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[1]If I could speak in every tongue of men, and in that of angels, and there should be no love in me, I should be like brass that resoundeth, or the cymbal that maketh a noise.
[2]And if there should be in me [the gift of] prophecy, and I should understand all the mysteries, and every science; and if there should be in me all faith, so that I could move mountains, and love should not be in me, I should be nothing.
[3]And if I should feed out to the destitute all I possess; and if I should give my body to be burned; and there should be no love in me, I gain nothing.
[4]Love is long-suffering, and is kind; love is not envious; love is not boisterous; and is not inflated;
[5]and doth nothing that causeth shame; and seeketh not her own; is not passionate; and thinketh no evil;
[6]rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth;
[7]beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all, and endureth all.
[8]Love will never cease. But prophesyings will end; and tongues will be silent; and knowledge will vanish.
[9]For we know but partially; and we prophesy but partially.
[10]But when completeness shall come, then that which is partial will vanish away.
[11]When I was a child, I talked as a child, and I reasoned as a child, and I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I laid aside the things of childhood.
[12]And now we see, as by a mirror, in similitude; but then face to face: now I know partially; but then shall I know, just as I am known.
[13]For these three things are abiding, faith, and hope, and love; but the greatest of these is love.
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