Love, The More Excellent Way
1 If I have the ability to speak in the languages of human beings and angels [Note: Perhaps the idea is supernaturally and eloquently], but do not have love [for people], I have become [no more than] a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.
1 Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal.
1 If I speak with the (A)tongues of men and of (B)angels, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a (C)clanging cymbal.
1 If I speak human or angelic languagesbut do not have love,(A)I am a sounding gong(B) or a clanging cymbal.
1 If I speak in the languages of humans and angels but have no love, I have become a reverberating gong or a clashing cymbal.
2 And if I have the [spiritual] gift of prophecy, and can understand all [of God's] secret purposes, and have all knowledge; and if I have all [the supernatural] faith necessary to relocate mountains [See Matt. 17:20], but do not have love [for people], I am nothing.
2 And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing.
2 If I have the gift of (D)prophecy, and know all (E)mysteries and all (F)knowledge; and if I have (G)all faith, so as to (H)remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing.
2 If I have the gift of prophecy(C)and understand all mysteriesand all knowledge,and if I have all faithso that I can move mountains(D)but do not have love, I am nothing.
2 If I have the gift of prophecy and can understand all secrets and every form of knowledge, and if I have absolute faith so as to move mountains but have no love, I am nothing.
3 And if I donate all my possessions to feed poor people, and if I surrender my body to be burned [Note: This probably refers to becoming a martyr, but some manuscripts read, "that I may be able to boast"], but do not have love [for people], it is no benefit to me.
3 And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing.
3 And if I (I)give all my possessions to feed the poor, and if I (J)surrender my body (a)to be burned, but do not have love, it profits me nothing.
3 And if I donate all my goods to feed the poor,and if I give my body in order to boast(a)but do not have love, I gain nothing.
3 Even if I give away everything that I have and sacrifice myself, but have no love, I gain nothing.
4 [Note: The following traits should be understood in the context of love for people]. Love is patient [with people], and is kind [to them]; love does not envy [what people are or have]; love does not boast [of being superior to others], it is not arrogant [in dealing with people].
4 Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up,
4 Love (K)is patient, love is kind and (L)is not jealous; love does not brag and is not (M)arrogant,
4 Love is always patient; love is always kind; love is never envious or arrogant with pride. Nor is she conceited,
5 [Love] does not act improperly [toward people]; it does not insist on having its own way [at the expense of others]; it is not easily irritated [by others]; it does not keep track of the wrongs [done by others].
5 Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil;
5 does not act unbecomingly; it (N)does not seek its own, is not provoked, (O)does not take into account a wrong suffered,
5 does not act improperly,is not selfish,(H) is not provoked,(I)and does not keep a record of wrongs.
5 and she is never rude; she never thinks just of herself or ever gets annoyed. She never is resentful;
7 [Love] conceals all [people's] faults; it believes [the best about] all people; it hopes [for the best in] all people; it endures [ill treatment from] all people.
7 Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.
7 She bears up under everything; believes the best in all; there is no limit to her hope, and never will she fall.
8 Love will never cease. But though there are [now supernatural gifts of] prophecies, [someday] they will be abolished [i.e., such gifts will cease to be exercised]. Though there are [now supernatural gifts of] languages, [someday] they will stop [i.e., such gifts will cease to be exercised]. Though there is [now the supernatural gift of] knowledge, [someday] it will be abolished [i.e., this gift will cease to be exercised].
8 Charity never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away.
8 Love never fails; but if there are gifts of (c)(S)prophecy, they will be done away; if there are (T)tongues, they will cease; if there is knowledge, it will be done away.
8 Love never ends.(L)But as for prophecies,they will come to an end;as for languages, they will cease;as for knowledge, it will come to an end.
8 Love never fails. Now if there are prophecies, they will be done away with. If there are languages, they will cease. If there is knowledge, it will be done away with.
10 but when that which is complete comes [i.e., the full revelation of God's will, contained in the New Testament Scriptures], then the partial will be abolished [i.e., the supernatural gifts, which provided only part of the revealed will of God, will cease to be exercised].
10 But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away.
10 but when the perfect comes, the partial will be done away.
10 But when the perfect comes,the partial will come to an end.
10 But when what is complete comes, then what is incomplete will be done away with.
11 When I was a child I spoke, thought and reasoned like a child. But now that I have become a man, I have put away childish things. [Note: Paul uses an analogy to illustrate that the church made use of the supernatural gifts in its infancy, but that these would no longer be needed when it matured].
11 When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things.
11 When I was a child, I used to speak like a child, think like a child, reason like a child; when I (d)became a man, I did away with childish things.
11 When I was a child,I spoke like a child,I thought like a child,I reasoned like a child.When I became a man,I put aside childish things.
11 When I was a child, I spoke like a child, thought like a child, and reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up my childish ways.
12 For now [i.e., during the church's infant state] we see in a mirror [Note: God's word is elsewhere likened to a mirror. See James 1:22-25] indistinctly [i.e., because of having only partial knowledge and prophecy], but then [i.e., when the church matures and has the completed Scriptures], we will see face to face [i.e., clearly]. Now I have [only] partial knowledge, but then I will have full knowledge, just as [God has] full knowledge of me.
12 For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.
12 For now we (V)see in a mirror (e)dimly, but then (W)face to face; now I know in part, but then I will know fully just as I also (X)have been fully known.
12 For now we see indistinctly,(b) as in a mirror,(c)but then face to face.(M)Now I know in part,but then I will know fully,(N)as I am fully known.(O)
12 Now we see only an indistinct image in a mirror, but then we will be face to face. Now what I know is incomplete, but then I will know fully, even as I have been fully known.
13 But now [i.e., since the temporary gifts are to pass away], these three things remain: faith, hope and love; and the most important of them is love.
13 And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity.
13 Right now three things remain: faith, hope, and love. But the greatest of these is love.