A little time with Scripture.
SCRIPTURE READER

1 Corinthians 13:1-7

World English Bible · Public domain

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1 Corinthians 13:1-7

1If I speak with the languages of men and of angels, but don’t have love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal.

2If I have the gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but don’t have love, I am nothing.

3If I give away all my goods to feed the poor, and if I give my body to be burned, but don’t have love, it profits me nothing.

4Love is patient and is kind. Love doesn’t envy. Love doesn’t brag, is not proud,

5doesn’t behave itself inappropriately, doesn’t seek its own way, is not provoked, takes no account of evil;

6doesn’t rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth;

7bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, and endures all things.

World English Bible (WEB). Public-domain translation. Publisher: eBible.org. Local WEB chapter text; additional external requests use bible-api.com.

A few questions for reading in context
  • Who is speaking, and to whom?
  • What is happening before and after this passage?
  • What kind of writing is this—poetry, narrative, letter, or another form?
  • What does the passage say before I consider how to apply it?