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

And yet, I am going to show you a far better way.

The Excellence of Love

13 If I speak with the ^(B)tongues of mankind and of ^(C)angels, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a ^(D)clanging cymbal. ² If I have the gift of ^(E)prophecy and know all ^(F)mysteries and all ^(G)knowledge, and if I have ^(H)all faith so as to ^(I)remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. ³ And if I ^(J)give away all my possessions to charity, and if I ^(K)surrender my body so that I may ^[a]glory, but do not have love, it does me no good.

⁴ Love ^(L)is patient, love is kind, it ^(M)is not jealous; love does not brag, it is not ^(N)arrogant. ⁵ It does not act disgracefully, it ^(O)does not seek its own benefit; it is not provoked, ^(P)does not keep an account of a wrong suffered, ^6 (Q)it does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but ^(R)rejoices with the truth; ⁷ it ^[b](S)keeps every confidence, it believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

⁸ Love never fails; but if there are gifts of ^[c](T)prophecy, they will be done away with; if there are ^(U)tongues, they will cease; if there is knowledge, it will be done away with. ⁹ For we ^(V)know in part and prophesy in part; ¹⁰ but when the perfect comes, the partial will be done away with. ¹¹ When I was a child, I used to speak like a child, think like a child, reason like a child; when I ^[d]became a man, I did away with childish things. ¹² For now we ^(W)see in a mirror ^[e]dimly, but then ^(X)face to face; now I know in part, but then I will know fully, just as I also ^(Y)have been fully known. ¹³ But now faith, hope, and love remain, these three; but the ^[f]greatest of these is ^(Z)love.