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1 Corinthians 14

1Pursue love, and eagerly desire spiritual gifts, especially to prophesy. 2For someone speaking in a tongue speaks to God, not to people, because no one understands; in spirit he speaks mysteries. 3But someone who prophesies speaks to people for building up, encouragement, and comfort. 4The one speaking in a tongue builds himself up, while the one prophesying builds up an assembly. 5I want all of you to speak in tongues, but even more to prophesy. The one prophesying is greater than the one speaking in tongues, unless he interprets, so that the assembly may receive building up.

6Now, brothers, if I come to you speaking in tongues, what benefit will I bring you unless I speak to you with a revelation, knowledge, prophecy, or teaching? 7Even lifeless things that give a sound, whether a flute or a lyre, must make distinctions in their notes; otherwise, how will anyone recognize what is played on the flute or the lyre? 8For if a trumpet gives an indistinct sound, who will prepare for battle? 9So it is with you: unless you give an intelligible message with your tongue, how will anyone know what is being said? You will be speaking into the air. 10There are, it may be, so many kinds of voices in the world, and none is without meaning. 11So if I do not know the meaning of the voice, I will be a foreigner to the speaker, and the speaker a foreigner to me. 12So also with you: since you are eager for spiritual manifestations, seek to abound in building up the assembly.

13Therefore, a speaker in a tongue should pray for the ability to interpret. 14When I pray in a tongue, it is my spirit that prays, while my mind is unfruitful. 15What follows, then? I will pray with the spirit, and I will also pray with the mind; I will sing praise with the spirit, and I will also sing praise with the mind. 16Otherwise, if you give a blessing with the spirit, how will someone occupying the place of the uninformed say “Amen” to your thanksgiving, since he does not know what you are saying? 17You may be giving thanks well, but the other person is not built up. 18I thank God that I speak in tongues more than all of you. 19But in an assembly I would rather speak five words with my mind, to instruct others too, than ten thousand words in a tongue.

20Brothers, do not be children in your thinking. Be infants in evil, but become mature in your thinking. 21In the law it is written, “Through people with other tongues and through the lips of others I will speak to this people, and even then they will not listen to me, says the Lord.” 22So tongues are a sign for unbelievers, not for believers, while prophecy is for believers, not for unbelievers. 23If, then, the whole assembly comes together in one place and everyone speaks in tongues, and uninformed people or unbelievers enter, will they not say that you are mad? 24But if everyone prophesies and an unbeliever or uninformed person enters, he is exposed by everyone, examined by everyone; 25the hidden things of his heart become visible. And so he will fall on his face and worship God, declaring, “God really is among you.”

26What follows, then, brothers? When you come together, each has a psalm, a teaching, a revelation, a tongue, an interpretation. Let everything be done for building up. 27If anyone speaks in a tongue, let there be two, or at most three, each in turn, and let one interpret. 28But if there is no interpreter, he should keep silent in the assembly and speak to himself and to God. 29Let two or three prophets speak, and let the others discern. 30But if something is revealed to another who is sitting there, the first should keep silent. 31For you can all prophesy one at a time, so that all may learn and all may be encouraged 32(and prophets' spirits are subject to prophets, 33for God is not a God of disorder but of peace), as in all the assemblies of the holy ones.

34Women should keep silent in the assemblies, for they are not permitted to speak; instead, they should be subject, as the law also says. 35If they want to learn something, they should ask their own husbands at home, for it is shameful for a woman to speak in an assembly. 36Or did God's word come out from you? Or did it reach you alone?

37If someone thinks he is a prophet or spiritual, he should recognize that what I write to you is the Lord's. 38But if someone does not recognize this, he is not recognized. 39So, my brothers, eagerly desire to prophesy, and do not forbid speaking in tongues. 40But let everything be done with propriety and in order.

Translation notes 6

14:1–12 — Intelligibility and building. “Tongue” can mean language; the passage emphasizes understanding rather than giving a single account of the phenomenon. The repeated building language is retained. “In spirit” in verse 2 may refer to the speaker's spirit or to the Holy Spirit. “Spiritual manifestations” in verse 12 renders the literal plural “spirits” in this discussion of their expressions. “Brothers” includes the women of the community.

14:13–19 — Spirit and mind. Verse 13 asks that the speaker himself be able to interpret. “Uninformed” identifies someone unable to understand or participate appropriately; it is not necessarily a technical rank or a synonym for unbeliever. “Amen” expresses assent, whose intelligibility depends on knowing what was said. The mind's being unfruitful is retained rather than explained as unconsciousness.

14:20–25 — Signs and response. The quotation uses Isaiah 28:11–12 in Paul's wording. “Law” can designate Scripture more broadly than the books of Moses. The sign statement is followed by contrasting responses of visitors; the text does not say every sign produces faith. “Examined” continues the vocabulary of chapters 2 and 4, with the person's inner life exposed.

14:26–33 — Ordered participation. The speakers can wait or remain silent; prophetic inspiration is not presented as removing all control. “The others” may mean the other prophets or the wider assembly. The last clause of verse 33 is attached to the preceding instructions, following the base's punctuation; it can instead introduce the next sentence about women. Punctuation is an editorial judgment.

14:34–35 — Women and silence. These verses are retained in their usual position. Some witnesses place them after verse 40, and scholars dispute whether they originated as a marginal addition; the study notes discuss the contested evidence. The text's restrictions are not softened into a command merely against gossip. Asking their own husbands suggests married women, but the preceding term can mean women generally. No exact Old Testament sentence saying this is identified. Chapter 11 assumes women pray and prophesy; the relation between the passages remains disputed rather than harmonized by added wording.

14:37–40 — Recognition and authority. The base says that the writing “is the Lord's,” without the noun “commandment” found in other readings. “He is not recognized” in verse 38 leaves the agent unstated; a different reading says, “let him remain ignorant.” The prohibitions and permissions at the close are both retained.