1 Corinthians 13:8
New International Version
Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away.

New Living Translation
Prophecy and speaking in unknown languages and special knowledge will become useless. But love will last forever!

English Standard Version
Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away.

Berean Standard Bible
Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be restrained; where there is knowledge, it will be dismissed.

Berean Literal Bible
Love never fails; but if there are prophesies, they will be done away; if there are tongues, they will be ceased; if there is knowledge it will pass away.

King James Bible
Charity never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away.

New King James Version
Love never fails. But whether there are prophecies, they will fail; whether there are tongues, they will cease; whether there is knowledge, it will vanish away.

New American Standard Bible
Love never fails; but if there are gifts of prophecy, they will be done away with; if there are tongues, they will cease; if there is knowledge, it will be done away with.

NASB 1995
Love never fails; but if there are gifts of prophecy, they will be done away; if there are tongues, they will cease; if there is knowledge, it will be done away.

NASB 1977
Love never fails; but if there are gifts of prophecy, they will be done away; if there are tongues, they will cease; if there is knowledge, it will be done away.

Legacy Standard Bible
Love never fails, but if there are gifts of prophecy, they will be done away; if there are tongues, they will cease; if there is knowledge, it will be done away.

Amplified Bible
Love never fails [it never fades nor ends]. But as for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for the gift of special knowledge, it will pass away.

Christian Standard Bible
Love never ends. But as for prophecies, they will come to an end; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will come to an end.

Holman Christian Standard Bible
Love never ends. But as for prophecies, they will come to an end; as for languages, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will come to an end.

American Standard Version
Love never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall be done away; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall be done away.

Aramaic Bible in Plain English
Love never fails; for prophecies shall cease, tongues shall be silenced and knowledge will be nothing;

Contemporary English Version
Love never fails! Everyone who prophesies will stop, and unknown languages will no longer be spoken. All that we know will be forgotten.

Douay-Rheims Bible
Charity never falleth away: whether prophecies shall be made void, or tongues shall cease, or knowledge shall be destroyed.

English Revised Version
Love never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall be done away; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall be done away.

GOD'S WORD® Translation
Love never comes to an end. There is the gift of speaking what God has revealed, but it will no longer be used. There is the gift of speaking in other languages, but it will stop by itself. There is the gift of knowledge, but it will no longer be used.

Good News Translation
Love is eternal. There are inspired messages, but they are temporary; there are gifts of speaking in strange tongues, but they will cease; there is knowledge, but it will pass.

International Standard Version
Love never fails. Now if there are prophecies, they will be done away with. If there are languages, they will cease. If there is knowledge, it will be done away with.

Literal Standard Version
Love never fails; and whether [there be] prophecies, they will become useless; whether tongues, they will cease; whether knowledge, it will become useless;

Majority Standard Bible
Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be restrained; where there is knowledge, it will be dismissed.

New American Bible
Love never fails. If there are prophecies, they will be brought to nothing; if tongues, they will cease; if knowledge, it will be brought to nothing.

NET Bible
Love never ends. But if there are prophecies, they will be set aside; if there are tongues, they will cease; if there is knowledge, it will be set aside.

New Revised Standard Version
Love never ends. But as for prophecies, they will come to an end; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will come to an end.

New Heart English Bible
Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will be done away with. Where there are tongues, they will cease. Where there is knowledge, it will be done away with.

Webster's Bible Translation
Charity never faileth: but whether there are prophecies, they shall fail; whether there are languages, they shall cease; whether there is knowledge, it shall vanish away.

Weymouth New Testament
Love never fails. But if there are prophecies, they will be done away with; if there are languages, they will cease; if there is knowledge, it will be brought to an end.

World English Bible
Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will be done away with. Where there are various languages, they will cease. Where there is knowledge, it will be done away with.

Young's Literal Translation
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;

Additional Translations ...
Audio Bible



Context
Love
7It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. 8 Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be restrained; where there is knowledge, it will be dismissed. 9For we know in part and we prophesy in part,…

Cross References
Acts 13:1
Now in the church at Antioch there were prophets and teachers: Barnabas, Simeon called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen (who had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch), and Saul.

1 Corinthians 8:2
The one who thinks he knows something does not yet know as he ought to know.

1 Corinthians 12:10
to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another distinguishing between spirits, to another speaking in various tongues, and to still another the interpretation of tongues.

1 Corinthians 13:1
If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a ringing gong or a clanging cymbal.

1 Corinthians 13:2
If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have absolute faith so as to move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.


Treasury of Scripture

Charity never fails: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away.

never.

1 Corinthians 13:10,13
But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away…

Luke 22:32
But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not: and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren.

Galatians 5:6
For in Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision; but faith which worketh by love.

tongues.

1 Corinthians 13:1
Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal.

1 Corinthians 12:10,28-30
To another the working of miracles; to another prophecy; to another discerning of spirits; to another divers kinds of tongues; to another the interpretation of tongues: …

1 Corinthians 14:39
Wherefore, brethren, covet to prophesy, and forbid not to speak with tongues.

vanish.

