1 Corinthians 14:11
What does 1 Corinthians 14:11 mean?
A plain-English look at 1 Corinthians 14:11 in WEB alongside six other public-domain English translations, with cross-references and chapter context.
What 1 Corinthians 14:11 means
Without shared meaning, speaker and hearer become strangers—each a foreigner to the other. The word pictures a breakdown of fellowship: sound is produced, but communion does not occur. In corporate worship, where unity and mutual care are central, such estrangement is intolerable. Paul’s point is pastoral as well as practical: love bridges gaps; it does not create unnecessary distance. Therefore, speech that others cannot understand belongs either in private devotion or must be interpreted so the body can be included. This verse nudges the church to consider not only what is true or sincere, but what serves the fellowship of believers by enabling mutual understanding and shared response to God.
Parallel translations
WEB
World English Bible · 2000If then I know not the meaning of the voice, I shall be to him that speaketh a barbarian, and he that speaketh will be a barbarian unto me.
KJV
King James Version · 1611Therefore if I know not the meaning of the voice, I shall be unto him that speaketh a barbarian, and he that speaketh shall be a barbarian unto me.
ASV
American Standard Version · 1901If then I know not the meaning of the voice, I shall be to him that speaketh a barbarian, and he that speaketh will be a barbarian unto me.
BBE
Bible in Basic English · 1949But if the sense of the voice is not clear to me, I am like a man from a strange country to him who is talking, and he will be the same to me.
YLT
Young's Literal Translation · 1862if, then, I do not know the power of the voice, I shall be to him who is speaking a foreigner, and he who is speaking, is to me a foreigner;
DRA
Douay-Rheims (Challoner) · 1752If then I know not the power of the voice, I shall be to him to whom I speak a barbarian: and he that speaketh a barbarian to me.
DBY
Darby Bible · 1890If therefore I do not know the power of the sound, I shall be to him that speaks a barbarian, and he that speaks a barbarian for me.
Context
Building on the principle that all languages have meaning, Paul highlights the social effect of unintelligibility: it alienates worshipers from one another. The contrast with prophecy—which gathers people around a common word—is becoming sharper. In the next verse, Paul will appeal to the Corinthians’ zeal for spiritual things and direct it toward edification. He is not suppressing fervor; he is guiding it so that the assembly becomes a place of inclusion and strengthening rather than confusion and isolation. This argument paves the way for practical instructions about praying for interpretation and setting limits on how tongues are used in the church service.
Cross references
Related passages from across Scripture, drawn from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge.
- Acts 28:4
And when the barbarians saw the venomous creature hanging from his hand, they said one to another, No doubt this man is a murderer, whom, though he hath escaped from the sea, yet Justice hath not suffered to live.
- Romans 1:14
I am debtor both to Greeks and to Barbarians, both to the wise and to the foolish.
- Acts 28:2
And the barbarians showed us no common kindness: for they kindled a fire, and received us all, because of the present rain, and because of the cold.
- Colossians 3:11
where there cannot be Greek and Jew, circumcision and uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, bondman, freeman; but Christ is all, and in all.
- 1 Corinthians 14:21
In the law it is written, By men of strange tongues and by the lips of strangers will I speak unto this people; and not even thus will they hear me, saith the Lord.
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