1 If in the leshonot of Bnei Adam and malachim I speak, but I do not have ahavah, I have become only a sounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 And if I have nevu'ah and have da'as of all sodot and all da'as, and if I have all emunah so as to remove mountains, but ahavah I do not have, I am nothing. 3 And if I'm a marbitz tzedaka and give all I possess in gemilut chasadim and if I give my body al kiddush Hashem for sereifah (death by burning), but ahavah I do not have, I have gained nothing.[a]

4 Ahavah suffers long; ahavah is kind; ahavah does not have kinah; ahavah does not brag; ahavah is not puffed up in ga'avah (conceit, pride); 5 ahavah does not behave shamelessly; ahavah does not in anochiyut insist on its own way; ahavah is not touchy and vindictive, keeping a record of wrongs.[b] 6 Ahavah does not find simcha in evil, but rejoices in HaEmes. 7 Ahavah covers all things,[c] believes all things, has tikvah (hope), even savlanut, for all things.

8 Ahavah never fails. However, divrei nevu'ah will be abolished; leshonot will cease; da'as will come to an end. 9 For we have da'as in part, and we have divrei nevu'ah is part. 10 But when shleimah (completion) comes, the teilvaiz (partial) will disappear. 11 When I was a yeled, I used to speak like one, think like one, reason like one. But when I became mevugar (mature), I put away kinderyohrn.[d] 12 For still we see through a mirror indistinctly. But then,[e] distinctly, panim el panim. Now I have da'as only in part; then I will have da'as fully, even as also Hashem had full da'as of me.[f]

13 But now remain emunah, tikvah, and ahavah, these shalosh (three). And the greatest of these is ahavah.

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