Bible Strands
1 Corinthians 13:7
It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — Paul addresses the Corinthian church, a community fractured by rivalries and inflated in its pursuit of spiritual gifts. This verse is the penultimate line of his hymn on love, positioned between love's joy in truth (1 Corinthians 13:6) and its permanence (1 Corinthians 13:8).
The words — στέγει (stegei) is a rare verb meaning "to bear, to cover over," like a roof holding weight; ὑπομένει (hupomenei) means "to endure, to stand firm under pressure." The two are distinct: one is active bearing, the other is sustained resistance to breaking.
The thread — 1 Peter 4:8 uses the same "covering over" sense when it says love covers a multitude of sins, and 1 Peter 2:24 applies the bearing language to Christ carrying sin on the tree. 1 Corinthians 13:4's "patient" (μακροθυμέω) belongs to the same endurance family as ὑπομένει.
Why it lands — The verse asks the reader to extend belief, hope, and endurance without exception — "all things" means no person is excluded from the benefit of the other's faith in them. It is a demand to stop auditing others and keep holding.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Greek words
King James Version
Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.
Cross-references
- 1 Peter 4:8 Above all, love one another deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins.
- 1 Corinthians 13:4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.
- 1 Peter 2:24 He Himself bore our sins in His body on the tree, so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. “By His stripes you are healed.”
- 2 Timothy 2:24 And a servant of the Lord must not be quarrelsome, but must be kind to everyone, able to teach, and forbearing.
- Proverbs 10:12 Hatred stirs up dissension, but love covers all transgressions.
- Galatians 6:2 Carry one another’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.
- 1 Corinthians 9:12 If others have this right to your support, shouldn’t we have it all the more? But we did not exercise this right. Instead, we put up with anything rather than hinder the gospel of Christ.
- Song of Solomon 8:6 Set me as a seal over your heart, as a seal upon your arm. For love is as strong as death, its jealousy as unrelenting as Sheol. Its sparks are fiery flames, the fiercest blaze of all.
- 2 Timothy 2:3 Join me in suffering, like a good soldier of Christ Jesus.
- 2 Timothy 4:5 But you, be sober in all things, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.