1 Corinthians Chapter 13
Showing all 13 verses for 1 Corinthians Chapter 13.
The People's Bible is written by people, for the people. Each verse below shows:
"Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. "
💡 Highlighted words feature Jacobean 1611 tooltips to clarify shifted 17th-century English terms.
"Even if I could speak every human language, even the language of angels, but didn't have love behind it, I'd just be making noise - like a clanging gong or a crashing cymbal."
I care about what's in your heart, not how impressive you sound. You can dazzle a room and still be empty inside if there's no love driving it - so check your motives before you chase being admired.
"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 I am nothing. "
💡 Highlighted words feature Jacobean 1611 tooltips to clarify shifted 17th-century English terms.
"Even if I could prophesy, understand every hidden mystery and all knowledge, and had faith strong enough to move mountains, without love I would be nothing at all."
Don't mistake being right, or being gifted, for being good. I'd rather you loved one person well than understood every mystery in the universe - knowledge without care for people leaves you empty-handed.
"And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not it profiteth me nothing. "
💡 Highlighted words feature Jacobean 1611 tooltips to clarify shifted 17th-century English terms.
"Even if I gave away everything I own to feed the poor, and even sacrificed my own body, without love it would do me no good at all."
Giving until it hurts isn't automatically love - check why you're doing it. I want your sacrifices to come from genuine care for someone, not from a need to prove something to yourself or others.
" suffereth long, and is kind; envieth not; vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, "
💡 Highlighted words feature Jacobean 1611 tooltips to clarify shifted 17th-century English terms.
"Love is patient and kind. It doesn't envy others, doesn't boast, and isn't arrogant."
Love shows up in the small, unglamorous moments - waiting without resentment, being kind when it costs you something, not needing to compare yourself to others. Try running your own behaviour through this list today; it's more revealing than any feeling.
"Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil; "
"Love doesn't act inappropriately, doesn't insist on its own way, doesn't get easily angered, and doesn't keep score of wrongs."
Don't keep a mental ledger of who owes you what. I'm asking you to let go of the running tally of wrongs against you - it only weighs you down and poisons how you see the people you're supposed to love.
"Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth; "
"Love doesn't celebrate wrongdoing but is glad when truth wins out."
Loving someone doesn't mean pretending everything is fine or enjoying their downfall - it means wanting what's genuinely good and true for them, even when that's a harder conversation than staying quiet.
"Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things. "
"Love puts up with anything, always trusts, always hopes, and always keeps going no matter what."
Real love isn't tested when things are easy - it's tested when someone disappoints you and you choose to stay anyway. I'm not asking you to be naive, but to keep extending trust and hope even when it would be easier to shut someone out.
" 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. "
💡 Highlighted words feature Jacobean 1611 tooltips to clarify shifted 17th-century English terms.
"Love never comes to an end. But prophecy will stop, speaking in tongues will cease, and knowledge will become obsolete."
Everything you're proud of - your knowledge, your talents, your achievements - has an expiry date. Love is the one thing you build that never becomes obsolete, so invest there rather than in things that impress for a season and then fade.
"For we know in part, and we prophesy in part. "
"Right now, what we know and what we can say about God's truth is only ever partial and incomplete."
Hold your certainty loosely. I'd rather you stayed humble and curious than convinced you'd already arrived at complete understanding - there's always more to learn, and that's not a weakness, it's just honest.
"But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away. "
"But when completeness arrives, everything that was only partial will be done away with."
What you have now - your understanding, your abilities - is a scaffold, not the final building. Don't be afraid of outgrowing your current understanding; growth towards something complete is the whole point.
"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. "
"When I was a child, I spoke, understood, and reasoned like a child. But when I grew up, I set aside childish ways."
Growing up isn't about losing wonder, it's about losing self-centredness. I want you to keep examining your own thinking honestly and be willing to outgrow habits and attitudes that no longer serve you or the people around you.
"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. "
"Right now we see things dimly, like looking at a blurred, distorted reflection. But one day we'll see clearly, face to face. Right now my knowledge is incomplete, but one day I'll know fully, in the same way I am already fully known."
You don't have to see everything clearly to be fully known and fully accepted. I already see you completely - flaws, doubts, and all - so you're free to keep searching for clarity without pretending you already have it.
"And now abideth faith, hope, these three; but the greatest of these is "
💡 Highlighted words feature Jacobean 1611 tooltips to clarify shifted 17th-century English terms.
"For now, three things remain constant: trust, hope, and love. And the greatest of these is love."
Of everything you build your life on, make love the priority - not because trust and hope don't matter, but because love is what actually reaches other people. If you only have time or energy for one thing today, let it be an act of genuine love.