1 Corinthians 13 :: New Living Translation (NLT)

Love Is the Greatest

1Co 13:1If I could speak all the languages of earth and of angels, but didn’t love others, I would only be a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.

1Co 13:2

1Co 13:2If I had the gift of prophecy, and if I understood all of God’s secret plans and possessed all knowledge, and if I had such faith that I could move mountains, but didn’t love others, I would be nothing.

1Co 13:3

1Co 13:3If I gave everything I have to the poor and even sacrificed my body, I could boast about it;[fn] but if I didn’t love others, I would have gained nothing.

1Co 13:4

1Co 13:4Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud

1Co 13:5

1Co 13:5or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged.

1Co 13:6

1Co 13:6It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out.

1Co 13:7

1Co 13:7Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.

1Co 13:8

1Co 13:8Prophecy and speaking in unknown languages[fn] and special knowledge will become useless. But love will last forever!

1Co 13:9

1Co 13:9Now our knowledge is partial and incomplete, and even the gift of prophecy reveals only part of the whole picture!

1Co 13:10

1Co 13:10But when the time of perfection comes, these partial things will become useless.

1Co 13:11

1Co 13:11When I was a child, I spoke and thought and reasoned as a child. But when I grew up, I put away childish things.

1Co 13:12

1Co 13:12Now we see things imperfectly, like puzzling reflections in a mirror, but then we will see everything with perfect clarity.[fn] All that I know now is partial and incomplete, but then I will know everything completely, just as God now knows me completely.

1Co 13:13

1Co 13:13Three things will last forever—faith, hope, and love—and the greatest of these is love.