Therefore, brothers, desire earnestly to prophesy, and don’t forbid speaking with other languages.
World English Bible
1 Corinthians 14:39
This verse is examined in more than one Scripture Analysis section. Each lens is shown on its own terms, in the section's own words; GEBible reaches no verdict of its own.
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WEB World English Bible Public Domain ✓ - Modern English
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- F35 Family 35 New Testament Wilbur Pickering's Byzantine-priority New Testament, with text-critical commentary notes · CC BY-SA 4.0
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Examined in Scripture Analysis
Contradictions (1)
Questions where the Bible appears to say two different things, with the passages on each side set together.
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Is it OK to covet?
The Tenth Commandment as quoted by Paul in Romans 7:7 and 13:9 prohibits coveting, and Ephesians 5:3 and Colossians 3:5 reinforce that covetousness is idolatry and should not even be named among believers. But 1 Corinthians 14:39 has Paul himself saying "covet to prophesy" — using the same Greek verb (zeloo, in some manuscripts; KJV renders zelote as "covet") in a positive sense.
Critical scholarship: Usually considered reconciled.
More on this question
The proposed answers and sources for each reading are on the question page.
Each section sets the viewpoints side by side; you weigh the evidence. Here, "critical scholarship" means academic study, not a value judgment. How this is built →
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This citation refers to this GEBible page — the verse and the analysis gathered here. To cite the underlying scholarship, cite those sources directly.
"1 Corinthians 14:39 — Scripture Analysis" GEBible, https://gebible.app/analysis/verse/1-corinthians/14/39?version=WEB (retrieved 27 August 2026).