The love is kind bible verse and the passages that surround it are quoted below exactly as they appear in the King James Version, where love is often translated as charity.
Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal.
1 Corinthians 13:1 (KJV)
Paul opens by saying that eloquence without love is just noise. Before the love is kind bible verse arrives, he clears the ground: gifts without charity are an empty gong.
Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up,
1 Corinthians 13:4 (KJV)
This is the love is kind bible verse in its King James form. Charity is the old English word for love, and suffereth long means it is patient when others are slow. The same breath that says patient says kind.
Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil;
1 Corinthians 13:5 (KJV)
A list of ways kindness shows up in daily behavior: manners, unselfishness, a slow temper. Not easily provoked is a gentler phrase than never provoked, which is worth noticing.
Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth;
1 Corinthians 13:6 (KJV)
Kindness and truth are partners. Love does not celebrate wrongdoing, and it does not hide from honest facts either.
Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.
1 Corinthians 13:7 (KJV)
Four verbs, each stretching the one before it. This verse reads like a description of a long marriage or a faithful friendship, and the love is kind bible verse sits at its root.
Charity 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.
1 Corinthians 13:8 (KJV)
Gifts and knowledge will pass, but love will not. It is a sobering line for anyone who thinks success will outlast kindness.
And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity.
1 Corinthians 13:13 (KJV)
Paul ends the chapter by ranking the three great virtues. Even faith and hope bow to love, which makes the love is kind bible verse more than a wedding decoration.
And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you.
Ephesians 4:32 (KJV)
Kindness here is rooted in forgiveness received. We can afford to be gentle with others because we have been treated gently ourselves.
Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering;
Colossians 3:12 (KJV)
Paul uses the image of clothing. Kindness is something you put on each morning, like a coat, which suggests it is a daily choice rather than a mood.
She openeth her mouth with wisdom; and in her tongue is the law of kindness.
Proverbs 31:26 (KJV)
Kindness is called a law, a standard governing her speech. It is a lovely thing to say about anyone whose words leave others feeling respected.
Pleasant words are as an honeycomb, sweet to the soul, and health to the bones.
Proverbs 16:24 (KJV)
Kind words are described as nourishing. A love is kind bible verse like this one points out that speech can heal, not only inform.
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.
Galatians 5:22-23 (KJV)
Gentleness and goodness are listed among the fruit of the Spirit, which means kindness is not purely willpower. It grows as the Spirit works within us.
He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.
1 John 4:8 (KJV)
Behind the love is kind bible verse stands the claim that God himself is love. Kindness is therefore a reflection of his character.
We love him, because he first loved us.
1 John 4:19 (KJV)
The simplest explanation of why believers are kind: they were shown kindness first. Our love is an echo.
A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.
John 13:34 (KJV)
Jesus gives this on the night before he is crucified. As I have loved you sets the standard, and it is a high one.
And above all things have fervent charity among yourselves: for charity shall cover the multitude of sins.
1 Peter 4:8 (KJV)
Fervent means stretched, like a muscle in use. Love covers sins by choosing to forgive and not to broadcast them.
Be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love; in honour preferring one another;
Romans 12:10 (KJV)
Kindly affectioned is lovely old English for warmly attached. Preferring one another is the practical test: who goes first through the door?
But love ye your enemies, and do good, and lend, hoping for nothing again; and your reward shall be great, and ye shall be the children of the Highest: for he is kind unto the unthankful and to the evil.
Luke 6:35 (KJV)
Even God is kind to the unthankful. This is the hardest application of the love is kind bible verse, and Jesus does not soften it.
The phrase love is kind comes from Paul’s famous chapter on love in 1 Corinthians 13. In the King James Version it reads charity suffereth long, and is kind, because the translators used the word charity for the Greek agape. Modern versions say love is patient, love is kind, which is why many people search for the love is kind bible verse in that form.
The chapter sits in the middle of a long letter to a church that had a great many spiritual gifts and a great deal of arguing. Paul does not scold them for lacking talent. He tells them they lack love, and he describes it so concretely that no one can miss the point.
That context is useful. The love is kind bible verse was not written for a greeting card; it was written for a quarrelsome community that needed to treat each other better. It is, at root, a practical instruction before it is a romantic one, which is why the love is kind bible verse survives outside weddings.
Readers of the King James Bible often stumble on the word charity. In everyday English today, it means giving to the poor. In 1611, it meant a warm, self-giving affection. The translators chose it to render agape, the love that seeks another’s good. Knowing this helps the love is kind bible verse make sense.
Agape differs from the Greek words for romantic love or friendship. It is love as a decision and a habit, not just a feeling. Because of that, Paul can ask people to practice it even toward those they do not particularly like.
