⁴ Love is patient,^(A) love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.^{(B) 5} It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking,^(C) it is not easily angered,^(D) it keeps no record of wrongs.^{(E) 6} Love does not delight in evil^(F) but rejoices with the truth.^{(G) 7} It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.^(H)

⁸ Love never fails. But where there are prophecies,^(I) they will cease; where there are tongues,^(J) they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away.

¹³ Another thing you do: You flood the Lord’s altar with tears.^(A) You weep and wail^(B) because he no longer looks with favor^(C) on your offerings or accepts them with pleasure from your hands.^{(D) 14} You ask,^(E) “Why?” It is because the Lord is the witness^(F) between you and the wife of your youth.^(G) You have been unfaithful to her, though she is your partner, the wife of your marriage covenant.^(H)

¹⁵ Has not the one God made you?^(I) You belong to him in body and spirit. And what does the one God seek? Godly offspring.^[a](J) So be on your guard,^(K) and do not be unfaithful^(L) to the wife of your youth.

¹⁶ “The man who hates and divorces his wife,^(M)” says the Lord, the God of Israel, “does violence to the one he should protect,”^[b](N) says the Lord Almighty.

So be on your guard,^(O) and do not be unfaithful.