⁹ And this I pray, that ^(A)your love may overflow still more and more in ^(B)real knowledge and all discernment, ¹⁰ so that you may ^[a](C)discover the things that are excellent, that you may be sincere and blameless for ^(D)the day of Christ; ¹¹ having been filled with the ^(E)fruit of righteousness which comes through Jesus Christ, for the glory and praise of God.

The Excellence of Love

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

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

⁸ Love never fails; but if there are gifts of ^[c](S)prophecy, they will be done away with; if there are ^(T)tongues, they will cease; if there is knowledge, it will be done away with.

^7 (A)Pay to all what is due them: ^(B)tax to whom tax is due; ^(C)custom to whom custom; ^[a]respect to whom ^[b]respect; honor to whom honor.

⁸ Owe nothing to anyone except to love one another; for ^(D)the one who loves ^[c]his neighbor has fulfilled the Law. ⁹ For this, “^(E)You shall not commit adultery, You shall not murder, You shall not steal, You shall not covet,” and if there is any other commandment, it is summed up in this saying, “^(F)You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” ¹⁰ Love ^[d]does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore ^(G)love is the fulfillment of the Law.

¹¹ Do this, knowing the time, that it is ^(H)already the hour for you to ^(I)awaken from sleep; for now ^[e]salvation is nearer to us than when we first believed. ^12 (J)The night is almost gone, and ^(K)the day is near. Therefore let’s rid ourselves of ^(L)the deeds of darkness and put on ^(M)the armor of light. ¹³ Let’s ^[f](N)behave properly as in the day, ^(O)not in carousing and drunkenness, not in sexual promiscuity and debauchery, not in strife and jealousy. ¹⁴ But ^(P)put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh ^(Q)in regard to its lusts.