1 ARST Imagine that I could speak many human and angelic languages, but I did not love others. I would be{ able to make much noise,} like a loud metal instrument{, but I would not be helping anyone}. BSB BSB: If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a ringing gong or a clanging cymbal.
2 ARST Again, imagine that I could proclaim what God says, that I could comprehend and know everything, and that I believed so much that I could make mountains change places. But imagine further that I did not love others. Because of that, nothing else matters. BSB BSB: If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have absolute faith so as to move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.
3 ARST Yet again, imagine that I gifted everything I owned{ to people who needed food}, and that I did not protect my own body, with the result that people would honor me. But imagine further that I did not love others.{ Because I did not love others}, none of those things that I did help me at all. BSB BSB: If I give all I possess to the poor and exult in the surrender of my body, but have not love, I gain nothing.
4 ARST Those who love others wait patiently and act graciously. They do not wish that others would lose the good things that they have. They do not say great things about themselves or act like they are great. BSB BSB: Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.
5 ARST They do not do shameful things. They do not care only about themselves. They do not quickly become angry. They do not keep track of what others have done wrong. BSB BSB: It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no account of wrongs.
6 ARST They do not celebrate when people do bad things. Instead, they celebrate what is true. BSB BSB: Love takes no pleasure in evil, but rejoices in the truth.
7 ARST They always put up with{ others}. They always believe{ that God will do what is best}, and they are always confident{ that God will do what he has promised}. They always persevere{ when bad things happen}. BSB BSB: It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
8 ARST Those who love others never cease doing so. However, someday people will no longer proclaim what God says. Someday, people will stop speaking unknown languages. Someday, people will no longer know special things. BSB BSB: Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be restrained; where there is knowledge, it will be dismissed.
9 ARST { These things will no longer happen,} because we know special things incompletely, and we proclaim what God says incompletely. BSB BSB: For we know in part and we prophesy in part,
10 ARST So, when we experience what is complete{ when Jesus comes back}, what is incomplete will no longer matter. BSB BSB: but when the perfect comes, the partial passes away.
11 ARST { Here is an analogy:} when we were young, we talked as children talk. We thought as children think. We made decisions as children make decisions. But when we grew up, we stopped acting as children do. BSB BSB: When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I set aside childish ways.
12 ARST Right now, we see{ God} indirectly, as if we saw a reflection in a mirror. When{ Jesus comes back}, however,{ we will see God} in person. Right now, we know{ God} incompletely. When{ Jesus comes back}, however, we will know God just as much as he knows us. BSB BSB: Now we see but a dim reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.
13 ARST In the end, there are three things that we will always keep doing. We will believe{ in the Messiah}, confidently expect{ God to do what he has promised}, and love{ God and other people}. However, loving{ God and others} is the most important out of these three things. BSB BSB: And now these three remain: faith, hope, and love; but the greatest of these is love.
Select verses for actions: Enter goes to them and Escape comes back.