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1 Corinthians

About this book
Chapter 13

1 If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels,⁠ but I do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.⁠ 2 And if I have prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith so that I can remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing.⁠ 3 If I give away everything I own, and if I give over my body in order to boast, but do not have love, I receive no benefit. 4 Love is patient, love is kind, it is not envious. Love does not brag, it is not puffed up.⁠ 5 It is not rude, it is not self-serving, it is not easily angered or resentful.⁠ 6 It is not glad about injustice, but rejoices in the truth. 7 It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. 8 Love never ends. But if there are prophecies, they will be set aside; if there are tongues, they will cease; if there is knowledge, it will be set aside.⁠ 9 For we know in part, and we prophesy in part,⁠ 10 but when what is perfect comes, the partial will be set aside. 11 When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. But when I became an adult, I set aside childish ways. 12 For now we see in a mirror indirectly, but then we will see face to face.⁠ Now I know in part, but then I will know fully, just as I have been fully known. 13 And now these three remain: faith, hope, and love. But the greatest of these is love.⁠

Texts in conversation

Compare 1 Corinthians 13:2 and Berakhot 64a

New Testament · Rabbinic

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Summary

In 1 Corinthians 13, Paul uses the language of “moving mountains” as an expression of faith. This Jewish idiom is also found in Rabbinic tradition in tractate Berakhot, where a rabbi is referred to as an “uprooter of mountains.”

Passages

1 Corinthians 13:2

New Testament
1 If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but I do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 And if I have prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith so that I can remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. 3 If I give away everything I own, and if I give over my body in order to boast, but do not have love, I receive no benefit. 4 Love is patient, love is kind, it is not envious. Love does not brag, it is not puffed up. 5 It is not rude, it is not self-serving, it is not easily angered or resentful. 6 It is not glad about injustice, but rejoices in the truth.
55–57 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in 1 Corinthians

Berakhot 64a

Rabbinic · Babylonian Talmud
This may be derived from an incident involving Rabba and Rav Yosef, as Rav Yosef was Sinai, extremely erudite, and Rabba was one who uproots mountains, extremely sharp. The moment arrived when they were needed; one of them was to be chosen as head of the yeshiva. They sent the following question there, to the Sages of Eretz Yisrael: Which takes precedence, Sinai or one who uproots mountains? They sent to them in response: Sinai takes precedence, for everyone needs the owner of the wheat, one who is expert in the sources. Nevertheless, Rav Yosef did not accept the appointment, as the Chaldean astrologers told him: You will preside as head of the yeshiva for two years.
450–550 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in Berakhot

References

"... In the context of the Synoptic tradition, the faith capable of moving mountains is clearly understood as trust in the power of God, and also of Jesus, to perform extraordinary wonders. It is therefore not a specific charism, but the religious belief/trust that the believer has placed in the Lord. There is no reference to the gifts of speech, teaching or prophecy; is operating instead in the broad area of reference we saw in 1 Cor 12:9a and in 13:2. Thus the Synoptic parallels to the expression of 13:2 do not provide any help in answering our initial questions: it never at any time links πίστις to the charism of teaching ... By broadening the investigation to Jewish literature, some light may be shed on the mystery. First of all b. Berakhot 64a ... This Talmudic text talks about the choice that the members of the Academy had to make one day to decide who should be their leader. The shortlist of candidates was limited to only two names: Rabbi Joseph (nicknamed “Sinai”) and Rabbah (nicknamed “uprooter of mountains”). “Sinai” referred to a very erudite teacher with an encyclopedic knowledge of the traditions, while “uprooter of the mountains” referred to a sharper rabbi, exceptionally skilled in dialectics ..."
Pasquale Basta, “Faith so as to Remove Mountains: What Faith and What Mountains in 1 Cor 13:2?” Między Oryginałem a Przekładem (2021): 11–30.

References are not endorsements of their contents. Read each reference in full to understand its author's intentions in using these texts.

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1 Corinthians 13:2 and Berakhot 64a

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