1 Corinthians 13 (ESV)

13 verses · English Standard Version · Essentially literal

The ESV balances word-for-word accuracy with modern English readability. Favored by scholars and pastors for study and preaching, it preserves the structure of the original Hebrew and Greek while using clear, contemporary language.

1 Corinthians Chapter 13 contains 13 verses and is presented here in the English Standard Version (ESV), which uses a essentially literal approach. Read the full text below, compare with other translations, or navigate to any of the 16 chapters in 1 Corinthians.

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Chapter 12Chapter 14

1If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.

2And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.

3If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.

4Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant

5or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful;

6it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth.

7Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

8Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away.

9For we know in part and we prophesy in part,

10but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away.

11When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways.

12For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.

13So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.

Chapter 12Read in NIVChapter 14

About This Translation

What is 1 Corinthians 13 in the ESV?

1 Corinthians 13 in the English Standard Version (ESV) contains 13 verses. The ESV uses a essentially literal approach, first published in 2001 (rev. 2016).

How does the ESV translate 1 Corinthians 13 differently?

The English Standard Version uses essentially literal, balancing accuracy with modern readability. Compare this with the NIV (dynamic equivalence) version of 1 Corinthians 13 for a different perspective.

How many verses are in 1 Corinthians 13 (ESV)?

1 Corinthians Chapter 13 contains 13 verses in the English Standard Version. The book of 1 Corinthians has 16 chapters total.

1 Corinthians (ESV) — All 16 Chapters