1 Corinthians 13:1-13

1 Corinthians 13

New International Version (NIV)

1 Corinthians 13

 ¹ If I speak in the tongues^[a] of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. ²If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. ³ If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast,^[b] but do not have love, I gain nothing.

⁴ Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. ⁵ It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. ⁶ Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. ⁷ It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

 ⁸ Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. ⁹ For we know in part and we prophesy in part, ¹⁰ but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears. ¹¹ 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 put the ways of childhood behind me. ¹² For now we see only a 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 And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

Psalm 31

In Love, I accept everything

Let Your will be done.

Into Your hands I commend myself

In Silence and In Peace

Psalm 31

New International Version (NIV)

    For the director of music. A psalm of David. 

¹ In you, LORD, I have taken refuge;

   let me never be put to shame;

   deliver me in your righteousness.

² Turn your ear to me,

   come quickly to my rescue;

be my rock of refuge,

   a strong fortress to save me.

³ Since you are my rock and my fortress,

   for the sake of your name lead and guide me.

⁴ Keep me free from the trap that is set for me,

   for you are my refuge.

⁵ Into your hands I commit my spirit;

   deliver me, LORD, my faithful God.

 ⁶ I hate those who cling to worthless idols;

   as for me, I trust in the LORD.

⁷ I will be glad and rejoice in your love,

   for you saw my affliction

   and knew the anguish of my soul.

⁸ You have not given me into the hands of the enemy

   but have set my feet in a spacious place.

 ⁹ Be merciful to me, LORD, for I am in distress;

   my eyes grow weak with sorrow,

   my soul and body with grief.

¹⁰ My life is consumed by anguish

   and my years by groaning;

my strength fails because of my affliction,^[b]

   and my bones grow weak.

¹¹ Because of all my enemies,

   I am the utter contempt of my neighbors

and an object of dread to my closest friends—

   those who see me on the street flee from me.

¹² I am forgotten as though I were dead;

   I have become like broken pottery.

¹³ For I hear many whispering,

   “Terror on every side!”

They conspire against me

   and plot to take my life.

 ¹⁴ But I trust in you, LORD;

   I say, “You are my God.”

¹⁵ My times are in your hands;

   deliver me from the hands of my enemies,

   from those who pursue me.

¹⁶ Let your face shine on your servant;

   save me in your unfailing love.

¹⁷ Let me not be put to shame, LORD,

   for I have cried out to you;

but let the wicked be put to shame

   and be silent in the realm of the dead.

¹⁸ Let their lying lips be silenced,

   for with pride and contempt

   they speak arrogantly against the righteous.

 ¹⁹ How abundant are the good things

   that you have stored up for those who fear you,

that you bestow in the sight of all,

   on those who take refuge in you.

²⁰ In the shelter of your presence you hide them

   from all human intrigues;

you keep them safe in your dwelling

   from accusing tongues.

 ²¹ Praise be to the LORD,

   for he showed me the wonders of his love

   when I was in a city under siege.

²² In my alarm I said,

   “I am cut off from your sight!”

Yet you heard my cry for mercy

   when I called to you for help.

 ²³ Love the LORD, all his faithful people!

   The LORD preserves those who are true to him,

   but the proud he pays back in full.

²⁴ Be strong and take heart,

   all you who hope in the LORD.

In Love, I accept everything

Let Your will be done.

Into Your hands I commend myself

In Silence and In Peace