If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am become sounding brass, or a clanging cymbal.
And if I have the gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge; and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.
And if I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and if I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profiteth me nothing.
Love suffereth long, and is kind; love envieth not; love vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up,
doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not its own, is not provoked, taketh not account of evil;
rejoiceth not in unrighteousness, but rejoiceth with the truth;
beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.
Love never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall be done away; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall be done away.
For we know in part, and we prophesy in part:
but when that which is perfect is come, that which is in part shall be done away.
When I was a child, I spake as a child, I felt as a child, I thought as a child: now that I am become a man, I have put away childish things.
For now we see in a mirror, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I have been known.
But now abideth faith, hope, love, these three; and the greatest of these is love.
Canonical academic citations for 1 Corinthians 13 (ERV) — copy in your preferred format.
1 Corinthians 13 (ERV). Prime Bible, accessed July 26, 2026. https://primebible.com/erv/1-corinthians/13.
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Love surpasses all gifts: without it tongues, prophecy, knowledge, and sacrifice are nothing. Love’s qualities (patient, kind, etc.) endure while gifts cease; faith, hope, and love remain, the greatest being love.
Guidance for church order and unity.
1 Corinthians 13 is presented with the full Greek interlinear, Strong's numbers, and verse-by-verse cross-references on Prime Bible — a free, nonprofit Bible study platform.