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.
Parallel translations
- WEB Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will be done away with. Where there are various languages, they will cease. Where there is knowledge, it will be done away with.
- KJV Charity never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away.
- NKJV Love never fails. But whether there are prophecies, they will fail; whether there are tongues, they will cease; whether there is knowledge, it will vanish away.
- NASB Love never fails; but if there are gifts of prophecy, they will be done away with; if there are tongues, they will cease; if there is knowledge, it will be done away with.
- NLT Prophecy and speaking in unknown languages and special knowledge will become useless. But love will last forever!
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Love never fails, but prophecies, tongues, and knowledge will pass away. Love is permanent; the gifts are temporary.
Overview
Paul now contrasts love's permanence with the gifts' temporary nature. Prophecy, tongues, and knowledge serve the present age and will one day cease, while love endures forever. Christians differ over precisely when the gifts cease, but Paul's main point is clear: love outlasts every gift and so deserves first place.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 12
- 1 Cor 13:13And now these three remain: faith, hope, and love; but the greatest of these is love.
- 1 Cor 13:1–2If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a ringing gong or a clanging cymbal.
- Gal 5:6For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value. All that matters is faith, expressed through love.
- 1 Cor 13:10but when the perfect comes, the partial passes away.
- Acts 2:4And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.
- Heb 8:13By speaking of a new covenant, He has made the first one obsolete; and what is obsolete and aging will soon disappear.
- 1 Cor 12:10to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another distinguishing between spirits, to another speaking in various tongues, and to still another the interpretation of tongues.
- Acts 19:6And when Paul laid his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came upon them, and they spoke in tongues and prophesied.
- 1 Cor 12:28–30And in the church God has appointed first of all apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then workers of miracles, and those with gifts of healing, helping, administration, and various tongues.
- Luke 22:32But I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith will not fail. And when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers.”
- Jer 49:7Concerning Edom, this is what the LORD of Hosts says: “Is there no longer wisdom in Teman? Has counsel perished from the prudent? Has their wisdom decayed?
- 1 Cor 14:39So, my brothers, be eager to prophesy, and do not forbid speaking in tongues.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
Christ crucified is the wisdom and power of God; he is our Passover sacrificed for us, the firstfruits of resurrection, the foundation on which everything is built.
How 1 Corinthians 13:8 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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