|
1 Corinthians 13
If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels,
but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal.
If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and
all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but
have not love, I am nothing.
If I give all I possess to the poor
and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain
nothing.
Love is patient, love is kind.
It does not envy, it does
not boast, it is not proud.
It is not rude, it is not self-seeking,
it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.
Love does
not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.
It always protects,
always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
Love never fails.
But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are
tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will
pass away.
For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when
perfection comes, the imperfect disappears.
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 put childish ways behind me.
Now
we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see
face to face.
Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even
as I am fully known.
And now these three remain: faith, hope and
love.
But the greatest of these is love.
|
|