First Letter to the Corinthians 14

¹ You must want love more than anything else; but still hope for the spiritual gifts as well, especially prophecy.

² Anybody with the gift of tongues speaks to God, but not to other people; because nobody understands him when he talks in the spirit about mysterious things.

³ On the other hand, the man who prophesies does talk to other people, to their improvement, their encouragement and their consolation.

⁴ The one with the gift of tongues talks for his own benefit, but the man who prophesies does so for the benefit of the community.

⁵ While I should like you all to have the gift of tongues, I would much rather you could prophesy, since the man who prophesies is of greater importance than the man with the gift of tongues, unless of course the latter offers an interpretation so that the church may get some benefit.

⁶ Now suppose, my dear brothers, I am someone with the gift of tongues, and I come to visit you, what use shall I be if all my talking reveals nothing new, tells you nothing, and neither inspires you nor instructs you?

⁷ Think of a musical instrument, a flute or a harp: if one note on it cannot be distinguished from another, how can you tell what tune is being played?

⁸ Or if no one can be sure which call the trumpet has sounded, who will be ready for the attack?

⁹ It is the same with you: if your tongue does not produce intelligible speech, how can anyone know what you are saying? You will be talking to the air.

¹⁰ There are any number of different languages in the world, and not one of them is meaningless,

¹¹ but if I am ignorant of what the sounds mean, I am a savage to the man who is speaking, and he is a savage to me.

¹² It is the same in your own case: since you aspire to spiritual gifts, concentrate on those which will grow to benefit the community.

¹³ That is why anybody who has the gift of tongues must pray for the power of interpreting them.

¹⁴ For if I use this gift in my prayers, my spirit may be praying but my mind is left barren.

¹⁵ What is the answer to that? Surely I should pray not only with the spirit but with the mind as well? And sing praises not only with the spirit but with the mind as well?

¹⁶ Any uninitiated person will never be able to say Amen to your thanksgiving, if you only bless God with the spirit, for he will have no idea what you are saying.

¹⁷ However well you make your thanksgiving, the other gets no benefit from it.

¹⁸ I thank God that I have a greater gift of tongues than all of you,

¹⁹ but when I am in the presence of the community I would rather say five words that mean something than ten thousand words in a tongue.

²⁰ Brothers, you are not to be childish in your outlook. You can be babies as far as wickedness is concerned, but mentally you must be adult.

²¹ In the written Law it says: Through men speaking strange languages and through the lips of foreigners, I shall talk to the nation, and still they will not listen to me, says the Lord.[*a]

²² You see then, that the strange languages are meant to be a sign not for believers but for unbelievers, while on the other hand, prophecy is a sign not for unbelievers but for believers.

²³ So that any uninitiated people or unbelievers, coming into a meeting of the whole church where everybody was speaking in tongues, would say you were all mad;

²⁴ but if you were all prophesying and an unbeliever or uninitiated person came in, he would find himself analysed and judged by everyone speaking;

²⁵ he would find his secret thoughts laid bare, and then fall on his face and worship God, declaring that God is among you indeed.[*b]

²⁶ So, my dear brothers, what conclusion is to be drawn? At all your meetings, let everyone be ready with a psalm or a sermon or a revelation, or ready to use his gift of tongues or to give an interpretation; but it must always be for the common good.

²⁷ If there are people present with the gift of tongues, let only two or three, at the most, be allowed to use it, and only one at a time, and there must be someone to interpret.

²⁸ If there is no interpreter present, they must keep quiet in church and speak only to themselves and to God.

²⁹ As for prophets, let two or three of them speak, and the others attend to them.

³⁰ If one of the listeners receives a revelation, then the man who is already speaking should stop.

³¹ For you can all prophesy in turn, so that everybody will learn something and everybody will be encouraged.

³² Prophets can always control their prophetic spirits,

³³ since God is not a God of disorder but of peace. As in all the churches of the saints,

³⁴ women are to remain quiet at meetings since they have no permission to speak; they must keep in the background as the Law itself lays it down.

³⁵ If they have any questions to ask, they should ask their husbands at home: it does not seem right for a woman to raise her voice at meetings.

³⁶ Do you think the word of God came out of yourselves? Or that it has come only to you?

³⁷ Anyone who claims to be a prophet or inspired ought to recognise that what I am writing to you is a command from the Lord.

³⁸ Unless he recognises this, you should not recognise him.

³⁹ And so, my dear brothers, by all means be ambitious to prophesy, do not suppress the gift of tongues,

⁴⁰ but let everything be done with propriety and in order.