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.

Love Your Enemies

^43 (A)“You have heard that it was said, ^(B)‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ ⁴⁴ But I say to you, ^(C)Love your enemies and ^(D)pray for those who persecute you, ^45 (E)so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and ^(F)sends rain on the just and on the unjust. ^46 (G)For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? ⁴⁷ And if you greet only your brothers,^[a] what more are you doing than others? Do not even ^(H)the Gentiles do the same? ^48 (I)You therefore must be ^(J)perfect, ^(K)as your heavenly Father is perfect.