1 Corinthians 13:4

Plain English Version

If we love people, we will be good to them, and we will not get angry with people that give us trouble. If we love people, we will not be jealous of them. If we love people, we will not reckon we are better than they are, and we will not think we are really good when we are not good.

Cross References

Genesis 30:1

Leah already had 4 kids with Jacob, but her sister Rachel didn’t have any kids. So Rachel got jealous of Leah. Then Rachel said to Jacob, “Give me kids. If you don’t, I will be so sad that I will die.”

Genesis 37:11

Joseph’s brothers were really angry with him about those dreams, and they hated him even more. But Joseph’s father kept on thinking about those things that Joseph said.

Acts 7:9

Joseph was one of those 12 men. His brothers were jealous of him, and they sold him to some people that took him to Egypt. He had to work there for no pay. But God was with Joseph and looked after him there in Egypt.

Romans 1:29

They are very bad, and they are greedy, they want lots of money and things. And they are really horrible. They want to take things that belong to other people. They murder people, they argue, they cheat other people, and they do mean things to people. They gossip,

Romans 13:13

We have to do things that are right and good and honest, like the things people do in the day-light. We can’t go to wild grog parties, and we can’t get drunk. We can’t sleep with anyone that is not our own wife or husband, as if we are married to them. We can’t do wrong things with our bodies. We can’t get into fights and arguments. We can’t be jealous of other people.

1 Corinthians 3:3

Even though you are Christians you still don’t live like Christians. You still let your old human spirits control you. You want things that other people have. And you argue with each other. That shows that you are letting your human spirits control you, not the Holy Spirit. You are still like people that don’t know God.

1 Corinthians 4:18

You see, some of you reckon you are really great, and you say, “Paul is frightened to come back here.”

1 Corinthians 4:6

My Christian friends, I’ve been talking about Apollos and me, to help you to understand the things we teach you. You know that wise people say this, “Don’t do anything more than what is in God’s book.” We want to help you learn what that means. You see, nobody can say that one person is better than another person.

1 Corinthians 5:2

But you mob don’t seem to care, and instead, you think you are great. But listen, you really have to feel shame and be sad, not happy. That man is doing a very bad thing, so you can’t let him stay in your church family.

1 Corinthians 8:1

I will answer your next question now, about those statues that some people make, and they think those statues are gods. They give food to those statues, and they reckon the statues give that food power. Then those people eat that food, or they sell it to other people. And you Christians asked me, “Can we eat that food that they gave to those statues?” That’s what you asked me. Well, before I answer your question, I want you to remember this. All of us know something, but if we think we know more than other people, we start thinking wrong, like we reckon we are really smart. No, we can’t try to be smart. Instead, we have to love people. If we love other people, it helps them to get strong.

Galatians 5:26

We can’t reckon we are better than anyone else. We can’t do things that make other people angry, so that we start fighting each other. And we can’t wish we are like somebody else, and then hate that other person.

Ephesians 4:2

Don’t think that you are more important than other people. You have to be good to other people, you have to listen to them and try to understand them. Don’t get angry with each other, but you have to love each other all the time.

Ephesians 4:32

Instead, be good to each other, and try to understand how other people feel. If somebody does wrong to you, don’t do payback to them, but let it go. Be good to each other, just like God is good to you. He doesn’t do payback to you. You belong to Jesus Christ now, so God doesn’t punish you for those bad things you did.

Philippians 1:15

There are Christians here that think in a good way and they want to help me, so they tell people about Jesus. They love me, and they know that God let people put me in jail so that I can tell a lot more people the message about Jesus and show them that this message is true. But there are other Christians that are a bit jealous of me, and they think they can give me trouble while I’m in jail. They want other Christians to think that they are more important than me. So they tell people about Jesus Christ, and they hope they will get a lot of people to say they are great. They are thinking the wrong way. They only think about themselves.

Colossians 1:11

And we ask God to use his great power to make you strong, so that you will stay strong for him and you will not give up. And if people give you trouble, we pray that you will not worry or get upset. And we ask him to make you happy all the time.

Colossians 2:18

There are some people that tell lies and say, “God has shown us special things.” Those people think up their own ideas, and that makes them feel smart. But they tell you that they are not smart, and then they tell you to show respect to God’s angel messengers, as if those angels are God. But they are trying to trick you. Don’t take any notice of those people, and don’t believe those lies.

Colossians 3:12

You see, God loves you. He picked you to be his own special people. So you have to live a new way for him. You have to be good to other people. You have to feel sorry for people that have trouble and try to help them. Don’t think that you are more important than other people. You have to be easy on other people, and don’t get angry with them, even if they give you trouble.

1 Thessalonians 5:14

And the next thing, friends, tell lazy people that they have to work. – And if somebody is frightened, talk to them in a way that helps them to be brave. – And help anybody that is weak. – And don’t get angry with anyone, keep on trying to help them. –

1 Timothy 6:4

But the people that teach something different are wrong. Those people don’t really understand anything. They just want everyone to think they are important. They want to make trouble and get people to have arguments about words. If people start to argue, then they start to get jealous of each other. They think bad things, and they say bad things about each other.

2 Timothy 2:25

If somebody doesn’t agree with the true message, you have to straighten them out, but do it quietly, in an easy way. You know, the devil, the boss over the bad spirits, he tries to trick people. It is like he sets a trap for them. He catches people in his trap, then he makes them do whatever he wants them to do. But if you teach people properly, they can wake up, then God will help them turn around, and he will get them to think straight, and they will understand that true message, and God will get them out of the devil’s trap.

2 Timothy 3:10

But Timothy, you are very different from them. You believe the message I always teach, and you know the good way I always live. You know that I don’t get angry when I get trouble, and I keep on loving people. You know that I believe really strongly in Jesus, and you agree with me about the things I live for.

2 Timothy 4:2

You’ve got to tell people God’s word. You have to be ready to tell it at any time, no matter if it seems to be the right time or not. Teach it carefully to people, and be ready to wait for them to understand it. If they are going wrong, show them the right way to live, and help them to live that way. If they are going the right way, say good words to them to help them to keep going strong.

Titus 3:3

You know, we were like that before we believed in Jesus. We did silly things too. We didn’t do what God told us to do. People tricked us, and we believed things that were not true. And we wanted to do all sorts of bad things. We couldn’t stop ourselves. If anybody had a lot of things, we wanted those things for ourselves, and we were angry with those people. We hated people, and people hated us.

James 4:5

God says something important about this in his book. He says that he put his Holy Spirit in us, and he says that if we leave him and follow some other way, his spirit gets really upset.

1 Peter 2:1

So clean up your lives and stop doing bad things. Don’t tell lies, but tell the straight and true story. Don’t say you are good if you are not. Stop being jealous of other people, don’t hate them because they have something that you don’t have. And don’t rubbish another person.

1 Peter 3:8

Now all of you listen to this too. Remember that you are all in the same family, so you have to think the same way about what is right. And you have to care for each other properly. Don’t think you are great. Try to understand how other people are feeling and be good to them.

1 Peter 4:8

And this is the most important thing you’ve got to do, you’ve got to keep on loving each other very much. Even if somebody does something bad to you, you have to love them, and be good to them anyway, and don’t do payback to them.