¹Kunyange ndikataura nendimi dzevanhu nedzevatumwa, asi ndisina rudo, ndava sendarira inorira, kana chigwagwagwa chinongwerengwedza.

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

²Kunyange ndine chiporofita, ndichinzwisisa zvakavanzika zvose, neruzivo rwose; uye kunyange ndine rutendo rwose, zvekuti ndibvise makomo, ndisina rudo, handisi chinhu.

²and 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;

³Kunyange ndagovera varombo zvose zvandinazvo, kunyange ndikapa muviri wangu kuti ndipiswe ndisina rudo, hazvindibatsiri chinhu.

³and 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.

⁴Rudo rwune moyo murefu, rwune unyoro; rudo harwuna godo; rudo harwuzvikudzi, harwututumadzwi,

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

⁵harwuzvibati zvisakafanira, harwuzvitsvakiri zvarwo; harwugumbuswi nhando, harwunanzereri zvakaipa;

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

⁶harwufari mukusarurama, asi rwunofara muchokwadi;

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

⁷rwunotakura zvinhu zvose, rwunotenda zvinhu zvose, rwunotarisira zvinhu zvose, rwunotsungirira zvinhu zvose.

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

⁸Rudo harwutongokundikani. Zvino kana zviri zviporofita, zvichakundikana; kana dziri ndimi, dzichaguma; kana guri ruzivo, rwuchanyangariswa.

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

⁹Nekuti tinoziva muchidimbu, uye tinoporofita muchidimbu;

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

¹⁰asi kana zvakazara zvasvika, izvo zviri muchidimbu zvichashayiswa maturo.

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

¹¹Pandakanga ndiri mucheche, ndaitaura semucheche, ndainzwisisa semucheche, ndaifunga semucheche; zvino pandakava murume, ndakabvisa zveucheche.

¹¹When 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;

¹²Nekuti ikozvino tinoona nepachioni-oni madzedzerera; asi nenguva iyo tichaona zviso zvakatarisana; ikozvino ndinoziva muchidimbu, asi ipapo ndichaziva sezvandakazikamwa neniwo.

¹²for 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;

¹³Ikozvino rutendo, tariro, rudo, zvitatu izvi ndizvo zvinogara; asi chikuru chezvizvi rudo.

¹³and now there doth remain faith, hope, love — these three; and the greatest of these [is] love.