The Way of Love
1 If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 And if I have aprophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, bso as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3 cIf I give away all I have, and dif I deliver up my body to be burned,1 but have not love, I gain nothing.
4 eLove is patient and fkind; love gdoes not envy or boast; it his not arrogant 5 or rude. It idoes not insist on its own way; it jis not irritable or resentful;2 6 it kdoes not rejoice at wrongdoing, but lrejoices with the truth. 7 mLove bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, eendures all things.
8 Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away. 9 For nwe know in part and we prophesy in part, 10 but owhen the perfect comes, the partial will pass away. 11 When 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. 12 For pnow we see in a mirror dimly, but qthen face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as rI have been fully known.
13 So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.
Test the Spirits
1 Beloved, tdo not believe every spirit, but utest the spirits to see whether they are from God, for vmany wfalse prophets xhave gone out into the world. 2 By this you know the Spirit of God: yevery spirit that confesses that zJesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, 3 and every spirit athat does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you heard was coming and bnow is in the world already. 4 Little children, you are from God and have overcome them, for che who is in you is greater than dhe who is in the world. 5 eThey are from the world; therefore they speak from the world, and fthe world listens to them. 6 We are from God. gWhoever knows God listens to us; whoever is not from God does not listen to us. By this we know hthe Spirit of truth and ithe spirit of error.
God Is Love
7 Beloved, jlet us love one another, for love is from God, and kwhoever loves has been born of God and knows God. 8 lAnyone who does not love does not know God, because mGod is love. 9 In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that nGod sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. 10 In this is love, onot that we have loved God nbut that he loved us and sent his Son to be pthe propitiation for our sins. 11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 12 qNo one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and rhis love is perfected in us.
13 sBy this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit. 14 And twe have seen and testify that uthe Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of vthe world. 15 wWhoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. 16 So xwe have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. yGod is love, and zwhoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. 17 By this ais love perfected with us, so that bwe may have confidence for the day of judgment, because cas he is so also are we in this world. 18 There is no fear in love, but dperfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not abeen perfected in love. 19 eWe love because he first loved us. 20 fIf anyone says, “I love God,” and ghates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot1 love God hwhom he has not seen. 21 And ithis commandment we have from him: jwhoever loves God must also love his brother.
The Lord Is My Rock and My Fortress
To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David, fthe servant of the Lord, gwho addressed the words of this hsong to the Lord on the day when the Lord delivered him from the hand of all his enemies, and from the hand of Saul. He said:
1 I love you, O Lord, my strength.
2 The Lord is my irock and my jfortress and my deliverer,
my God, my irock, in kwhom I take refuge,
my lshield, and mthe horn of my salvation, my nstronghold.
3 I call upon the Lord, who is oworthy to be praised,
and I am saved from my enemies.
4 pThe cords of death encompassed me;
qthe torrents of destruction assailed me;1
5 pthe cords of Sheol entangled me;
the snares of death confronted me.
6 rIn my distress I called upon the Lord;
to my God I cried for help.
From his stemple he heard my voice,
and my cry to him reached his ears.
7 Then the earth treeled and rocked;
the foundations also of the mountains trembled
and quaked, because he was angry.
8 Smoke went up from his nostrils,2
and devouring ufire from his mouth;
glowing coals flamed forth from him.
9 He vbowed the heavens and wcame down;
xthick darkness was under his feet.
10 He rode on a cherub and flew;
he came swiftly on zthe wings of the wind.
11 He made darkness his covering, his acanopy around him,
thick clouds bdark with water.
12 Out of the brightness before him
chailstones and coals of fire broke through his clouds.
13 The Lord also dthundered in the heavens,
and the Most High uttered his evoice,
hailstones and coals of fire.
14 And he sent out his farrows and scattered them;
he flashed forth lightnings and grouted them.
15 Then hthe channels of the sea were seen,
and the foundations of the world were laid bare
at your irebuke, O Lord,
at the blast of jthe breath of your nostrils.
16 He ksent from on high, he took me;
he ldrew me out of mmany waters.
17 He rescued me from my strong enemy
and from those who hated me,
for they were ntoo mighty for me.
18 They confronted me in the day of my calamity,
but the Lord was my support.
19 He brought me out into oa broad place;
he rescued me, because he pdelighted in me.
20 The Lord dealt with me qaccording to my righteousness;
according to rthe cleanness of my hands he rewarded me.
21 For I have skept the ways of the Lord,
and have not wickedly departed from my God.
22 For tall his rules3 were before me,
and his statutes I did not put away from me.
23 I was ublameless before him,
and I kept myself from my guilt.
24 So the Lord has rewarded me according to my righteousness,
according to the cleanness of my hands in his sight.
25 With vthe merciful you show yourself merciful;
with the blameless man you show yourself blameless;
26 with the purified you show yourself pure;
and with wthe crooked you make yourself seem tortuous.
27 For you save xa humble people,
but ythe haughty eyes you bring down.
28 For it is you who light my zlamp;
the Lord my God lightens my darkness.
29 For by you I can run against a troop,
and by my God I can aleap over ba wall.
30 This God—his way is cperfect;4
the word of the Lord dproves true;
31 For gwho is God, but the Lord?
And who is ha rock, except our God?—
32 the God who iequipped me with strength
and made my way jblameless.
33 He made my feet like the feet of a kdeer
and set me secure on lthe heights.
34 He mtrains my hands for war,
so that my arms can bend a bow of bronze.
35 You have given me the shield of your salvation,
and your right hand nsupported me,
and your ogentleness made me great.
36 You pgave a wide place for my steps under me,
and my feet did not slip.
37 I pursued my enemies and overtook them,
and did not turn back till they were consumed.
38 I thrust them through, so that they were not able to rise;
they fell under my feet.
39 For you equipped me with strength for the battle;
you made those who rise against me sink under me.
40 You made my enemies qturn their backs to me,5
and those who hated me I destroyed.
41 rThey cried for help, but there was none to save;
they cried to the Lord, but he did not answer them.
42 I beat them fine as sdust before the wind;
I cast them out like tthe mire of the streets.
43 You delivered me from ustrife with the people;
you made me vthe head of the nations;
wpeople whom I had not known served me.
44 As soon as they heard of me they obeyed me;
xforeigners ycame cringing to me.
45 xForeigners lost heart
and zcame trembling out of their fortresses.
46 The Lord lives, and blessed be my rock,
and exalted be the God of my salvation—
47 the God who gave me vengeance
and asubdued peoples under me,
48 who rescued me from my enemies;
yes, you bexalted me above those who rose against me;
you delivered me from cthe man of violence.
49 dFor this I will praise you, O Lord, among the nations,
and esing to your name.
50 Great fsalvation he brings to his king,
and shows steadfast love to his ganointed,
to hDavid and his offspring forever.
