Corinthians (KJV)
Paul wrote two letters to the church at Corinth. Read 2 Corinthians 13 in full below in the King James Version, then the most-searched verses from both letters, a chapter index, and a short commentary. Looking for a particular phrase? Search all three translations.
2 Corinthians 13 (KJV) — Full Text
The closing chapter of the letter: Paul’s third visit, the call to “examine yourselves,” and the benediction of verse 14. All 14 verses in the King James Version.
Read Corinthians by Chapter
Key Verses from 1 & 2 Corinthians
The passages people come to these letters for — love, the resurrection, grace in weakness, and Paul’s closing benediction. Each links to its full chapter in the KJV.
The heart of the “love chapter.” The KJV renders the word as “charity,” but it is the same self-giving love Paul says outlasts prophecy, tongues, and knowledge.
1 Corinthians 13:4-7The chapter's closing line, and one of the most quoted verses in Paul's letters: faith, hope, and charity — with charity the greatest.
1 Corinthians 13:13Paul's promise about temptation — that God is faithful, will not allow more than can be borne, and always makes a way to escape.
1 Corinthians 10:13The close of the great resurrection chapter: victory through Christ, and the charge to be “stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord.”
1 Corinthians 15:57-58Paul's summary of what it means to be in Christ — old things pass away, and everything becomes new.
2 Corinthians 5:17The answer Paul received about his “thorn in the flesh”: grace that is sufficient, and strength made perfect in weakness.
2 Corinthians 12:9The source of the phrase “God loveth a cheerful giver,” from Paul's appeal for the collection for the church in Jerusalem.
2 Corinthians 9:7The benediction that closes the letter — “the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Ghost” — still spoken in churches today.
2 Corinthians 13:14About the Book of Corinthians
Two letters, one church.There is no single “book of Corinthians.” First and Second Corinthians are two letters from the Apostle Paul to the church he founded in Corinth, a wealthy and unruly Greek port city. Read together, they show a gifted but divided congregation and the pastor working to hold it together.
Author and date.Paul wrote both, with Sosthenes named alongside him in 1 Corinthians 1:1 and Timothy in 2 Corinthians 1:1. First Corinthians was sent from Ephesus and Second Corinthians from Macedonia, both usually dated to around AD 55–56 on Paul’s third missionary journey.
1 Corinthians.Sixteen chapters answering reports and questions from the church — divisions and factions, disputes taken to court, questions about marriage and food offered to idols, disorder at the Lord’s Supper, the right use of spiritual gifts (crowned by the love of chapter 13), and the resurrection of the dead (chapter 15).
2 Corinthians.Thirteen chapters, the most personal of Paul’s letters. He defends his ministry against rival teachers, presses the collection for the poor in Jerusalem (chapters 8–9), and speaks openly of his own weakness and the sufficiency of grace, closing with the benediction of 2 Corinthians 13:14.
Commentary and Themes
Four threads run through the Corinthian letters. Each links to related verses gathered by subject.
Love above the gifts (1 Corinthians 13)
The Corinthian church prized spiritual gifts — tongues, prophecy, knowledge — and quarrelled over them. Paul answers with a single chapter: without love, the gifts are nothing. It is read at weddings today, but Paul wrote it to a divided congregation as a rebuke and a remedy, not a romance.
More Bible verses about love→The resurrection (1 Corinthians 15)
Some at Corinth denied any resurrection of the dead. Paul devotes his longest single argument to it — the gospel he received, the witnesses who saw the risen Christ, and the promise that “as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.” It ends in the victory of 15:57.
More Bible verses about eternal life→Strength made perfect in weakness (2 Corinthians 12)
Second Corinthians is Paul's most personal letter, written to defend his ministry against rivals. Its centre is his “thorn in the flesh” — a hardship God would not remove — and the answer he received: “My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness.”
More Bible verses about strength→Cheerful giving (2 Corinthians 8–9)
Two chapters press the Corinthians to complete a collection for the poor believers in Jerusalem. Paul holds up the churches of Macedonia, who gave out of deep poverty, and lands on the principle that “God loveth a cheerful giver” (9:7).
More Bible verses about generosity→Recommended reading
Study Bibles & devotionals
Go deeper than a single verse. These study Bibles and daily devotionals pair well with the topics here — adding context, commentary, and a rhythm for daily reading.
ESV Study Bible
Crossway
Over 20,000 study notes, maps, and articles — the go-to one-volume study Bible for understanding scripture in context.
Life Application Study Bible (NIV)
Tyndale / Zondervan
Notes that connect each passage to everyday life — ideal alongside the topical verses on this page.
Jesus Calling
Sarah Young
A year of short daily devotions written as if Jesus is speaking — a gentle companion to daily scripture reading.
My Utmost for His Highest
Oswald Chambers
The classic daily devotional — 365 readings that have shaped Christian devotion for over a century.
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Keep Exploring
Explore the scriptures by subject on the Topics index, or read on in the New Testament.
Frequently Asked Questions
What does 2 Corinthians 13 say?
Second Corinthians 13 is the closing chapter of Paul's letter. He warns that he is coming a third time and will not spare wrongdoing, then turns the challenge inward: “Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith” (13:5). He prays for their perfection rather than for his own vindication, gives final greetings, and ends with the benediction of 13:14 — “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Ghost, be with you all. Amen.” It has 14 verses.
Are 1 and 2 Corinthians two different books?
Yes. First Corinthians and Second Corinthians are two separate letters from the Apostle Paul to the same church in the Greek port city of Corinth. First Corinthians has 16 chapters and answers a series of problems and questions in the church; Second Corinthians has 13 chapters and is a more personal defence of Paul's ministry. This page covers both, and “Corinthians” on its own usually refers to them together.
Who wrote 1 and 2 Corinthians and when?
The Apostle Paul wrote both letters to the church he had founded in Corinth. First Corinthians was written from Ephesus, and Second Corinthians from Macedonia, both usually dated to around AD 55–56 during Paul's third missionary journey. Paul names Sosthenes with him in 1 Corinthians 1:1 and Timothy in 2 Corinthians 1:1.
What is 1 Corinthians 13 about?
First Corinthians 13 is the famous “love chapter.” Paul argues that spiritual gifts — speaking in tongues, prophecy, even faith to move mountains — count for nothing without love. The KJV translates the word as “charity.” The chapter describes what love is and does (13:4-7) and closes with “faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity” (13:13).