So likewise ye, except ye utter by the tongue words easy to be understood, how shall it be known what is spoken? for ye shall speak into the air.
Parallel translations
- WEB So also you, unless you uttered by the tongue words easy to understand, how would it be known what is spoken? For you would be speaking into the air.
- BSB So it is with you. Unless you speak intelligible words with your tongue, how will anyone know what you are saying? You will just be speaking into the air.
- NKJV So likewise you, unless you utter by the tongue words easy to understand, how will it be known what is spoken? For you will be speaking into the air.
- NASB So you too, unless you produce intelligible speech by the tongue, how will it be known what is spoken? For you will just be talking to the air.
- NLT It’s the same for you. If you speak to people in words they don’t understand, how will they know what you are saying? You might as well be talking into empty space.
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
Unless the tongue produces understandable words, no one will know what is said; it is speaking into the air. Worship must communicate meaning.
Overview
Paul applies his musical analogies directly to speech in the assembly. Words that cannot be understood accomplish nothing, like speaking to empty air. The whole argument insists that intelligibility is essential because love seeks to inform and edify the hearer, not merely to express the speaker.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 1
- 1 Cor 9:26I therefore so run, not as uncertainly; so fight I, not as one that beateth the air:
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
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 14:9 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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