1 Corinthians 13
ἀλαλή ≈ alalē alalay!
If I am chirping/chattering in the Tongues of the Men and of the Angels, but I am not holding an agape-love, I have become a bronze, he who is ringing, or a cymbal which is raising orgiastic war-cries.
ἀλαλάζω - raising war cries, shouts, cries of victory
"esp. in orgiastic rites"" (cf. LSJ)
Orgastic rites (from Greek ὀργια / orgia) denote secret, often ecstatic or frenzied religious rituals, typically associated with mystery cults such as those of Dionysus (Bacchus).
In these rites, participants would produce loud cries, shouts, or screams as part of their ritual expressions of ecstatic worship and possession.
The verb ἀλαλάζω, meaning “to shout loudly” or “raise a war-cry,” is especially attested in such contexts, emphasizing the intense, vociferous character of the ceremonies.
For example, Euripides’ Bacchae uses ἀλαλάζω to describe the wild cries of Bacchic followers (e.g., Eur. Bacch. 593), reflecting the ritualistic shouting or ululation (alalalalalilililililili) typical of these rites.
And if I am holding a prophecy, and I see all the Mysteries and all the Knowledge, and if I am holding all the Trust so as to remove mountains, and yet I am not holding an agape-love, I am no one!
And if I may dole out fragments/feed out all the things presently at the disposal of myself, and if I may hand over the Body of myself so that I may be kindled/lit, but do not hold an agape-love, I gain no one/nothing.
The Agape-Love, she is being patient, she is being kind/benevolent. The Agape-Love, she is not vying/competing. The Agape-Love, she is not bragging, she is not inflating/puffing up.
Each clause treats ἡ ἀγάπη (Love) as the grammatical subject of a finite verb, assigning it agency:
- μακροθυμεῖ – she is patient/long suffering (i.e., she endures)
- χρηστεύεται – she acts kindly
- οὐ ζηλοῖ – she does not envy
- οὐ περπερεύεται – she does not boast
- οὐ φυσιοῦται – she does not become puffed up
She is not acting unbecomingly/unseemly, she is not searching for the things of her own self, she is not sharpening/being provoked, she is not reckoning/counting the Evil one.
She is not rejoicing upon the Unjust one, but rejoicing jointly in the True one.
She is covering/keeping in closely all, she is trusting all, she is hoping for/expecting all, she is enduring patiently under all.
Never Falls
The Agape Love, she is never falling. But whether prophecies, they will be made inoperative, or tongues, they will stop/cease, or knowledge, she will be made inoperative.Not Whole
Because from out of a portion we are recognizing, and from out of a portion we are prophesying.As an "Hour" of the Clock is Neutralized into a Whole
But when the Complete should come, the one from out of a portion will be made inoperative/neutralized.
When I was an unspeaking infant, I was chirping/chattering just like an unspeaking infant. I was thinking just like an unspeaking infant, I was counting/reckoning just like an unspeaking infant, when I have become a male, I have made inoperative the things of the Unspeaking Infant.
αἴνιγμα ainigma - enigma, obscure riddle
For we are looking at this moment across through a mirror within an enigma, but at that time, a face toward a face. At this moment, I am recognizing from out of a portion. But at that time, I will fully recognize according as I have also been fully recognized.And she is remaining: a trust, a hope, an agape-love, the Three of these ones. And a more mega one than these is the Agape Love.