When you read 1 Corinthians 13 with that in mind, the list of what love does becomes a list of habits. Patience, kindness, humility, honesty. These are things you can train, not simply things you feel, and that is the encouraging side of the passage.
The Greek word behind kind in the love is kind bible verse is chresteuomai, found only here in the New Testament. It suggests being useful, gracious and good in action. A kind person is not only soft in tone but helpful in practice, someone whose presence improves the room.
This matters because we sometimes confuse kindness with niceness. Niceness avoids conflict and says what people want to hear. Kindness cares enough to tell the truth gently and to act for another’s good, even when it costs something. It is a stronger quality than politeness.
Think of the best kind person you know, the sort of person the love is kind bible verse describes. Chances are they do things, not just say things. They show up, bring the food, make the call. That is the shape of the kindness Paul has in mind, and it is within reach of most of us.
The first two descriptions of love in 1 Corinthians 13:4 are patient and kind. They belong together. Patience holds back the sharp reaction, and kindness offers a helpful one. The love is kind bible verse names both because you rarely find one without the other.
Anyone who has cared for a sick relative or raised a toddler knows how true this is. Patience without kindness becomes cold endurance. Kindness without patience becomes brief enthusiasm. When they combine, you get the steady warmth that carries people through long seasons.
If you find your patience running low, a small act of kindness can help. Making a cup of tea for the person who irritates you can soften your own heart. Often, we feel love after we act in love, not before.
This verse is read at countless weddings, and for good reason. A marriage rests on thousands of small moments, many of them unglamorous: who does the dishes, how you speak when you are tired, how you apologise. The love is kind bible verse gives couples a standard for those moments.
Many married people say the best advice they ever received was to be kind first and right second. The love is kind bible verse says it better than any advice column. It is easy to win an argument and lose a spouse. Kindness often means pausing before you answer, choosing a gentler word, or letting a minor slight go.
For couples, a helpful habit is to reread 1 Corinthians 13 together once a year, perhaps on an anniversary. Ask each other which line has been hardest this year and which has come most naturally. The conversation is honest, humbling and often tender. See also Bible verses about love and marriage.
Families are where kindness is tested most. Siblings squabble, teenagers slam doors, parents lose their tempers. The love is kind bible verse offers a standard to return to after a bad day, and a reason to apologise and begin again.
Children learn kindness by seeing it. A parent who says sorry, who speaks calmly even when frustrated, who notices a child’s effort, teaches more than a hundred lectures. These small acts build a household culture in which kindness is normal.
Try making Ephesians 4:32 a family verse for a month. Post it on the fridge and notice when someone is kind, giving a quiet word of thanks. Positive attention to kindness encourages more of it. For related passages see Bible verses about family.
Workplaces can be difficult places for kindness. Deadlines, competition and office politics all push people toward sharpness. Yet the love is kind bible verse applies at the desk and in the meeting room as much as at home. A kind colleague is a gift to everyone around them.
Kindness at work looks practical. Giving credit where it is due. Offering help to a newcomer. Delivering hard feedback with respect. Refusing to join in gossip. None of these require a sermon, only a decision to treat people as people.
You may not always be thanked. Luke 6:35 reminds us that God is kind to the unthankful, which is a strong example. Over time, a reputation for kindness builds trust and can open doors no cleverness could. See Bible verses about the workplace for more.
It is easy to be kind to people who are kind to us. The real test arrives with the neighbour who complains, the relative who criticises, the coworker who takes credit. Jesus does not let us off the hook. Love your enemies, he says, and do good.
The love is kind bible verse does not require you to like everyone or to ignore harm. You can set boundaries and still speak with respect. You can decline to be mistreated without returning insult for insult. Kindness is not weakness; it is strength under control.
Praying for a difficult person often shifts something. You may not change them, but you may change your posture toward them. Many have found that when they begin to pray for someone, resentment softens into something closer to compassion.
Kindness and forgiveness are close relatives. Ephesians 4:32 puts them in the same sentence: be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another. When we have been wronged, kindness shows up as willingness to forgive, even before the other person apologises.
This does not mean pretending nothing happened. Forgiveness acknowledges the hurt and chooses not to hold it over someone. It is often a process, not a single moment. The love is kind bible verse is a companion on that road because it keeps pointing us to the way God treats us.
If you are struggling to forgive, begin with prayer. Ask God for the willingness to be willing. That small request is often the doorway through which real change comes, and he honors it more readily than we expect.
Proverbs repeatedly notes the power of speech. Pleasant words are as an honeycomb, it says, and a soft answer turneth away wrath. The love is kind bible verse extends to what we say. A kind word costs nothing but can alter someone’s day.
