³¹ But ^(A)earnestly desire the higher gifts.

And I will show you a still more excellent way.

The Way of Love

13 If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. ² And if I have ^(A)prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, ^(B)so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. ^3 (C)If I give away all I have, and ^(D)if I deliver up my body to be burned,^[a] but have not love, I gain nothing.

^4 (E)Love is patient and ^(F)kind; love ^(G)does not envy or boast; it ^(H)is not arrogant ⁵ or rude. It ^(I)does not insist on its own way; it ^(J)is not irritable or resentful;^{[b] 6} it ^(K)does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but ^(L)rejoices with the truth. ^7 (M)Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, ^(N)endures all things.

⁸ Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away. ⁹ For ^(O)we know in part and we prophesy in part, ¹⁰ but ^(P)when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away. ¹¹ When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways. ¹² For ^(Q)now we see in a mirror dimly, but ^(R)then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as ^(S)I have been fully known.

¹³ So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.

Prophecy and Tongues

14 ^(T)Pursue love, and ^(U)earnestly desire the ^(V)spiritual gifts, especially that you may ^(W)prophesy.

³⁹ So, my brothers, ^(A)earnestly desire to prophesy, and do not forbid speaking in tongues.

⁶ “Blessed are those who hunger and ^(A)thirst ^(B)for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.

⁸ Indeed, I count everything as loss because of ^(A)the surpassing worth of ^(B)knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I ^(C)have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ

⁴ By faith ^(A)Abel offered to God ^(B)a more acceptable sacrifice than Cain, through which he was commended as righteous, God commending him by accepting his gifts. And ^(C)through his faith, though he died, he ^(D)still speaks.

Food Offered to Idols

8 Now concerning^{[a] (A)}food offered to idols: we know that ^(B)“all of us possess knowledge.” This “knowledge” ^(C)puffs up, ^(D)but love builds up.

⁴² but one thing is necessary.^[a] Mary has chosen ^(A)the good portion, which will not be taken away from her.”