1 Corinthians 13
Speak in the languages of men and of angels, have prophecy and mysteries and knowledge and mountain-moving faith, feed out all you have and hand your body over to be burned — without love it is sounding copper, nothing, no profit. Love is patient, is kind, is not jealous, does not brag, is not puffed up … bears up under, believes, hopes, endures all things. Love never falls — prophecies, languages, knowledge are abolished. Now through a mirror in a riddle, then face to face. Faith, hope, love remain, these three; the greater is love.
Why this rendering
1Cor.13.1 Observation
Syntactic observation
Ἐὰν ταῖς γλώσσαις τῶν ἀνθρώπων λαλῶ καὶ τῶν ἀγγέλων, ἀγάπην δὲ μὴ ἔχω, γέγονα χαλκὸς ἠχῶν ἢ κύμβαλον ἀλαλάζον … ἀγάπην δὲ μὴ ἔχω, οὐθέν εἰμι … ἀγάπην δὲ μὴ ἔχω, οὐδὲν ὠφελοῦμαι — if I speak in the languages of men and of angels but do not have love, I have become sounding copper or a clanging cymbal … but do not have love, I am nothing … but do not have love, I profit nothing. Verses 1-3 repeat ἐάν … ἀγάπην δὲ μὴ ἔχω three times and the endings shorten — ‘I have become … / I am nothing / I profit nothing’. γλῶσσα follows the rule of chapter 12 and is ‘language’ — ‘the languages of men and of angels’ run on in one word. χαλκός (copper) is the word of Matt 10:9, ‘gold or silver or copper’; ἠχέω (sound) and κύμβαλον (cymbal) are New Testament hapaxes. ἀλαλάζω is the verb of the mourners ‘lamenting’ in Jairus’ house (Mark 5:38) — a human wail here attached to an instrument, ‘a clanging cymbal’. μεθιστάναι in v.2 (remove) is the verb of Luke 16:4 (‘removed’ from a post) and Acts 13:22 (‘removed’ Saul); with mountains as object it is a different word from Matt 17:20 (μεταβαίνω, ‘move from here’). ψωμίζω in v.3 (feed) is the verb of Rom 12:20, ‘feed your enemy’, with ‘possessions’ as object — kept as ‘feed out’, not paraphrased as ‘give away’. The base text marks ⸀καυθήσομαι (be burned) as a variant — some manuscripts read ‘that I may boast’.
Rendering options · 2
Basis One word, one rendering; ‘feeding’ one’s possessions is the text’s own picture.
Basis The familiar paraphrase.
Rejected ‘The poor’ is not in the text, and the link to Rom 12:20 breaks.
Lost in translation
ἀλαλάζω — the ‘lamenting’ of Mark 5:38 and the ‘clanging’ cymbal are one verb; English keeps no shared piece.
ἐάν … ἀγάπην δὲ μὴ ἔχω three times — ‘but do not have love’ stands in the same place three times.
Why this rendering
1Cor.13.4 Observation
Syntactic observation
Ἡ ἀγάπη μακροθυμεῖ, χρηστεύεται ἡ ἀγάπη, οὐ ζηλοῖ ἡ ἀγάπη, οὐ περπερεύεται, οὐ φυσιοῦται, οὐκ ἀσχημονεῖ, οὐ ζητεῖ τὰ ἑαυτῆς, οὐ παροξύνεται, οὐ λογίζεται τὸ κακόν, οὐ χαίρει ἐπὶ τῇ ἀδικίᾳ, συγχαίρει δὲ τῇ ἀληθείᾳ· πάντα στέγει, πάντα πιστεύει, πάντα ἐλπίζει, πάντα ὑπομένει — love is patient, love is kind, love is not jealous, does not brag, is not puffed up, does not behave shamefully, does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not reckon the evil, does not rejoice over unrighteousness but rejoices with the truth; bears up under all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Verses 4-7 are fifteen verbs — love is drawn not in adjectives but in verbs. This edition keeps all fifteen as verbs where English allows and does not turn them into a list of adjectives. Eight of the fifteen are words pinned on the Corinthians earlier in the letter — ζηλόω (be jealous; the ζῆλος of 3:3, ‘jealousy and strife’), φυσιόω (be puffed up; 4:6, 5:2, 8:1), ἀσχημονέω (behave shamefully; 7:36), ζητέω τὰ ἑαυτοῦ (seek one’s own; 10:24), λογίζομαι (reckon; 4:1), στέγω (bear up under; 9:12) among them. The ζηλόω of 12:31 (‘be zealous for the greater gifts’) is in 13:4 ‘is not jealous’ — one verb, two grains, ruled by site. χρηστεύομαι (be kind — only here in the New Testament) is the verb of χρηστός in Luke 6:35 (‘he is good to the ungrateful’). περπερεύομαι (brag) is likewise a hapax, a different word from καυχάομαι (boast; 1:29).
Rendering options · 2
Basis The text is verbs; not recast as a list of adjectives.
Basis The familiar noun list.
Rejected Verbs become nouns and what love does becomes what love is.
Lost in translation
χρηστεύομαι (v.4) ↔ χρηστός in Luke 6:35 — ‘is kind / is good’ do not share a piece in English.
ζηλόω (12:31 ‘be zealous for’ ↔ 13:4 ‘be jealous’) — one verb’s two grains are two phrases in English.
Why this rendering
1Cor.13.12 Observation
Syntactic observation
βλέπομεν γὰρ ἄρτι δι’ ἐσόπτρου ἐν αἰνίγματι, τότε δὲ πρόσωπον πρὸς πρόσωπον· ἄρτι γινώσκω ἐκ μέρους, τότε δὲ ἐπιγνώσομαι καθὼς καὶ ἐπεγνώσθην — for now we see through a mirror in a riddle, but then face to face; now I know in part, but then I shall recognise just as I also have been recognised. ἄρτι … τότε δέ twice — ‘now … but then’. ἐν αἰνίγματι (in a riddle — only here in the New Testament) is the word of Numbers 12:8; this edition keeps ‘riddle’ and does not paraphrase ‘dimly’. ἔσοπτρον (mirror — two New Testament sites) is the ancient bronze mirror. The second line of v.12 changes verb from γινώσκω (know) to ἐπιγινώσκω (recognise; Matt 7:16 ‘by their fruits you will recognise them’), and then turns it passive (ἐπεγνώσθην, I have been recognised) — the reversal of 8:3, ‘is known by him’. οὐδέποτε πίπτει in v.8 (never falls) is the verb of 10:12 (‘lest he fall’), marked ⸀ in the base text (some manuscripts read ‘falls away’). καταργέω (be abolished) comes four times in vv.8, 10, 11 — the verb of 1:28, 2:6, 6:13. ἐκ μέρους (in part) comes four times in vv.9, 10, 12, the phrase of 12:27. μείζων in v.13 (greater) is a comparative — not raised to ‘greatest’.
Rendering options · 2
Basis The word is riddle — the word of Numbers 12:8.
Basis The familiar rendering.
Rejected It makes the line about the mirror’s dimness and erases the noun ‘riddle’.
Lost in translation
γινώσκω ↔ ἐπιγινώσκω (v.12) — ‘know / recognise’ keeps the two verbs apart.
μείζων (v.13, comparative) — ‘greater’, not raised to ‘greatest’.