Jeremiah 49:7
Concerning Edom, thus saith the LORD of hosts; Is wisdom no more in Teman? is counsel perished from the prudent? is their wisdom vanished?

Hebrews 8:13
In that he saith, A new covenant, he hath made the first old. Now that which decayeth and waxeth old is ready to vanish away.

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Cease Charity End Ends Fail Faileth Fails Gifts Love Prophecies Prophecy Prophet's Stilled Tongues Useless Vanish Various Whether Word
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1 Corinthians 13
1. All gifts,
3. however excellent, are of no worth without love.
4. The praises thereof,
13. as love is greatest before hope and faith.














(8) Charity never faileth.--From the positive and negative qualities of love described and enumerated in the preceding passage, the Apostle now turns to contrast the imperishable character of love and other graces with the ephemeral nature of gifts. The Corinthians held an exaggerated estimate of the value of gifts such as tongues and prophecy, and under-valued the graces of faith and love. Now the Apostle shows that they were thereby preferring the things which are for a time to the graces which are for ever. One faction, indeed, exalted to the highest place a gift--that of tongues--which was the most ephemeral of all Christian gifts. On the "tongues," see Note on 1Corinthians 14:2. "Prophecies," in the plural, intimates the varied gradations of power possessed by the preachers, in some cases including that deep spiritual insight into the realities of the present which enabled the preacher to foretell distant events.

Verses 8-13. - The eternal permanence of love. Verse 8. - Never faileth. The word "faileth" (ἐκπίπτει) has two technical meanings between which it is not easy to decide.

1. It means, technically, "is never hissed off the stage like a bad actor," i.e. it has its part to play even on the stage of eternity. This is its meaning in classic Greek.

2. it means "falls away" like the petals of a withered flower (as in James 1:11; comp. Isaiah 28:4). Here, perhaps, the meaning is not technical, but general, as in Romans 9:6 and in the LXX. (Job 21:43). But the reading may be simply πίπτει (falleth), as in א, A,B,C. They shall fail. This is not the same word as the one on which we have been commenting; it means "shall be annulled" or "done away;" and is the same verb as that rendered in the next clauses by "vanish away," "be done away" (ver. 10), and "put away" (ver. 11). Thus in two verses we have the same word rendered by four different phrases. No doubt the effect of the change sounds beautifully to ears accustomed to the "old familiar strain;" but it is the obvious duty of translators to represent, not to improve upon, the language of their author. In the Revised Version the stone word is rightly kept for the four recurrences of the verb. Tongues. Special charisms are enumerated to show the transcendence of love. Knowledge. This shall be only annulled in the sense of earthly knowledge, which shall be a star disappearing in the light of that heavenly knowledge which shall gradually broaden into the perfect day.

Parallel Commentaries ...


Greek
Love
ἀγάπη (agapē)
Noun - Nominative Feminine Singular
Strong's 26: From agapao; love, i.e. Affection or benevolence; specially a love-feast.

never
οὐδέποτε (oudepote)
Adverb
Strong's 3763: Never. From oude and pote; not even at any time, i.e. Never at all.

fails.
πίπτει (piptei)
Verb - Present Indicative Active - 3rd Person Singular
Strong's 4098: A reduplicated and contracted form of peto; probably akin to petomai through the idea of alighting; to fall.

But
δὲ (de)
Conjunction
Strong's 1161: A primary particle; but, and, etc.

where
εἴτε (eite)
Conjunction
Strong's 1535: And if, whether. From ei and te; if too.

[there are] prophecies,
προφητεῖαι (prophēteiai)
Noun - Nominative Feminine Plural
Strong's 4394: Prophecy, prophesying; the gift of communicating and enforcing revealed truth. From prophetes; prediction.

they will cease;
καταργηθήσονται (katargēthēsontai)
Verb - Future Indicative Passive - 3rd Person Plural
Strong's 2673: From kata and argeo; to be entirely idle, literally or figuratively.

where
εἴτε (eite)
Conjunction
Strong's 1535: And if, whether. From ei and te; if too.

[there are] tongues,
γλῶσσαι (glōssai)
Noun - Nominative Feminine Plural
Strong's 1100: The tongue; by implication, a language.

they will be restrained;
παύσονται (pausontai)
Verb - Future Indicative Middle - 3rd Person Plural
Strong's 3973: A primary verb; to stop, i.e. Restrain, quit, desist, come to an end.

where
εἴτε (eite)
Conjunction
Strong's 1535: And if, whether. From ei and te; if too.

[there is] knowledge,
γνῶσις (gnōsis)
Noun - Nominative Feminine Singular
Strong's 1108: Knowledge, doctrine, wisdom. From ginosko; knowing, i.e. knowledge.

it will be dismissed.
καταργηθήσεται (katargēthēsetai)
Verb - Future Indicative Passive - 3rd Person Singular
Strong's 2673: From kata and argeo; to be entirely idle, literally or figuratively.


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NT Letters: 1 Corinthians 13:8 Love never fails (1 Cor. 1C iC 1Cor i cor icor)
1 Corinthians 13:7
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