I thank my God, I speak with other languages more than you all.
Parallel Translations
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I thank my God, I speak with other languages more than you all.
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I thanke my god I speake with toges moare then ye all.
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I thanke my God, I speake languages more then ye all.
Cross-references (2)
Passages linked to 1 Corinthians 14:18 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- 1 Corinthians 1:4-6 I always thank my God concerning you, for the grace of God which was given you in Christ Jesus; that in everything you were enriched in him, in all speech and all knowledge; even as the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you:
- 1 Corinthians 4:7 For who makes you different? And what do you have that you didn’t receive? But if you did receive it, why do you boast as if you had not received it?
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (16 sources)
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John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain 18. I thank, etc. As there are many that…
18. I thank, etc. As there are many that detract from another’s excellencies, in which they cannot themselves have distinction, Paul, that he might not seem to depreciate, through malignity or envy, the gift of tongues, anticipates that suspicion, by showing that he is, in this respect, superior to them all. “See,” says he, “how little occasion you have to suspect the design of my discourse, as if I depreciated what I myself lacked; for if we were to contend as to tongues, there is not one of you that could bear comparison with me. While, however, I might display myself to advantage in this department., I am more concerned for edification.” Paul’s doctrine derives no small weight from the circumstance, that he has not an eye to himself. Lest, however, he should appear excessively arrogant, in preferring himself before all others, he ascribes it all to God. Thus he tempers his boasting with modesty.
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain He propoundeth himself for an example, both that they…
He propoundeth himself for an example, both that they may be ashamed of their foolish ambition, and also that he may eschew all suspicion of envy.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain 18 I thank my God, I speak with tongues…
18 I thank my God, I speak with tongues more than ye all:
Ver. 18. I thank my God, &c.] Skill in tongues is, as now, a great blessing. Indeed at first when men began θεομαχειν, to fight against God, they were compelled λογομαχειν, to babble in divers languages, 72, as Epiphanius affirmeth. But God hath turned this curse into a blessing unto his people, Act 2:4-13, and as in the first plantation of the gospel, so in the late reformation; God sent it before, as his munition to batter the forts of Antichrist, who had banished arts and languages, overspreading all with barbarism and atheism. Graece nosse suspectum erat. Hebraice fere haereticum.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain Our Saviour, in the parable of the good shepherd,…
Our Saviour, in the parable of the good shepherd, gives us this as his character, that the sheep hear his voice, and follow him, Joh 10:4; and we shall observe this great apostle every where propounding himself for imitation to them. They are bad shepherds over God’s flock, that must only be heard, but not followed. The apostle lets them know, that God had not left him without the gift of speaking with divers tongues, nay, he had it in a more eminent manner than them all; put them all together, they could not speak with so many tongues as he did.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain I thank my God, I speak with tongues more…
I thank my God, I speak with tongues more than you all. This the apostle says, to observe to them that he did not despise speaking with tongues: nor did he endeavour to beat them off, and dissuade them from desiring them, or envied their having them, because he was destitute of them himself; for he had this gift in a very eminent manner, and oftentimes made use of it, and was frequently under a necessity of so doing; he could speak with more tongues than any of those that had them, and spoke them oftener than they did; having occasion for them through his travelling into different countries, and preaching the Gospel to people of divers languages; and this he mentions also not in a boasting manner, but in great humility, giving thanks to God, and acknowledging him to be the author of this gift.
I thank my God, I speak with tongues more than you all. This the apostle says, to observe to them that he did not despise speaking with tongues: nor did he endeavour to beat them off, and dissuade them from desiring them, or envied their having them, because he was destitute of them himself; for he had this gift in a very eminent manner, and oftentimes made use of it, and was frequently under a necessity of so doing; he could speak with more tongues than any of those that had them, and spoke them oftener than they did; having occasion for them through his travelling into different countries, and preaching the Gospel to people of divers languages; and this he mentions also not in a boasting manner, but in great humility, giving thanks to God, and acknowledging him to be the author of this gift.
