1st Corinthians Chapter 13 verse 3 Holy Bible

ASV 1stCorinthians 13:3

And if I bestow all my goods to feed `the poor', and if I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profiteth me nothing.
read chapter 13 in ASV

BBE 1stCorinthians 13:3

And if I give all my goods to the poor, and if I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it is of no profit to me.
read chapter 13 in BBE

DARBY 1stCorinthians 13:3

And if I shall dole out all my goods in food, and if I deliver up my body that I may be burned, but have not love, I profit nothing.
read chapter 13 in DARBY

KJV 1stCorinthians 13:3

And 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.
read chapter 13 in KJV

WBT 1stCorinthians 13:3


read chapter 13 in WBT

WEB 1stCorinthians 13:3

If I dole out all my goods to feed the poor, and if I give my body to be burned, but don't have love, it profits me nothing.
read chapter 13 in WEB

YLT 1stCorinthians 13:3

and 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.
read chapter 13 in YLT

1st Corinthians 13 : 3 Bible Verse Songs

Pulpit Commentary

Pulpit CommentaryVerse 3. - And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor. The five words, "bestow to feed the poor," represent the one Greek word psomiso, and after all do not give its force. It is derived from psomion, a mouthful, and so means "give away by mouthfuls," i.e. "dole away." It occurs in Romans 12:20 for "feed." Attention to this verse might have served as a warning against the often useless and sometimes even pernicious doles of mediaeval monasteries. Much of the "charity" of these days is even more uncharitable than this, and shows the most complete absence of true charity; as for instance the dropping of pennies to professional beggars, and so putting a premium on vice and imposture. To be burned. The reading is extremely uncertain. The change of a letter gives the reading, that I may glory (καυχήσωμαι for καυθήσωμαι). Perhaps the scribes thought that "death by burning" was as yet (A.D. 57) an unheard of form of martyrdom, though it became but too familiar ten or twelve years later in the Neronian persecution. St. Paul was, however, probably referring, not, as some have supposed, to branding, which would bare been expressed differently, but to the case of the "three children," in Daniel 3:23, where the LXX. has, "They gave their bodies into the fire;" or to the various tortures and deaths by fire in 2 Macc. 7. At the burning of Ridley and Latimer, Dr. Smith chose this verse for his text. Its applicability is on a par with millions of other instances in which Scripture has been grossly abused by employing its letter to murder its spirit, and by taking it from the God of love to give it to the devil of religious hatred. The burning of a saint was a singular specimen of the Church's "love." It profiteth me nothing; literally, I am nothing benefited. A consideration of this verse might have shown the Christians of the early centuries that there was nothing intrinsically redemptive in the martyrdom into which they often thrust themselves.

Ellicott's Commentary

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers(3) Bestow all my goods.--The Greek word literally means to feed others by giving them morsels of food, and so we have the thought of a charity extensive in its diffusion, as well as complete in its self-sacrifice. The whole of the bestower's property given in charity, and so divided as to reach the largest number.I give my body to be burned.--A still greater proof of devotion to some person or cause, is the sacrifice of life; yet even that may be without love. A strange reading has crept into some MSS.--"that I may boast"--which would make the passage mean that a man gave his body to some torture from a wrong motive, viz., vain-glory. But this would weaken the force of the passage. What renders the self-sacrifice valueless is not a wrong cause, but the absence of love as the motive power. Although burning was not a form of martyrdom at this time, yet such histories as that of the three children in Daniel 3:19 would make the expression intelligible and forcible.These words are historically interesting to the English Church. They formed the text from which Dr. Smith preached at the martyrdom of Latimer and Ridley!