1 Corinthians 13:4
What does 1 Corinthians 13:4 mean?
A plain-English look at 1 Corinthians 13:4 in WEB alongside six other public-domain English translations, with cross-references and chapter context.
What 1 Corinthians 13:4 means
Love is patient and kind—long-suffering toward wrongs and actively benevolent toward others. It does not burn with envy at another’s gifts or successes. It does not parade itself or inflate its own importance. Here love moves from feelings to actions and attitudes: it bears with people over time, looks for ways to do them good, and refuses the self-exalting spirit that pits believers against one another. The Corinthians, quick to boast in leaders and abilities, needed this corrective. Love’s humility is not weakness; it is strength under control, choosing to serve rather than compete, to bless rather than resent, and to find joy in another’s honor.
1 Corinthians 13:4 in context
1 Corinthians 13 — The More Excellent Way
Set in the middle of Paul's discussion of spiritual gifts, this chapter is the great hymn of love. Eloquence without love is noisy brass. Knowledge, faith, and self-sacrifice without love profit nothing. Love is patient and kind, does not envy or boast, is not arrogant or rude, does not insist on its own way, is not irritable or resentful, rejoices with the truth, bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Tongues will cease and knowledge pass away, but love never fails.
- Christian love
- Gifts in proportion
- Permanence of love
- Maturity
Parallel translations
WEB
World English Bible · 2000Love suffereth long, and is kind; love envieth not; love vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up,
KJV
King James Version · 1611Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up,
ASV
American Standard Version · 1901Love suffereth long, and is kind; love envieth not; love vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up,
BBE
Bible in Basic English · 1949Love is never tired of waiting; love is kind; love has no envy; love has no high opinion of itself, love has no pride;
YLT
Young's Literal Translation · 1862The love is long-suffering, it is kind, the love doth not envy, the love doth not vaunt itself, is not puffed up,
DRA
Douay-Rheims (Challoner) · 1752Charity is patient, is kind: charity envieth not, dealeth not perversely, is not puffed up,
DBY
Darby Bible · 1890Love has long patience, is kind; love is not emulous [of others]; love is not insolent and rash, is not puffed up,
Context
Having shown love’s necessity (vv. 1–3), Paul now describes its nature. Verse 4 opens the catalog with two positive traits and two negatives, setting a pattern of defining love by what it is and what it refuses to be. This begins to confront specific Corinthian sins—envy, boasting, and pride. Verses 5–7 will continue this portrait, filling out love’s behavior in community so that the church can test its life together by these standards.
Cross references
Related passages from across Scripture, drawn from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge.
- Nehemiah 9:17
and refused to obey, neither were mindful of thy wonders that thou didst among them, but hardened their neck, and in their rebellion appointed a captain to return to their bondage. But thou art a God ready to pardon, gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abundant in lovingkindness, and forsookest them not.
- 2 Timothy 4:2
preach the word; be urgent in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching.
- 2 Corinthians 12:20
For I fear, lest by any means, when I come, I should find you not such as I would, and should myself be found of you such as ye would not; lest by any means there should be strife, jealousy, wraths, factions, backbitings, whisperings, swellings, tumults;
- 1 Samuel 25:33
and blessed be thy discretion, and blessed be thou, that hast kept me this day from bloodguiltiness, and from avenging myself with mine own hand.
- Ecclesiastes 7:8
Better is the end of a thing than the beginning thereof; and the patient in spirit is better than the proud in spirit.
- 2 Peter 1:7
and in your godliness brotherly kindness; and in your brotherly kindness love.
Sermon ideas from 1 Corinthians 13:4
Angles a pastor or small-group leader might preach or teach from this passage, drawn from the chapter's main themes.
What 1 Corinthians 13:4 teaches us about christian love
What 1 Corinthians 13:4 teaches us about gifts in proportion
What 1 Corinthians 13:4 teaches us about permanence of love
What 1 Corinthians 13:4 teaches us about maturity
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