1 Corinthians 13:7

Plain English Version

If we love people properly, we will keep on loving them, no matter what happens. If we love people, we will keep on believing good things about them, and we will keep on hoping good things for them, and even if we are getting trouble, we will not give up.

Cross References

Genesis 29:20

So Jacob worked for Laban for 7 years, so that he could marry Rachel. Jacob really loved Rachel, and he felt really happy that he was going to marry her. He was so happy that those 7 years only felt like a few days.

Mark 9:23

Jesus said, “You said to me, ‘If you can.’ But you know that God is strong enough to do anything if you trust him to do it, right?”

Romans 15:1

Some of us are strong and trust God about these things, but other Christians are weak and worry about them a lot. We strong Christians have to be easy on those weak Christians, and help them get strong. We have to think about the problems they have with these things. We can’t just do whatever makes us happy.

Romans 8:24

We are really sure that he will save us and fix everything up for us even though he hasn’t done it yet. We know he will do it one day, so we just have to keep on waiting for it.

1 Corinthians 13:4

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.

1 Corinthians 9:12

Other people ask you to give them things, and that’s all right for them, so it has to be all right for us too. But we never ask you to give us anything. You see, if we ask for things when we tell people the good news about Jesus Christ, some of them will not listen to that good news. But we want everybody to listen to our message about Jesus, so we never ask anybody for anything. We reckon it’s better to go short of things.

Galatians 6:2

You have to do this to help each other be strong. You have to help other Christians that have problems. If you do that, you will be doing what Jesus Christ told you to do.

2 Thessalonians 1:4

And whenever we visit God’s people in the churches in other places, we tell them all about you. We tell them that you keep on believing in Jesus, no matter how much trouble people give you, and no matter how much they hurt you.

2 Timothy 2:24

And anyone that works for God can’t get into fights, but they have to be good to everybody. So don’t get angry with people that give you trouble. You have to teach people in a good way.

2 Timothy 3:11

You know that bad people in some towns gave me a lot of trouble. They did that at Antioch, and at Iconium, and at Listra. You know that they hurt me a lot at those places. But Jesus, our leader, saved me from them, and they didn’t kill me.

2 Timothy 4:5

Don’t be like those people. You have to control yourself all the time, no matter what happens to you. If they get tough on you, don’t get upset, just keep going. You have to keep on telling people the good news about Jesus, and you have to finish all the work that he gave you to do.

James 1:12

If God lets people test you, to see if you trust him properly, don’t give up trusting him. After God sees that you keep on trusting him, he will give you new life, so that you will live with him for ever. He promised to do that for everybody that loves him.

1 Peter 2:24

Jesus never did anything bad, but he died instead of us there on the cross. He took the payback for the bad things that we did. He died so that we can stop doing bad things, so that instead, we will do the right things. Jesus let them hurt him so that God can make us clean on the inside. It’s like we are sick, but God can make us better.

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.