1 Corinthians 13
What Happens in This Chapter
This chapter is part of a letter from Paul to the church in Corinth. He says that gifts like speaking other languages, prophecy, and knowledge count for nothing without love. He then lists what love does and does not do. He says those gifts will stop one day, but faith, hope, and love remain, and love is the greatest of the three.
Plain reading written for kids. Short sentences, everyday words, one idea at a time.
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.
1I might speak every language people know. I might even speak the language of angels. But if I do not love, I am only noise. I am like a banging gong or a crashing cymbal.
The old King James word here is "charity." In 1611 that word meant love. It did not mean giving money away.
2And 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.
2I might be a prophet, someone who tells people what God says. I might understand every secret and know everything. I might have faith strong enough to move mountains. But if I do not love, I am nothing.
3And 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.
3I might give away all I own to feed hungry people. I might even hand over my body to be burned. But if I do not love, none of it helps me.
4Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up,
4Love waits patiently. Love is kind. Love does not want what others have. Love does not brag. Love is not stuck up.
5Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil;
5Love is not rude. Love does not always want its own way. Love does not get angry quickly. Love does not keep a list of wrongs.
6Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth;
6Love is never glad about wrong things. Love is glad when the truth wins.
7Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.
7Love puts up with anything. Love keeps trusting. Love keeps hoping. Love never gives up.
8Charity 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.
8Love never ends. But messages from prophets will stop. Speaking in other languages will stop. What we know now will fade away.
9For we know in part, and we prophesy in part.
9What we know is only a small piece. What we tell from God is only a small piece.
10But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away.
10But one day what is perfect will come. Then the small pieces will be gone.
11When 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.
11When I was a child, I talked like a child. I thought like a child. I figured things out like a child. When I grew up, I put those child ways away.
12For 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.
12Right now we see like looking into a cloudy mirror. Later we will see face to face. Right now I know only a little. Later I will know fully, just as I am already fully known.
The old words say "through a glass, darkly." A "glass" was a mirror. Mirrors back then were polished metal, so the picture was dim and fuzzy.
13And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity.
13Three things last: faith, hope, and love. And the greatest one is love.
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