1 Corinthians 13 (NLT) (2025)

Love Is the Greatest

13If I could speak all the languages of earth and of angels, but didn’t love others, I would only be a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. ²If I had the gift of prophecy, and if I understood all of God’s secret plans and possessed all knowledge, and if I had such faith that I could move mountains, but didn’t love others, I would be nothing. ³If I gave everything I have to the poor and even sacrificed my body, I could boast about it;^[a] but if I didn’t love others, I would have gained nothing.

⁴Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud ⁵or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. ⁶It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. ⁷Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.

⁸Prophecy and speaking in unknown languages^[b] and special knowledge will become useless. But love will last forever! ⁹Now our knowledge is partial and incomplete, and even the gift of prophecy reveals only part of the whole picture! ¹⁰But when the time of perfection comes, these partial things will become useless.

¹¹When I was a child, I spoke and thought and reasoned as a child. But when I grew up, I put away childish things. ¹²Now we see things imperfectly, like puzzling reflections in a mirror, but then we will see everything with perfect clarity.^[c] All that I know now is partial and incomplete, but then I will know everything completely, just as God now knows me completely.

¹³Three things will last forever—faith, hope, and love—and the greatest of these is love.

Love

13What if I could speak
all languages of humans
and even of angels?
If I did not love others,
I would be nothing more
than a noisy gong
or a clanging cymbal.
^2(A) What if I could prophesy
and understand all mysteries
and all knowledge?
And what if I had faith
that moved mountains?
I would be nothing,
unless I loved others.
³What if I gave away all
that I owned
and let myself
be burned alive?^[a]
I would gain nothing,
unless I loved others.
⁴Love is patient and kind,
never jealous, boastful,
proud, or ⁵rude.
Love isn't selfish
or quick tempered.
It doesn't keep a record
of wrongs that others do.
⁶Love rejoices in the truth,
but not in evil.
⁷Love is always supportive,
loyal, hopeful,
and trusting.
⁸Love never fails!

Everyone who prophesies
will stop,
and unknown languages
will no longer
be spoken.
All that we know
will be forgotten.
⁹We don't know everything,
and our prophecies
are not complete.
¹⁰But what is perfect
will someday appear,
and what isn't perfect
will then disappear.

¹¹When we were children,
we thought and reasoned
as children do.
But when we grew up,
we quit our childish ways.
¹²Now all we can see of God
is like a cloudy picture
in a mirror.
Later we will see him
face to face.
We don't know everything,
but then we will,
just as God completely
understands us.
¹³For now there are faith,
hope, and love.
But of these three,
the greatest is love.

The Greatest Gift

13Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. ²And though I have the gift of ^(A)prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, ^(B)so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. ³And ^(C)though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body ^[a]to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing.

^4(D)Love suffers long and is ^(E)kind; love ^(F)does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not ^[b]puffed up; ⁵does not behave rudely, ^(G)does not seek its own, is not provoked, ^[c]thinks no evil; ^6(H)does not rejoice in iniquity, but ^(I)rejoices in the truth; ^7(J)bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

⁸Love never fails. But whether there are prophecies, they will fail; whether there are tongues, they will cease; whether there is knowledge, it will vanish away. ^9(K)For we know in part and we prophesy in part. ¹⁰But when that which is ^[d]perfect has come, then that which is in part will be done away.

¹¹When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things. ¹²For ^(L)now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then ^(M)face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known.

¹³And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.