1 Corinthians 14:10

10 It will be as if you are speaking into the air! There are probably many language families in the world, and none of them are without meaning.

1 Corinthians 14:10 Meaning and Commentary

1 Corinthians 14:10

There are, it may be, so many kinds of voices
(anvl) , "tongues", or "languages", as the Syriac version renders it; that is, as many as there are nations in the world; there may be seventy of them, as the Jews say there were at the confusion of languages at Babel; there may be more or less:

and none of them is without signification:
every language, and every word in a language, has a meaning in it, an idea annexed to it, which it conveys to him that understands it, and that cannot be done without a voice ordinarily speaking.

1 Corinthians 14:10 In-Context

8 And if a trumpet call is unrecognizable, then who will prepare for battle?

9 It's the same way with you: If you don't use language that is easy to understand when you speak in a tongue, then how will anyone understand what is said?

10 It will be as if you are speaking into the air! There are probably many language families in the world, and none of them are without meaning.

11 So if I don't know the meaning of the language, then I will be like a foreigner to those who speak it, and they will be like foreigners to me.

12 The same holds true for you: since you are ambitious for spiritual gifts, use your ambition to try to work toward being the best at building up the church.