13:1
Though I command languages both human and angelic -- if I speak without love, I am no more than a gong booming or a cymbal clashing.
13:2
And though I have the power of prophecy, to penetrate all mysteries and knowledge, and though I have all the faith necessary to move mountains -- if I am without love, I am nothing.
13:3
Though I should give away to the poor all that I possess, and even give up my body to be burned -- if I am without love, it will do me no good whatever.
13:4
Love is always patient and kind; love is never jealous; love is not boastful or conceited,
13:5
it is never rude and never seeks its own advantage, it does not take offence or store up grievances.
13:6
Love does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but finds its joy in the truth.
13:7
It is always ready to make allowances, to trust, to hope and to endure whatever comes.
13:8
Love never comes to an end. But if there are prophecies, they will be done away with; if tongues, they will fall silent; and if knowledge, it will be done away with.
13:9
For we know only imperfectly, and we prophesy imperfectly;
13:10
but once perfection comes, all imperfect things will be done away with.
13:11
When I was a child, I used to talk like a child, and see things as a child does, and think like a child; but now that I have become an adult, I have finished with all childish ways.
13:12
Now we see only reflections in a mirror, mere riddles, but then we shall be seeing face to face. Now I can know only imperfectly; but then I shall know just as fully as I am myself known.
13:13
As it is, these remain: faith, hope and love, the three of them; and the greatest of them is love.
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