1 Corinthians 14:10

10 There are doubtless many different kinds of languages in the world, and all have meaning.^[a]

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 In fact, if the trumpet makes an unclear sound, who will prepare for battle?

9 In the same way, unless you use your tongue for intelligible speech, how will what is spoken be known? For you will be speaking into the air.

10 There are doubtless many different kinds of languages in the world, and all have meaning.

11 Therefore, if I do not know the meaning of the language, I will be a foreigner = in Eng a barbarian. To a Gk, a barbaros was anyone who did not speak Gk. to the speaker, and the speaker will be a foreigner to me.

12 So also you-since you are zealous in matters of the spirit, seek to excel in building up the church.

Footnotes

• [a]. Lit and none is without a sound