1If I were to have eloquence in human languages—even the language of angels—but have no love, then I would only be an echoing gong or a clashing cymbal. 2If I were to speak prophecies, to know every secret mystery and be completely knowledgeable, and if I were able to have so much faith I could move mountains, but have no love, then I am nothing. 3If I were to donate everything I own to the poor, or if I were to sacrifice myself to be burned as a martyr, and have no love, then I gain nothing.

4Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous. Love is not boastful. Love is not proud. 5Love does not act improperly, or insist on having its own way. Love is not argumentative and doesn't keep a record of wrongs. 6Love takes no delight in evil but celebrates the truth. 7Love never gives up, keeps on trusting, stays confident, and remains patient whatever happens.

8Love never fails. Prophecies will come to an end. Tongues will become silent. Knowledge will become useless. 9For our knowledge and our prophetic understanding are incomplete. 10But when completeness comes, then what is incomplete disappears. 11When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I grew up I left behind such childlike ways. 12At the moment we peer into a mirror's dim reflection, but then we shall see face to face. For now I only have partial knowledge, but then I shall know completely, just as I am completely known. 13Trust, hope, and love last forever—but the most important is love.