For you are giving thanks well enough, but the other person is not edified.
Parallel translations
- WEB For you most certainly give thanks well, but the other person is not built up.
- KJV For thou verily givest thanks well, but the other is not edified.
- BSB You may be giving thanks well enough, but the other one is not edified.
- NKJV For you indeed give thanks well, but the other is not edified.
- NLT You will be giving thanks very well, but it won’t strengthen the people who hear you.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Your thanksgiving may be excellent, but the other person is not built up. Personal sincerity does not replace the duty to edify others.
Overview
Paul concedes the tongue-speaker's thanks may be genuinely good, yet it fails the test of edification because others gain nothing. In the assembly, the benefit to the hearer matters as much as the speaker's devotion. This again subordinates personal expression to the loving aim of building up the church.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 2
- 1 Cor 14:4He who speaks in another language edifies himself, but he who prophesies edifies the assembly.
- 1 Cor 14:6But now, brothers, if I come to you speaking with other languages, what would I profit you, unless I speak to you either by way of revelation, or of knowledge, or of prophesying, or of teaching?
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Christ crucified is the wisdom and power of God; he is our Passover sacrificed for us, the firstfruits of resurrection, the foundation on which everything is built.
How 1 Corinthians 14:17 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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