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How to memorize 1 Corinthians 13

1 Corinthians 13:1–13 is 13 verses. Learned a verse a day, a line at a time (37 lines in all), it takes about 3 weeks.

Paul interrupts a discussion of spiritual gifts (chapters 12 and 14) with this chapter on love. Verses 1–3 say what gifts are worth without love; 4–7 describe love; 8–13 say what lasts.

1 Corinthians 13 in 37 lines

Berean Standard Bible (public domain). Learn a verse by adding one line at a time.

  1. 13:1
    1. If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels,
    2. but have not love,
    3. I am only a ringing gong or a clanging cymbal.
  2. 13:2
    1. If I have the gift of prophecy
    2. and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge,
    3. and if I have absolute faith so as to move mountains,
    4. but have not love, I am nothing.
  3. 13:3
    1. If I give all I possess to the poor
    2. and exult in the surrender of my body,
    3. but have not love, I gain nothing.
  4. 13:4
    1. Love is patient, love is kind.
    2. It does not envy,
    3. it does not boast, it is not proud.
  5. 13:5
    1. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking,
    2. it is not easily angered,
    3. it keeps no account of wrongs.
  6. 13:6
    1. Love takes no pleasure in evil,
    2. but rejoices in the truth.
  7. 13:7
    1. It bears all things, believes all things,
    2. hopes all things, endures all things.
  8. 13:8
    1. Love never fails.
    2. But where there are prophecies, they will cease;
    3. where there are tongues, they will be restrained;
    4. where there is knowledge, it will be dismissed.
  9. 13:9
    1. For we know in part and we prophesy in part,
  10. 13:10
    1. but when the perfect comes, the partial passes away.
  11. 13:11
    1. When I was a child, I talked like a child,
    2. I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child.
    3. When I became a man, I set aside childish ways.
  12. 13:12
    1. Now we see but a dim reflection as in a mirror;
    2. then we shall see face to face.
    3. Now I know in part;
    4. then I shall know fully,
    5. even as I am fully known.
  13. 13:13
    1. And now these three remain:
    2. faith, hope, and love;
    3. but the greatest of these is love.

How to memorize it, five minutes a day

  1. One phrase at a time. Read the first phrase aloud twice. Cover it and say it. Uncover it and check every word.
  2. Add the next phrase only when the first comes easily, then say the two together. Keep joining until the verse is whole.
  3. Come back tomorrow and say it before you look. Rate yourself honestly: got it, needed help, or practise again.
  4. Space the reviews. Each time you recall it without help, wait longer before the next review: a day, three days, a week, a month.
  5. Say the whole passage once a week so the verses stay joined, not just memorized one by one.

King James Version

1Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. 2And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing. 3And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing. 4Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, 5Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil; 6Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth; 7Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things. 8Charity 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. 9For we know in part, and we prophesy in part. 10But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away. 11When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things. 12For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known. 13And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity.