1 Corinthians 14:10

10 There are undoubtedly all kinds of sounds in the world, and none is altogether meaningless;

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 the bugle gives an unclear sound, who will get ready for battle?

9 It's the same with you: how will anyone know what you are saying unless you use your tongue to produce intelligible speech? You will be talking to the air!

10 There are undoubtedly all kinds of sounds in the world, and none is altogether meaningless;

11 but if I don't know what a person's sounds mean, I will be a foreigner to the speaker and the speaker will be a foreigner to me.

12 Likewise with you: since you eagerly seek the things of the Spirit, seek especially what will help in edifying the congregation.