[1] What if I speak in the most elegant languages of people or in the exotic languages of the heavenly messengers, but I live without love? Well then, anything I say is like the clanging of brass or a crashing cymbal. [2] What if I have the gift of prophecy, am blessed with knowledge and insight to all the mysteries, or what if my faith is strong enough to scoop a mountain from its bedrock, yet I live without love? If so, I am nothing. [3] I could give all that I have to feed the poor, I could surrender my body to be burned as a martyr, but if I do not live in love, I gain nothing by my selfless acts. [4] Love is patient; love is kind. Love isn't envious, doesn't boast, brag, or strut about. There's no arrogance in love; [5] it's never rude, crude, or indecent-it's not self-absorbed. Love isn't easily upset. Love doesn't tally wrongs [6] or celebrate injustice; but truth-yes, truth-is love's delight! [7] Love puts up with anything and everything that comes along; it trusts, hopes, and endures no matter what. [8] Love will never become obsolete. Now as for the prophetic gifts, they will not last; unknown languages will become silent, and the gift of knowledge will no longer be needed. [9] Gifts of knowledge and prophecy are partial at best, at least for now, [10] but when the perfection and fullness of God's kingdom arrive, all the parts will end. [11] When I was a child, I spoke, thought, and reasoned in childlike ways as we all do. But when I became a man, I left my childish ways behind. [12] For now, we can only see a dim and blurry picture of things, as when we stare into polished metal. I realize that everything I know is only part of the big picture. But one day, when Jesus arrives, we will see clearly, face-to-face. In that day, I will fully know just as I have been wholly known by God. [13] But now faith, hope, and love remain; these three virtues must characterize our lives. The greatest of these is love.
