Passage

1 Corinthians 13.13

Book: 1 Corinthians · ASV / WEB / KJV / YLT

Immediate context (±2 verses)

ASV

11. When I was a child, I spake as a child, I felt as a child, I thought as a child: now that I am become a man, I have put away childish things. 12. For now we see in a mirror, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know fully even as also I was fully known.

13. But now abideth faith, hope, love, these three; and the greatest of these is love. (1 Corinthians 13:11-13, ASV)

WEB

11. When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I felt as a child, I thought as a child. Now that I have become a man, I have put away childish things. 12. For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I will know fully, even as I was also fully known.

13. But now faith, hope, and love remain, these three. The greatest of these is love. (1 Corinthians 13:11-13, WEB)

KJV

11. When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things. ^{thought: or, reasoned} ^{put away: Gr. vanish away} 12. For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known. ^{darkly: Gr. in a riddle}

13. And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity. (1 Corinthians 13:11-13, KJV)

YLT

11. When I was a babe, as a babe I was speaking, as a babe I was thinking, as a babe I was reasoning, and when I have become a man, I have made useless the things of the babe; 12. for we see now through a mirror obscurely, and then face to face; now I know in part, and then I shall fully know, as also I was known;

13. and now there doth remain faith, hope, love, these three; and the greatest of these [is] love. (1 Corinthians 13:11-13, YLT)

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Setting

Speaker: Paul the apostle, writing with Sosthenes (1 Corinthians 1:1)
Audience: the church of God at Corinth (1 Corinthians 1:2)
Location: written from Ephesus (1 Corinthians 16:8)
Time period: c. AD 53-55, during Paul's stay in Ephesus

Theological reading

"And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity." (1 Corinthians 13:13, KJV).

Faith, hope and love. Paul joins the three often (1 Thessalonians 1:3; 5:8; Colossians 1:4-5). Here he ranks them: love is "the greatest." One common reading is that faith gives way to sight and hope to fulfilment, but love remains forever, because God himself is love (1 John 4:8).

The bridge to chapter 14. The next verse begins, "Follow after charity" (14:1). Having shown that love is greatest, Paul returns to the gifts and tells the Corinthians to use them in love.

Key words

Theologically-loaded Greek or Hebrew words in this verse may have entries in the lexicon. Curated to roughly 100 contested terms across the corpus, not every word; see Lexicon Roadmap.

G0026 - agape, agape, Strong's G0026
G4102 - pistis, pistis, Strong's G4102

Quoted in

Concepts:

Lexicon:

G0026 - agape, via 1 Corinthians 13.1-13

Passages:

1 Thessalonians 1.3

Why these four translations

ris3n chose ASV, WEB, KJV, and YLT for two reasons together. They are the most literal English translations available (formal-equivalence: word-for-word renderings that preserve the Hebrew and Greek grammar rather than smoothing it into modern dynamic-equivalence idiom). And they are in the public domain in the United States, which means fair-use quotation at any length requires no publisher license. Modern licensed translations (NASB95, ESV, NIV) restrict volume of quotation under their copyright terms, so they are not used at stub-level coverage here. NASB95 appears only on hand-curated rich passage hubs under Lockman Foundation's fair-use allowance.

The four:

ASV (American Standard Version, 1901). The basis of the modern critical-text English tradition.
WEB (World English Bible, contemporary). Public-domain revision in the ASV line, in current English.
KJV (King James Version, 1611). Reformation-era, Textus Receptus base.
YLT (Young's Literal Translation, Robert Young, 1862). Hyper-literal preservation of Hebrew and Greek grammar; useful for word-study work even where English reads stiff.

See Bibles for the full per-translation history, translators, textual basis, strengths, and weaknesses.