1 Corinthians 13 (NLT) (2024)

Send yourself back to school! Study the Bible with access to 50+ premium resources in BibleGateway+ and SAVE 15% off FOR LIFE!

Bible Book List Bible Book List

Font Size

Passage Resources Hebrew/Greek Your Content

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 circ*mstance.

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.

Footnotes

13:3 Some manuscripts read sacrificed my body to be burned.
13:8 Or in tongues.
13:12 Greek see face to face.

Listen to 1 Corinthians 13

Close NIV

13If I speak in the tongues^[a]^(A) of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. ²If I have the gift of prophecy^(B) and can fathom all mysteries^(C) and all knowledge,^(D) and if I have a faith^(E) that can move mountains,^(F) but do not have love, I am nothing. ³If I give all I possess to the poor^(G) and give over my body to hardship that I may boast,^[b]^(H) but do not have love, I gain nothing.

⁴Love is patient,^(I) love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.^(J) ⁵It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking,^(K) it is not easily angered,^(L) it keeps no record of wrongs.^(M) ⁶Love does not delight in evil^(N) but rejoices with the truth.^(O) ⁷It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.^(P)

⁸Love never fails. But where there are prophecies,^(Q) they will cease; where there are tongues,^(R) they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. ⁹For we know in part^(S) and we prophesy in part, ¹⁰but when completeness comes,^(T) what is in part disappears. ¹¹When 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 the ways of childhood^(U) behind me. ¹²For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror;^(V) then we shall see face to face.^(W) Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.^(X)

¹³And now these three remain: faith, hope and love.^(Y) But the greatest of these is love.^(Z)

Footnotes

1 Corinthians 13:1 Or languages
1 Corinthians 13:3 Some manuscripts body to the flames

Cross references

1 Corinthians 13:1 : ver 8; S Mk 16:17
1 Corinthians 13:2 : ver 8; S Eph 4:11; S Ac 11:27
1 Corinthians 13:2 : 1Co 14:2
1 Corinthians 13:2 : S 2Co 8:7
1 Corinthians 13:2 : 1Co 12:9
1 Corinthians 13:2 : Mt 17:20; 21:21
1 Corinthians 13:3 : Lk 19:8; S Ac 2:45
1 Corinthians 13:3 : Da 3:28
1 Corinthians 13:4 : 1Th 5:14
1 Corinthians 13:4 : 1Co 5:2
1 Corinthians 13:5 : S 1Co 10:24
1 Corinthians 13:5 : S Mt 5:22
1 Corinthians 13:5 : Job 14:16, 17; Pr 10:12; 17:9; 1Pe 4:8
1 Corinthians 13:6 : 2Th 2:12
1 Corinthians 13:6 : 2Jn 4; 3Jn 3, 4
1 Corinthians 13:7 : ver 8, 13
1 Corinthians 13:8 : ver 2
1 Corinthians 13:8 : ver 1
1 Corinthians 13:9 : ver 12; S 1Co 8:2
1 Corinthians 13:10 : Php 3:12
1 Corinthians 13:11 : Ps 131:2
1 Corinthians 13:12 : Job 26:14; 36:26
1 Corinthians 13:12 : Ge 32:30; Job 19:26; 1Jn 3:2
1 Corinthians 13:12 : 1Co 8:3; Gal 4:9
1 Corinthians 13:13 : Ro 5:2-5; Gal 5:5, 6; Eph 4:2-5; Col 1:4, 5; 1Th 1:3; 5:8; Heb 6:10-12
1 Corinthians 13:13 : Mt 22:37-40; 1Co 16:14; Gal 5:6; 1Jn 4:7-12, 16

Next1 Corinthians 121 Corinthians 14Next

New Living Translation (NLT)

New International Version (NIV)

FAQs

What is the main message of 1 Corinthians 13? ›

Paul sums it up: Love never fails. Christians may fail to love, as the Corinthians have clearly demonstrated, but God's kind of love will always be effective. And unlike spiritual gifts, which will no longer be needed when Christ comes, love will last forever (1 Corinthians 13:4–8).

Learn More ›

What is 1 Corinthian 13 13 NLT? ›

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

Get More Info Here ›

What does 1 Corinthians 13.7 NLT say? ›

7 Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circ*mstance. 8 Prophecy and speaking in unknown languages and special knowledge will become useless.

Is 1 Corinthians 13 about marriage? ›

If marriage is ideally a lifelong commitment in which both parties pledge themselves to one another, with the goal of loving the other person more than oneself, then the words of 1Cor 13 —to be patient and kind, to persevere, to keep no record of wrongs, and to seek not one's own benefit—provide a poignant “how-to” for ...

Learn More Now ›

What kind of love is Paul talking about in 1 Corinthians 13? ›

“Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.

What can we learn from Corinthians 13? ›

1 Corinthians 13 Summary: Love Is Patient

The lesson in the Bible verse "Love is patient" is that if we did truly love our neighbor, we should be able to exercise patience toward all of our neighbors, just like Jesus did.

What are the three things that will last forever in the Bible? ›

The Bible says, “These three things continue forever: faith, hope, and love. And the greatest of these is love” (1 Corinthians 13:13 NCV). There is a plaque engraved with Hebrew letters that hangs on the wall in my office. People ask me all the time what the Hebrew means.

How to introduce 1 Corinthians 13? ›

This chapter is taken up in the commendation of the grace of charity, or love, which is preferred to all gifts whatsoever; is described by its properties and effects, and particularly its duration; on which account it is represented as more excellent than other principal graces.

Discover More ›

What does "love never gives up" mean? ›

Love Endures All Things

It stands firm in hostile surroundings. This “endurance” involves not only the ability to tolerate certain aggravations, but something greater: a constant readiness to confront any challenge. It is a love that never gives up, even in the darkest hour.

Explore More ›

Can a believer marry more than one wife? ›

Though the Bible does not specifically forbid having multiple wives or husbands, it is not God's original plan. The Lord's expectation for marriage is that it be held as a sacred covenant between one man and one woman.

Where does the Bible say to only have one wife? ›

New Testament. Three passages in the pastoral epistles (1 Timothy 3:2, 1 Timothy 3:12 and Titus 1:6) state that church leaders should be the "husband of one wife." This has been read by some Christian denominations as a prohibition of polygamy. Others argue that polygamy is allowed, but not for church leaders.

Learn More ›

What is true love according to 1 Corinthians 13? ›

1 Corinthians 13:4–8a (ESV) Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth.

1 Corinthians 13 (NLT) (2024)

Love Is the Greatest

Footnotes

Footnotes

Cross references

More on the NIV

FAQs

What is the main message of 1 Corinthians 13? ›

How to introduce 1 Corinthians 13? ›