The Holy Bible – Knox Translation
The First Epistle of the Blessed Apostle Paul to the Corinthians
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Chapter 13
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1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16
1
I may speak with every tongue that men and angels use; yet, if I lack charity, I am no better than echoing bronze, or the clash of cymbals.
2
I may have powers of prophecy, no secret hidden from me, no knowledge too deep for me; I may have utter faith, so that I can move mountains; yet if I lack charity, I count for nothing.
3
I may give away all that I have, to feed the poor; I may give myself up to be burnt at the stake; if I lack charity, it goes for nothing.
4
Charity is patient, is kind; charity feels no envy; charity is never perverse or proud,
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never insolent; does not claim its rights, cannot be provoked, does not brood over an injury;
6
takes no pleasure in wrong-doing, but rejoices at the victory of truth;
7
sustains, believes, hopes, endures, to the last.
8
The time will come when we shall outgrow prophecy, when speaking with tongues will come to an end, when knowledge will be swept away; we shall never have finished with charity.
9
Our knowledge, our prophecy, are only glimpses of the truth;
10
and these glimpses will be swept away when the time of fulfilment comes.
11
(Just so, when I was a child, I talked like a child, I had the intelligence, the thoughts of a child; since I became a man, I have outgrown childish ways.)
12
At present, we are looking at a confused reflection in a mirror; then, we shall see face to face; now, I have only glimpses of knowledge; then, I shall recognize God as he has recognized me.
13
Meanwhile, faith, hope and charity persist, all three; but the greatest of them all is charity.