Pay attention to your habits of speech, since the love is kind bible verse covers them. Do you complain by default? Do you criticise before you encourage? Try aiming for three kind remarks for each critical one. It sounds mechanical, but it quickly becomes natural, and relationships tend to warm.
Kind speech is also honest. It does not flatter. It says the true thing in a manner that helps. The balance of truth and tenderness is a skill, and Scripture holds up both as marks of mature love.
Big gestures are memorable, but small ones are what build a life. Holding a door, writing a note, bringing soup, remembering a birthday. The love is kind bible verse is lived mostly in such ordinary things. They do not look impressive, yet they add up.
Try a simple experiment. For one week, perform one deliberate act of kindness each day, preferably something you wouldn’t normally do. Pay attention to how you feel and how others respond. Many people report that their mood lifts and their sense of connection grows.
Do these acts quietly, as the love is kind bible verse implies. Jesus warns against doing good to be seen. Kindness that seeks no credit fits the spirit of 1 Corinthians 13, where love does not vaunt itself, and is its own reward.
Young children grasp the idea of kindness quickly, because they feel its absence sharply. Teaching the love is kind bible verse can be as simple as saying it at bedtime, asking what kind thing happened today and what kind thing they could do tomorrow.
Pair the verse with stories. The Good Samaritan, the boy who shared his lunch, the forgiving father. Children respond to narrative. After a story, ask them how the characters showed love, and invite them to notice kindness in their own day.
Be patient. Children learn kindness through repeated practice, mistakes included. When your child is unkind, treat the moment as a chance to teach, not shame. Gentle correction models the very kindness you hope they will show.
Good friends are kind in dependable ways. They remember what is going on in your life, they ask about it, and they show up when it is hard. The love is kind bible verse describes the qualities that make a friend worth having, and the ones worth becoming.
One mark of a kind friend is how they handle your failures. They do not rush to judge. They listen, they help, and they remain. First Peter 4:8 says charity covers a multitude of sins, which in friendship means giving each other room to be imperfect.
If a friendship has cooled, a small gesture can revive it. A short message saying I thought of you today. It may feel awkward, but kindness often meets a welcome. And if it does not, you have still done what love asks. See Bible verses about friendship.
Sometimes being kind means giving up time, money or comfort. Nobody enjoys that. Paul admits as much when he says love beareth all things and endureth all things. The love is kind bible verse does not pretend kindness is always easy.
Jesus is the model. He healed on tired days, wept at funerals and washed his disciples’ feet. He knew what each act cost and chose it anyway. Looking at him, we see that kindness is rarely free, and that its price is often worth paying.
If you feel worn out by caring for others, remember that you also need kindness. Rest, ask for help, and accept care yourself. You cannot pour from an empty cup, and kind people need to be kind to themselves too.
Social media makes cruelty easy and kindness rarer than it should be. Strangers snap at each other over small things. The love is kind bible verse offers a quiet counter-culture. Before posting, ask whether what you are about to say is true, helpful and kind.
Consider how you respond to people you disagree with. Colossians 3:12 asks us to put on kindness and humbleness of mind, which includes our digital manners. A thoughtful reply, even to a rude comment, can lower the temperature for everyone watching.
In public life, kindness may look like letting someone merge, thanking a cashier by name, or tipping well. These gestures are tiny, but multiplied across a community they shape the atmosphere in which we all live.
Kindness, as the love is kind bible verse shows, does not mean being a doormat. Scripture also commands justice and truth. The love is kind bible verse sits beside words about honesty and rebuke. A kind person can say no, set limits and speak up about wrongdoing.
Nor does kindness mean avoiding hard conversations. Sometimes the kindest thing is to tell a friend something they would rather not hear, carefully and with love. Avoiding it out of fear of conflict may be the less loving choice in the long run.
Finally, kindness is not a performance. It cannot be faked for long. Real kindness flows from a heart shaped by God’s love, which is why Paul places it among the fruit of the Spirit, grown rather than manufactured.
We talk a lot about giving kindness, but receiving it can be hard. Some people resist help because they fear being a burden. Yet the love is kind bible verse invites us into a community where kindness flows in both directions.
Accepting a casserole, a ride or a listening ear is a gift to the giver too. It lets them practice love. Say thank you, and mean it. Allow others to be kind to you, remembering that Jesus himself accepted help and hospitality.
On a deeper level, we receive God’s kindness. Romans 2:4 says the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance. His kindness is the soil from which ours grows, and the more we let it settle in, the more naturally ours flows out.
Here is a prayer you can adapt. Lord, make me kind. Give me patience when I am tired, gentle words when I am annoyed, and generosity when I would rather hold back. Let the love is kind bible verse shape how I speak and act today, and forgive me where I fall short.
Pray this in the morning and again in the evening, noticing where you succeeded and where you stumbled. Without guilt, bring both to God. Growth in love is slow, and God is more patient with us than we are with ourselves.
