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.