1 Ahakoa korero noa ahau i nga reo o nga tangata, o nga anahera, ki te kahore oku aroha, ka rite ahau ki te parahi tangi, ki te himipora tatangi.

2 Ahakoa kei ahau te mahi poropiti, a kitea ana e ahau nga mea ngaro katoa, me te matauranga katoa; ahakoa kei ahau katoa te whakapono, e taea ai te whakaneke i nga maunga, ki te kahore oku aroha, ehara rawa ahau.

3 Ahakoa ka hoatu e ahau aku taonga katoa hei whangai i te hunga rawakore, ahakoa ka tukua e ahau toku tinana kia tahuna, ki te kahore oku aroha, kahore rawa he pai ki ahau.

4 He manawanui te aroha, a he atawhai; e kore te aroha e hae; e kore te aroha e whakahihi, e kore e whakapehapeha,

5 kahore ona tikanga whanoke, e kore e whai ki ana ake, e kore e riri wawe, e kore e whakairi kino;

6 E kore e hari ki te he, engari ka hari tahi me te pono;

7 E whakamanawanui ana ki nga mea katoa, e whakapono ana ki nga mea katoa, e tumanako ana ki nga mea katoa, e whakaririka kau ana ki nga mea katoa.

8 E kore rawa te aroha e taka: na, ahakoa mahi poropiti, e memeha; ahakoa reo ke, e mutu; ahakoa matauranga, e memeha.

9 E matau ana hoki tatou ko tetahi wahi anake, e poropiti ana tatou ko tetahi wahi anake;

10 Otira ka tae mai te tino mea, ko reira memeha ai taua wahi.

11 I toku tamarikitanga i rite aku korero ki a te tamariki, i rite toku ngakau ki to te tamariki, i rite oku whakaaro ki o te tamariki, no toku kaumatuatanga nei, whakarerea ake e ahau nga mea tamariki.

12 Inaianei hoki he titiro pouriuri ta tatou i roto i te whakaata, ko reira ia he kanohi, he kanohi: inaianei e matau ana ahau ko tetahi wahi anake; ko reira ia ahau mohio ai me ahau i mohiotia ra.

13 Na, tenei te mau nei te whakapono, te tumanako, te aroha, enei e toru; ko te mea nui rawa ia o enei ko te aroha.

1 If with the tongues of men and of messengers I speak, and have not love, I have become brass sounding, or a cymbal tinkling;

2 and if I have prophecy, and know all the secrets, and all the knowledge, and if I have all the faith, so as to remove mountains, and have not love, I am nothing;

3 and if I give away to feed others all my goods, and if I give up my body that I may be burned, and have not love, I am profited nothing.

4 The love is long-suffering, it is kind, the love doth not envy, the love doth not vaunt itself, is not puffed up,

5 doth not act unseemly, doth not seek its own things, is not provoked, doth not impute evil,

6 rejoiceth not over the unrighteousness, and rejoiceth with the truth;

7 all things it beareth, all it believeth, all it hopeth, all it endureth.

8 The love doth never fail; and whether [there be] prophecies, they shall become useless; whether tongues, they shall cease; whether knowledge, it shall become useless;

9 for in part we know, and in part we prophecy;

10 and when that which is perfect may come, then that which [is] in part shall become useless.

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.