13:8 A: Love never falls away (never ceases).
Mishnah ʾAbot 5.16: Any love that depends on something, if the thing
ceases בָּטֵל, so too the love ceases וּבְטֵלָה אַהֲבָה. But a love that does not depend on
something never ceases אֵינָה בְּטֵלָה לְעוֹלָם. What is a love that depends on something? This is the love of
Amnon and Tamar (cf. 2 Sam 13). And one that does not depend on something? This
is the love of David and Jonathan. (Hermann L. Strack and Paul
Billerbeck, A Commentary on the New Testament from the Talmud and Midrash,
ed. Jacob N. Cerone, 4 vols. [trans. Andrew Bowden and Joseph Longarino;
Bellingham, Wash.: Lexham Press, 2021], 3:522)
13:13: Greater than all these (= the greatest of these) is love.
The rabbinic scholars sometimes counted piety חֲסִידוּת and sometimes humility עֲנָוָה as the greatest among all the virtues גדולה מכולן; see b. ʿArak. 16B and b. ʿAbod. Zar. 20B
at § Matt 18:15, n. e and the second
S-B footnote within that section. (Hermann L. Strack and Paul
Billerbeck, A Commentary on the New Testament from the Talmud and Midrash,
ed. Jacob N. Cerone, 4 vols. [trans. Andrew Bowden and Joseph Longarino;
Bellingham, Wash.: Lexham Press, 2021], 3:525)