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1 Corinthians 14:19
co1 14:19
co1 14:19
co1 14:19Yet in the church I had rather speak five words,.... Referring not to the five books of Moses, as Jerom suggests, and much less, as the Papists say, to the five words, "for this is my body"; by the muttering of which they suppose the bread in the Lord's supper to be transubtantiated into the body of Christ; but meaning a very few words, which he chose to speak in the church before the congregation, when and where saints were met together for public worship, for their edification and comfort, and the glory of God; for though at other times, and to other people, he might think fit to make use of his gift in speaking with divers tongues, yet at such a time and place he thought it much more eligible to say ever so few words
with understanding: so as to be understood by others, as well as himself:
that by my voice I might teach others also; the doctrines of the Gospel, the mysteries of grace, the duty of men towards God and men, and one another:
than ten thousand words in an unknown tongue; than to deliver ever so long an oration in a language not understood by them, which could be of no use unto them; for though they might hear his voice, the sound of his words, yet thereby he could not teach and instruct them to their profit, unless they understood the language which he spoke; and therefore five words understood were more likely to be of use than ten thousand spoken in a strange language.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 18. I speak with tongues more than ye…
Verse 18. I speak with tongues more than ye all] He understood more languages than any of them did: and this was indispensably necessary, as he was the apostle of the Gentiles in general, and had to preach to different provinces where different dialects, if not languages, were used. In the Hebrew, Syriac, Greek, and Latin, he was undoubtedly well skilled from his education; and how many he might understand by miraculous gift we cannot tell. But, even literally understood, it is very probable that he knew more languages than any man in the Church of Corinth.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain 1Co 14:18-19. I thank my God, &c. — As…
1Co 14:18-19. I thank my God, &c. — As if he had said, I do not speak thus of foreign languages because I myself am deficient in them, for I must say, to the glory of that Being from whom all my gifts and talents are derived, I speak with tongues more than you all — More than the whole society taken together. “The apostle had this great variety of languages given him by inspiration, that he might be able immediately to preach the gospel to all nations, without spending time in learning their languages. But it must be remembered that the knowledge of so many languages miraculously communicated, was a knowledge for common use, such as enabled the apostle to deliver the doctrines of the gospel clearly and properly; and not such a knowledge of these languages as prevented him in speaking and writing from mixing foreign idioms with them, especially the idioms of his mother tongue. An attention to such trifles was below the grandeur and importance of the work in which the apostle was engaged, and tended to no solid use; these foreign idioms being often more expressive and emphatical than the correspondent classical phrases.” — Macknight. Yet in the church, &c. — Yet so far am I from being vain of this gift, that in the church I had rather speak were it only five plain words with my understanding — In a rational manner, so as not only to understand myself, but to be understood by others; than ten thousand words in an unknown tongue — However sublime and elegant that discourse might be: yea, I had rather be entirely silent in an assembly, than take up their time, and prostitute the extraordinary gifts of God to such a vain and foolish purpose.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain I thank my God - Paul here shows that…
I thank my God - Paul here shows that he did not undervalue or despise the power of speaking foreign languages. It was with him a subject of thanksgiving that he could speak so many; but he felt that there were more valuable endowments than this; see the next verse.
With tongues more than ye all - I am able to speak more foreign languages than all of you. “How many” languages Paul could speak, he has no where told us. It is reasonable, however, to presume that he was able to speak the language of any people to whom God in his providence, and by his Spirit, called him to preach. He had been commissioned to preach to the “Gentiles,” and it is probable that he was able to speak the languages of all the nations among whom he ever traveled. There is no account of his being under a necessity of employing an interpreter wherever he preached.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain tongues--The oldest manuscripts have the singular, "in a tongue…
tongues--The oldest manuscripts have the singular, "in a tongue [foreign]."
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 18. Thank… God—Paul here indicates, 1. That the charism…
18. Thank… God—Paul here indicates, 1. That the charism of tongues was a gift to be thankful for; 2. Calls to mind, in a manner implying that the Corinthians would not deny, the affluence of his gifts; 3. Implies that he not only possessed, but used, the power in actual exercise; 4. That, therefore, he assigned tongues a subordinate place from no envy to those displaying them; and, 5. Prepares by all this for his decisive sentence next to be uttered against the use of tongues uninterpreted.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 18. I thank my God, I speak with tongues…
18. I thank my God, I speak with tongues more than you all] St Paul, no doubt, had the gift of interpretation. Yet apparently he did not often exercise in public, whatever he may have done in private, the gift of speaking with tongues unknown to his hearers. See next verse.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (18, 19) I thank my God.—Here the Apostle resumes…
(18, 19) I thank my God.—Here the Apostle resumes in the first person, coming back, after the parenthesis, to the continuation of his own desire and example. He does not undervalue that gift the misuse and exaggeration of which he is censuring; he possesses it himself in a remarkable degree; yet in the Church (i.e., in any assembly of Christians for prayer or instruction) he would prefer to speak five words with his mind rather than ten thousand with a tongue only; for the object of such assemblies is not private prayer or private ecstatic communion with God, but the edification of others. The word used for “teach” in this verse is literally our word catechise.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain I speak with tongues; rather, with a tongue. More…
I speak with tongues; rather, with a tongue. More than ye all. This is exactly what we should expect of the emotional, impassioned nature of St. Paul, who was so wholly under the influence of the Spirit of God. But it is clear from all that he has been saying that, while the personal and evidential value of this gift of yielding his whole being to the spiritual impulse, which expressed and relieved itself by inarticulate utterance, was such as to make him "thank God" that he possessed it, he must either have exercised it only in private gatherings or must have always accompanied it by interpretation.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
B. W. Johnson 1891 · Public Domain 18–22. I had rather speak five words, etc. All…
18–22. I had rather speak five words, etc. All must be done to edification. Hence, all must be understood. There is a lesson here to preachers who are so learned in their utterances that the people cannot understand them.
B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.
J. W. McGarvey 1914 · Public Domain I thank God, I speak with tongues more than…
I thank God, I speak with tongues more than you all:
J. W. McGarvey (with Philip Y. Pendleton), Commentaries on the New Testament (The Fourfold Gospel, 1914; Acts; and the epistles) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 14:18-19 Paul affirmed the personal value of speaking in…
14:18-19 Paul affirmed the personal value of speaking in tongues, but speaking in a church meeting should help others, not only the speaker.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.