"Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud."
— 1 Corinthians 13:4 (NIV)
The Bible verse people look up as love is kind is 1 Corinthians 13:4. Paul opens the love list with two verbs: love is patient, and love is kind. This page stays with the second clause. The first clause is Love is patient Bible verse. The whole verse is 1 Corinthians 13:4. Kindness across Scripture on this site is Love and Kindness. Verses 4–7 together are 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 and What 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 means.
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The verse
1 Corinthians 13:4 (NIV) says, "Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud."
"Love is kind" is the second clause. The King James reads, "Charity suffereth long, and is kind." Kindness here is active usefulness — doing the good that is in front of you — not only a soft tone of voice.
What love is kind means
Kind love moves toward someone's good. It is not niceness that avoids hard truth. It is the opposite of envy, boasting, and pride in the same verse: those turn inward or upward; kindness turns outward for the other person.
Paul pairs kindness with patience in one breath. Patience without kindness can harden into cold endurance. Kindness without patience burns out the first time it is not thanked. The two belong together. Love is patient Bible verse stays with the first word. This page stays with the second.
The whole chapter is 1 Corinthians 13. Verse 7 continues the same love (1 Corinthians 13:7). Verse 8 says love never fails (Love never fails Bible verse).
How this works in a relationship
In a marriage, friendship, or church, kind love looks ordinary: a practical help, a careful word, a refusal to use someone's weakness for status. Kindness still tells the truth; it does not flatter harm. Love and Marriage sets this inside the covenant. Ceremony lists that include these lines are Wedding Bible verses and Wedding Bible readings.
Questions people ask
What Bible verse says love is kind?
1 Corinthians 13:4 says, "Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud." That is the verse people mean by the love is kind Bible verse.
What does love is kind mean?
It means love actively seeks the other person's good. It is a way of treating someone, not only a feeling. Paul wrote it to a church, not only to couples.
How is love is kind different from love is patient?
Patience refuses to punish. Kindness does the good that is in front of you. They are a pair in the same verse. One without the other is incomplete. See Love is patient Bible verse.
Is love is kind only about marriage?
No. Paul wrote 1 Corinthians 13 to a congregation dividing over gifts and status. Weddings quote it because marriage needs every line, but the first audience was the church.
Where should I read next?
For the first clause, read Love is patient Bible verse. For kindness across the site, read Love and Kindness. For verses 4–7, read 1 Corinthians 13:4-7.
