So also you, unless you uttered by the tongue words easy to understand, how would it be known what is spoken? For you would be speaking into the air.
Parallel Translations
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So also you, unless you uttered by the tongue words easy to understand, how would it be known what is spoken? For you would be speaking into the air.
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Even so lykwyse when ye speake with toges excepte ye speake wordes that have signification how shall that be vnderstonde what is spoke? For ye shall but speake in the ayer.
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So likewise you, by the tongue, except yee vtter wordes that haue signification, howe shall it be vnderstand what is spoken? for ye shall speake in the ayre.
Examined in Scripture Analysis
Contradictions (1)
Questions where the Bible appears to say two different things, with the passages on each side set together.
Cross-references (1)
Passages linked to 1 Corinthians 14:9 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- 1 Corinthians 9:26 I therefore run like that, not aimlessly. I fight like that, not beating the air,
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (14 sources)
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Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain That do fitly utter the matter itself.
That do fitly utter the matter itself.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain 9 So likewise ye, except ye utter by the…
9 So likewise ye, except ye utter by the tongue words easy to be understood, how shall it be known what is spoken? for ye shall speak into the air.
Ver. 9. Ye shall speak into the air] You shall lose your labour, and may as well keep your breath to cool your broth.
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 By λογον ευσημον is meant words which signify well…
By λογον ευσημον is meant words which signify well to those that hear them; for words may be significant enough in themselves, yet nothing at all significant to them that hear them, being unlearned; such sounds of words can contribute nothing to people’s knowledge, but are so much lost labour. This is a text that deserveth the thoughts of those who affect in preaching, if not the use of languages, yet the use of a style, or method, which not one of many of those who hear them understand. It is all one to speak in an unknown tongue, as in a style or method that people do not understand; and truly, such are the generality of ministers’ hearers, that words most significant in themselves, and to learned ears, are least significant to them, being hardest to be understood; so as they know nothing of what they say, and the minister doth but, as to the far greater number of people, beat the air (which is a dreadful meditation).
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 So likewise you, unless ye utter by the tongue…
So likewise you, unless ye utter by the tongue words easy to be understood,.... This is an accommodation of the foregoing similes to the case in hand: for as unless there is a distinction of notes and tunes, it cannot be music, nor it cannot be known what is piped or harped; and unless the trumpet gives a certain sound, none can know when to prepare himself for the battle; so unless in the public ministry and service a language is spoken, and words made use of, which are understood without difficulty:
how shall it be known what is spoken? the subject matter of the discourse, prayer, or psalm, will be all lost, and therefore cannot be for edification, exhortation, or comfort:
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for ye shall speak into the air; into which such words are resolved, and the use and benefit of them, as to others, cease with the breath, by which they are delivered: any part of divine service performed in such a way is all in vain, and to no purpose; it is all lost labour, it is beating the air, and talking to the wind. This condemns the practice of the Papists, performing divine service in a language not understood by the common people; and exposes the folly of those, who are fond of a florid style, of bombast words, great swelling words of vanity in their public discourses: this is only speaking into the air, with regard to the vulgar, whose edification should be consulted: and as the end of the Gospel ministry is public usefulness and edification, plainness of speech, words easy to be understood, should be used; such as are apt and fit to convey the true idea of things to people in common; these are the acceptable words, which the wise preacher, who is desirous of doing good to the souls of men, will seek out, and studiously make use of.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain Unless ye utter by the tongue - Which is…
Unless ye utter by the tongue - Which is miraculously given you. Words easy to be understood - By your hearers. Ye will speak to the air - A proverbial expression. Will utterly lose your labour.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 9. Likewise ye] If ye do not speak…
Verse 9. Likewise ye] If ye do not speak in the Church so as to be understood, your labour is useless; ye shall speak into the air-your speech will be lost and dissipated in the air, without conveying any meaning to any person: there will be a noise or sound, but nothing else. Gifts of that kind, thus used, are good for nothing.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain So likewise ye ... - To apply the case.…
So likewise ye ... - To apply the case. If you use a foreign language, how shall it be known what is said, or of what use will it be, unless it is made intelligible by interpretation?
Utter by the tongue - Unless you speak.
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Words easy to be understood - Significant words (margin), words to which your auditors are accustomed.
For ye shall speak into the air - You will not speak so as to be understood; and it will be just the same as if no one was present, and you spoke to the air. We have a proverb that resembles this: “You may as well speak to the winds:” that is, you speak where it would not be understood, or where the words would have no effect. It may he observed here, that the practice of the papists accords with what the apostle here condemns, where worship is conducted in a language not understood by the people; and that there is much of this same kind of speaking now, where unintelligible terms are used, or words are employed that are above the comprehension of the people; or where doctrines are discussed which are unintelligible, and which are regarded by them without interest. All preaching should be plain, simple, perspicuous, and adapted to the capacity of the hearers.
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 So . . . ye--who have life; as opposed…
So . . . ye--who have life; as opposed to "things without life" (Co1 14:7).
by the tongue--the language which ye speak in.
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ye shall speak--Ye will be speaking into the air, that is, in vain (Co1 9:26).
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 9. Words easy to be understood—The unexplained tongue is…
9. Words easy to be understood—The unexplained tongue is like the uncertain trumpet; it communicates no idea, and leaves the hearer no wiser than it found him.
Speak into the air—Just as the unaiming athlete beateth the air. If your speech be a nothing, your proper hearer is empty space.
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 9. words easy to be understood] Literally, a well…
9. words easy to be understood] Literally, a well marked discourse, language which has a clearly discernible meaning.
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 (9) So likewise ye.—This is not the application of…
(9) So likewise ye.—This is not the application of the foregoing, but the introduction of a third illustration, viz., the varieties of human language. The “tongue” here is simply the actual organ of speech, distinguished in the Greek, by the insertion of the article, from “tongues” which flow from the spiritual gift. If a human being does not use words that those spoken to understand, it is useless; such words pass as sounds into the air and are useless.
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 Words easy to be understood; rather, distinguishable speech. Ye…
Words easy to be understood; rather, distinguishable speech. Ye shall speak; rather, ye shall be (all the time) speaking. Into the air. Mere pulses of useless inarticulate breath, spoken ins Blaue hinein. Philo has the word aeromuthos one who speaks to the wind.
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 9. So also ye, unless ye utter by the…
9. So also ye, unless ye utter by the tongue, etc. It is only speech to the air, unless there is the distinction of intelligible words.
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 So also ye, unless ye utter by the tongue…
So also ye, unless ye utter by the tongue speech easy to be understood, how shall it be known what is spoken? for ye will be speaking into the air .
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.