Consider asking a friend to pray with you for one specific relationship. Naming the person, and the particular challenge, makes the prayer real. Over time you may notice small shifts in them and in yourself.
Paul talks about putting on kindness in Colossians 3:12, the way you pull on a jacket. That picture quietly corrects a common idea, that kindness arrives when we feel generous. In practice most kind people decide in advance. The love is kind bible verse therefore describes a plan for the day as much as a feeling in the heart.
Morning is a good moment to decide. Before checking messages, ask who you will meet today and what a kind response might look like. It might be a patient answer to a short-tempered colleague, or a few unhurried minutes with an elderly neighbor. Deciding early makes it easier to follow through.
On days when you fail, begin again without piling on guilt. Kindness is a habit built over many ordinary hours. Each small choice, made again after a slip, trains the heart a little further in the direction Paul describes.
People sometimes assume that kind people are soft or unambitious. Look at the people in the Bible who were known for kindness and you find nerve, not weakness. Ruth stayed loyal in a foreign country. Joseph forgave brothers who had sold him. Jesus touched the untouchable. The love is kind bible verse describes strength pointed toward others.
It takes self-control to answer gently when you want to snap. It takes courage to be generous when others are grasping. Not easily provoked, Paul writes, which is the language of a person who has trained a strong temper to stand down rather than a person who never felt anger at all.
Seen this way, kindness becomes something worth aspiring to, not a polite fallback. A kind person is often the steadiest presence in the room, the one others turn to when things go wrong, and that steadiness is a form of leadership.
A good way to move the love is kind bible verse from the page into practice is to pick three small commitments. Write a note to someone who has helped you. Pay for the next person’s coffee or help a neighbor with a chore. Listen without interrupting to someone who tends to bore you. None is dramatic.
At the end of each day, spend a minute recalling where kindness came easily and where it did not. Ask God to help with the harder moments tomorrow. This kind of gentle review, done without harshness, builds awareness faster than any resolution.
Share the experience with a friend or spouse. Talking about what you tried makes it stick, and it often prompts them to try something similar. Kindness spreads best by example, and a household or a small group that practices it together becomes noticeably warmer.
When someone is grieving or sick, people often hold back because they do not know what to say. The love is kind bible verse suggests that you do not need clever words. Presence is kind. A casserole is kind. A short card saying I am thinking of you is kind. Do not wait for the perfect sentence.
Listen more than you speak. Resist the urge to fix or explain. Let the person talk about their loved one, their fear or their pain, and nod. Sitting with someone in sorrow is one of the deepest forms of love, and it is within the reach of almost anyone.
Keep showing up after the first week. Most people receive plenty of attention at the funeral and very little three months later. A message at that point, a coffee, a walk, says that they were not just a short-term project. That is love that suffereth long.
The love is kind bible verse is short, but it opens onto a whole way of living. Paul’s chapter on love shows that kindness is a core mark of Christian character, not an optional extra. The eighteen passages above fill in the picture.
Choose one line to focus on this week. Maybe 1 Corinthians 13:4 for patience and kindness, Ephesians 4:32 for forgiveness, or Colossians 3:12 for daily practice. Write it down, say it aloud, and look for chances to live it.
May you give and receive kindness in abundance, and may the God who is love fill your home and your work with it. If this page helped you, pass it along to someone who might need a reminder that love is kind.
If you found the love is kind bible verse helpful, these related collections are a natural next step: Bible verses about love, kindness, unconditional love, Bible verses about love and marriage, patience, forgiveness, God’s love, Bible verses about friendship, generosity, charity.
To study these verses in more depth, try Bible Gateway, Bible Hub, Bible Study Tools, Blue Letter Bible.
It is in 1 Corinthians 13:4. The King James Version reads charity suffereth long, and is kind. Modern translations say love is patient, love is kind. The love is kind bible verse belongs to Paul’s chapter on love.
In 1611, charity meant selfless love. The translators used it for the Greek agape. So the love is kind bible verse in the KJV uses charity to describe the same quality.
No. Although often read at weddings, the passage was written for a church community. The love is kind bible verse applies equally to families, friendships, workplaces and neighbors.
Niceness avoids conflict; kindness acts for another’s good, even at cost. The love is kind bible verse points to the active, helpful sort of love that tells the truth gently and shows up in practice.
Jesus taught love for enemies in Luke 6. The love is kind bible verse does not require you to accept abuse. You can set boundaries, pray for the person, and refuse to retaliate, while seeking safety and wise counsel.
Yes. The King James Version is public domain. You may print the love is kind bible verse and its neighbors on cards, signs or gifts without permission. Adding a personal note makes it more meaningful.
