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1 If in the leshonot of Bnei Adam and malachim I speak, but I do not have ahavah, I have become only a sounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 And if I have nevu'ah and have da'as of all sodot and all da'as, and if I have all emunah so as to remove mountains, but ahavah I do not have, I am nothing. 3 And if I'm a marbitz tzedaka and give all I possess in gemilut chasadim and if I give my body al kiddush Hashem for sereifah (death by burning), but ahavah I do not have, I have gained nothing.*
4 Ahavah suffers long; ahavah is kind; ahavah does not have kinah; ahavah does not brag; ahavah is not puffed up in ga'avah (conceit, pride); 5 ahavah does not behave shamelessly; ahavah does not in anochiyut insist on its own way; ahavah is not touchy and vindictive, keeping a record of wrongs.† 6 Ahavah does not find simcha in evil, but rejoices in HaEmes. 7 Ahavah covers all things,‡ believes all things, has tikvah (hope), even savlanut, for all things.
8 Ahavah never fails. However, divrei nevu'ah will be abolished; leshonot will cease; da'as will come to an end. 9 For we have da'as in part, and we have divrei nevu'ah is part. 10 But when shleimah (completion) comes, the teilvaiz (partial) will disappear. 11 When I was a yeled, I used to speak like one, think like one, reason like one. But when I became mevugar (mature), I put away kinderyohrn.§ 12 For still we see through a mirror indistinctly. But then,* distinctly, panim el panim. Now I have da'as only in part; then I will have da'as fully, even as also Hashem had full da'as of me.†
13 But now remain emunah, tikvah, and ahavah, these shalosh (three). And the greatest of these is ahavah.
* 13:3 Dan 3:28 † 13:5 Zech 8:17 ‡ 13:7 Prov 10:12 § 13:11 Ps 131:2 * 13:12 in the Olam Haba † 13:12 Job 26:14; 36:26; Gn 32:30; Job 19:26