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1 Corinthians 13 · a question people ask

"Love is patient and is kind." (13:4). Are these verses a list to measure myself by?

In the text

The verses tell what love is and does: "Love is patient and is kind. Love doesn’t envy." (13:4), down to "bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, and endures all things." (13:7). In the WEB they give no command, and they don't say you. These notes make no list of them for anyone to measure themselves by, and apply them to no one.

The verses

“Love is patient and is kind. Love doesn’t envy. Love doesn’t brag, is not proud, doesn’t behave itself inappropriately, doesn’t seek its own way, is not provoked, takes no account of evil; doesn’t rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, and endures all things.”
1 Corinthians 13:4-7 · World English Bible

From Favor's study of 1 Corinthians 13

1 Corinthians 13: The greatest of these is love

1 Corinthians 13 says "but don’t have love" in each of its first three verses (13:1-3). It says love "believes all things, hopes all things" (13:7), and it ends by naming "faith, hope, and love" as the three that remain (13:13).

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Last reviewed October 8, 2026. Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible, which is in the public domain. Every answer cites the verses it rests on. What we believe · All Bible questions