashing [clanging] cymbal. ² I may have the gift of prophecy. I may understand all ·the secret things of God [^Lmysteries] and have all knowledge, and I may have faith so great I can move mountains. But even with all these things, if I do not have love, then I am nothing. ³ I may give away everything I have, and I may even give my body ·as an offering to be burned [^Lto be burned].^[a] But I gain nothing if I do not have love.

⁴ Love is patient and kind. Love is not ·jealous [envious], it does not brag, and it is not ·proud [arrogant; conceited; puffed up]. ⁵ Love is not ·rude [disrespectful], is not ·selfish [self-serving], and ·does not get upset with others [is not easily provoked/angered]. Love does not ·count up [keep a record of] wrongs that have been done. ⁶ Love ·takes no pleasure [does not rejoice] in ·evil [wrongdoing; injustice] but rejoices over the truth. ⁷ Love ·patiently accepts all things [^Tbears all things; or always protects], ·always trusts [^Tbelieves all things], ·always hopes [^Thopes all things], and ·always endures [^Tendures all things].

⁸ Love never ·ends [fails; falls short]. There are gifts of prophecy, but they will ·be ended [cease; pass away]. There are gifts of ·speaking in different languages [or ecstatic utterance; ^Ltongues], but those gifts will ·stop [cease; fall silent]. There is the gift of knowledge, but it will ·come to an end [pass away; be set aside]. ⁹ ·The reason is that [For] ·our knowledge and our ability to prophesy are not perfect [^Lwe know in part/imperfectly and we prophesy in part/incompletely]. ¹⁰ But when ·perfection [the perfect; completeness; wholeness] comes, the ·things that are not perfect [partial] will ·end [pass away; be set aside]. ¹¹ When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I ·stopped [set aside] those childish ways. ¹² ·It is the same with us [^LFor…]. Now we see ·a dim reflection [obscurely; or indirectly], ·as if we were looking into a mirror [^Tthrough a glass darkly], but then we shall see ·clearly [^Lface to face]. Now I know only a part, but then I will know fully, as ·God has known me [^LI am fully known]. ¹³ So these three things ·continue forever [endure; remain]: faith, hope, and love. And the greatest of these is love.