English Standard Version
1 Corinthians 13:9
9For we know in part and we prophesy in part,
1 Corinthians 13:9 in other versions
- King James Version (KJV)For we know in part, and we prophesy in part.
- New International Version (NIV)For we know in part and we prophesy in part,
- New King James Version (NKJV)For we know in part and we prophesy in part.
- New Living Translation (NLT)Now our knowledge is partial and incomplete, and even the gift of prophecy reveals only part of the whole picture!
Context of 1 Corinthians 13:9
7Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. 8Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away. 11When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways.
Read all of 1 Corinthians 131 Corinthians 13:9 word by word
ἐκ μέρους γὰρ γινώσκομεν καὶ ἐκ μέρους προφητεύομεν·Read the interlinear
Words taken from the KJV.
Cross-references for 1 Corinthians 13:9
- 1 Corinthians 13:12For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.
- 1 Corinthians 2:9But, as it is written, "What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him"—
- 1 Corinthians 8:2If anyone imagines that he knows something, he does not yet know as he ought to know.
- Job 11:7"Can you find out the deep things of God? Can you find out the limit of the Almighty?
- Job 26:14Behold, these are but the outskirts of his ways, and how small a whisper do we hear of him! But the thunder of his power who can understand?"
- Psalms 40:5You have multiplied, O Lord my God, your wondrous deeds and your thoughts toward us; none can compare with you! I will proclaim and tell of them, yet they are more than can be told.
- Psalms 139:6Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high; I cannot attain it.
- Proverbs 30:4Who has ascended to heaven and come down? Who has gathered the wind in his fists? Who has wrapped up the waters in a garment? Who has established all the ends of the earth? What is his name, and what is his son's name? Surely you know!
- Matthew 11:27All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.
- Romans 11:34"For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counselor?"
- Ephesians 3:8To me, though I am the very least of all the saints, this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ,
- Colossians 2:2that their hearts may be encouraged, being knit together in love, to reach all the riches of full assurance of understanding and the knowledge of God's mystery, which is Christ,
- 1 Peter 1:10Concerning this salvation, the prophets who prophesied about the grace that was to be yours searched and inquired carefully,
- 1 John 3:2Beloved, we are God's children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is.
Commentaries on 1 Corinthians 13:9
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 9For we know in part - We have here but little knowledge even of earthly, and much less of heavenly, things. He that knows most knows little in comparison of what is known by angels, and the spirits of just men made perfect. And as we know so very little, how deficient must we be if we have not much love! Angels may wonder at the imperfection of our knowledge; and separate spirits may wonder at the perfection of their own, having obtained so much more in…Read the comment
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 9For we know in part - Compare the note on 1 Corinthians 12:27. This expression means “only in part;” that is, “imperfectly.” Our knowledge here is imperfect and obscure. It may, therefore, all vanish in the eternal world amidst its superior brightness; and we should not regard that as of such vast value which is imperfect and obscure; compare the note at 1 Corinthians 8:2. This idea of the obscurity and imperfection of our knowledge, as compared with…Read the comment
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary · v. 8-13Verses 8-13 Charity is much to be preferred to the gifts on which the Corinthians prided themselves. From its longer continuance. It is a grace, lasting as eternity. The present state is a state of childhood, the future that of manhood. Such is the difference between earth and heaven. What narrow views, what confused notions of things, have children when compared with grown men! Thus shall we think of our most valued gifts of this world, when we come to…Read the comment
- Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 9None of the spiritual gifts provides complete understanding. Unlike love, their benefits are limited.Read the comment
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 9-109-10. in part--partially and imperfectly. Compare a similar contrast to the "perfect man," "the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ" (Ep 4:11-13).Read the comment
Topics related to 1 Corinthians 13:9
In the dictionaries
Commentaries on 1 Corinthians 13
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
- Tyndale Open Study Notes
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary
- Calvin’s Commentaries
- John Wesley’s Notes
- Illustrated New Testament
- Burkitt’s Expository Notes
- Darby Translation Notes
- Family Bible Notes
- Geneva Bible Translation Notes
- Kingcomments
- Luther’s Commentary on Selected Bible Passages
- Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
- Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
- The People’s New Testament
- Robertson’s Word Pictures
- Scofield Reference Notes, 1917 Edition
- Original Douay–Rheims Annotations
- Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
- EGW Writings
English Standard Version — © 2001 Crossway Bibles
Commentaries