"Though I speak with the tongues of
men and of angels, but have not charity,
I have become like sounding brass or a clanging
cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy,
and understand all mysteries and all knowledge,
and though I have all faith, so that I could
remove mountains, but have not charity, I
am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods
to feed the poor, and though I give my body
to be burned, but have not charity, it profits
me nothing.
"Charity suffers long and is kind; charity
does not envy; charity does not parade itself,
is not puffed up, does not behave rudely,
does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks
no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but
rejoices in the truth; bears all things;
believes all things, hopes all things, endures
all things.
"Charity never fails. But where there
are prophecies, they will fail; where there
are tongues, they will cease; where there
is knowledge, it will vanish away. For we
know in part and we prophesy in part. But
when that which is perfect has come, then
that which is in part will be done away.
"When I was a child, I spoke as a child,
I understood as a child, I thought as a child;
but when I became a man, I put away childish
things. For now we see in a mirror, dimly,
but then face to face. Now I know in part,
but then I shall know just as I also am known.
"And now abide faith, hope, and charity,
these three, but the greatest of these is
charity."
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The Holy Bible, King James Version, Corinthians 13:1-13.
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