If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 1
If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 2
If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing. 3
Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 4
It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 5
Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 6
It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. 7
Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. 8
For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 9
but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears. 10
When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me. 11
Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known. 12
And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love. 13