1 If I speak in the tongues {glossais: spoken languages} of men and of angels, but do not have love, I have become a sounding brass or a clanging cymbal {kymbalon: metal percussion}.
2 And if I have prophecy {propheteian: inspired proclamation} and know all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith so as to move mountains, but do not have love {agapen: self-giving devotion}, I am nothing.
3 And if I distribute {psomiso: share food generously} all my possessions to feed others, and if I hand over my body so that I might be burned {variant kauchēsōmai: for boasting}, but do not have love {agapen: selfless sacrificial love}, I gain nothing.
4 Love {agape: selfless devotion} is patient and kind; love does not envy, love does not boast {perpereuetai: self-promoting display}, is not puffed up.
5 It does not behave disgracefully {aschemonei: shameful conduct}, it does not seek its own interests, it is not provoked, it does not reckon the evil {kakon: moral wrongdoing} done to it.
6 It does not rejoice at injustice {adikia: unfair wrongdoing}, but rejoices with the truth {aletheia: genuine moral reality}.
7 Love bears {stegei: patiently withstands} everything, believes all things, hopes {elpizei: confidently expects} in all things, and endures all things.
8 Love {agape: self-giving devotion} never fails; prophecies will be set aside, tongues will fall silent, and knowledge {gnosis: spiritual understanding} will be brought to an end.
9 For {gar: explanatory connector} our knowing {ginosko: partial awareness} is in part, and our prophesying is in part.
10 But when the perfect {teleion: complete fulfillment} comes, the partial {merous: incomplete portion} will be abolished.
11 When I was a child {nepios: immature stage}, I spoke as a child, I thought as a child, I reasoned as a child; but when I became a man {aner: fully mature}, I set aside the ways of a child.
12 For now we see through a mirror {esoptrou: dim reflection} in a riddle {ainigmati: puzzling saying}, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know fully, just as I have also been fully known.
13 And now remain faith {pistis: steadfast trust}, hope, and love {agape: self-giving devotion}—these three; yet love is the greatest among them.