If I speak with the tongues of men, and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal.2 And if I should have prophecy and should know all mysteries, and all knowledge, and if I should have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing.3 And if I should distribute all my goods to feed the poor, and if I should deliver my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing.†4 Charity is patient, is kind: charity envieth not, dealeth not perversely; is not puffed up;†5 Is not ambitious, seeketh not her own, is not provoked to anger, thinketh no evil;6 Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth with the truth;7 Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.8 Charity never falleth away: whether prophecies shall be made void, or tongues shall cease, or knowledge shall be destroyed.†9 For we know in part, and we prophesy in part.10 But when that which is perfect is come, that which is in part shall be done away.11 When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child. But, when I became a man, I put away the things of a child.12 We see now through a glass in a dark manner; but then face to face. Now I know I part; but then I shall know even as I am known.†13 And now there remain faith, hope, and charity, these three: but the greatest of these is charity.
Let him who has love in Christ keep the commandments of Christ. Who can describe the [blessed] bond of the love of God? What man is able to tell the excellence of its beauty, as it ought to be told? The height to which love exalts is unspeakable. Love unites us to God. Love covers a multitude of sins. Love bears all things, is long-suffering in all things. There is nothing base, nothing arrogant in love. Love admits of no schisms: love gives rise to no seditions: love does all things in harmony. By love have all the elect of God been made perfect; without love nothing is well-pleasing to God. In love has the Lord taken us to Himself. On account of the love He bore us, Jesus Christ our Lord gave His blood for us by the will of God; His flesh for our flesh, and His soul for our souls.
Then Jesus took unto him the twelve, and said to them: Behold, we go up to Jerusalem, and all things shall be accomplished which were written by the prophets concerning the Son of man.32 For he shall be delivered to the Gentiles, and shall be mocked, and scourged, and spit upon:†33 And after they have scourged him, they will put him to death; and the third day he shall rise again.34 And they understood none of these things, and this word was hid from them, and they understood not the things that were said.35 Now it came to pass, when he drew nigh to Jericho, that a certain blind man sat by the way side, begging.36 And when he heard the multitude passing by, he asked what this meant.37 And they told him, that Jesus of Nazareth was passing by.38 And he cried out, saying: Jesus, son of David, have mercy on me.39 And they that went before, rebuked him, that he should hold his peace: but he cried out much more: Son of David, have mercy on me.40 And Jesus standing, commanded him to be brought unto him. And when he was come near, he asked him,41 Saying: What wilt thou that I do to thee? But he said: Lord, that I may see.42 And Jesus said to him: Receive thy sight: thy faith hath made thee whole.†43 And immediately he saw, and followed him, glorifying God. And all the people, when they saw it, gave praise to God.
In the blind man we have a type of the Gentile people, who have received by the Sacrament of our Lord the brightness of the light which they had lost. And it matters not whether the cure is conveyed in the case of one or two blind men, inasmuch as deriving their origin from Ham and Japhet, the sons of Noah, in the two blind men they put forward two authors of their race.
About CSB. A personal translation of the New Testament, rendered directly from the public-domain Greek in a literary style — not a scholarly critical edition, and not for liturgical or doctrinal authority. It is one reader's work, offered for enjoyment; where it matters, weigh it against an established translation. (Placeholder text — final wording to come.)