1 Cor 12:31—13:13 or 13:4-13
Brothers and sisters:
Strive eagerly for the greatest spiritual
gifts. But I shall show you a still more excellent way.
If I speak in human and angelic tongues,
but do not have love, I am a resounding
gong or a clashing cymbal. And if I have the gift of
prophecy, and comprehend all mysteries and all knowledge; if I
have all faith so as to move mountains, but do not have love, I
am nothing. If I give away everything I own, and if I hand
my body over so that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain
nothing.
Love is patient, love is kind. It
is not jealous, it is not pompous, It is not inflated, it is not
rude, it does not seek its own interests, it is not
quick-tempered, it does not brood over injury, it does not
rejoice over wrongdoing but rejoices with the truth. It
bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures
all things. Love never fails.
If there are prophecies, they will be
brought to nothing; if tongues, they will cease; if knowledge,
it will be brought to nothing. For we know partially and
we prophesy partially, but when the perfect comes, the partial
will pass away. When I was a child, I used to talk as a
child, think as a child, reason as a child; when I became a man,
I put aside childish things. At present we see
indistinctly, as in a mirror, but then face to face.
At present I know partially; then I shall
know fully, as I am fully known. So faith, hope, love
remain, these three; but the greatest of these is love.
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