⁶ Now, brothers and sisters, if I come to you and speak in tongues, what good will I be to you, unless I bring you some revelation^(A) or knowledge^(B) or prophecy or word of instruction?^(C)

⁹ So it is with you. Unless you speak intelligible words with your tongue, how will anyone know what you are saying? You will just be speaking into the air.

¹¹ If then I do not grasp the meaning of what someone is saying, I am a foreigner to the speaker, and the speaker is a foreigner to me.^{(A) 12} So it is with you. Since you are eager for gifts of the Spirit,^(B) try to excel in those that build up^(C) the church.

¹⁵ So what shall I do? I will pray with my spirit,^(A) but I will also pray with my understanding; I will sing^(B) with my spirit, but I will also sing with my understanding. ¹⁶ Otherwise when you are praising God in the Spirit, how can someone else, who is now put in the position of an inquirer,^[a] say “Amen”^(C) to your thanksgiving,^(D) since they do not know what you are saying?

²⁴ But if an unbeliever or an inquirer comes in while everyone is prophesying, they are convicted of sin and are brought under judgment by all,