1 Corinthians 14:12-33

English Standard Version

¹²So with yourselves, since you are eager for manifestations of the Spirit, strive to excel in building up the church.

¹³Therefore, one who speaks in a tongue should pray that he may interpret. ¹⁴For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays but my mind is unfruitful. ¹⁵What am I to do? I will pray with my spirit, but I will pray with my mind also; ^(A)I will sing praise with my spirit, but I will ^(B)sing with my mind also. ¹⁶Otherwise, if you give thanks with your spirit, how can anyone in the position of an outsider^[a] say ^(C)“Amen” to ^(D)your thanksgiving when he does not know what you are saying? ¹⁷For you may be giving thanks well enough, but the other person is not being built up. ¹⁸I thank God that I speak in tongues more than all of you. ¹⁹Nevertheless, in church I would rather speak five words with my mind in order to instruct others, than ten thousand words in a tongue.

²⁰Brothers, ^(E)do not be children in your thinking. ^(F)Be infants in evil, but in your thinking be ^(G)mature. ²¹^(H)In the Law it is written, ^(I)“By people of strange tongues and by the lips of foreigners will I speak to this people, and even then they will not listen to me, says the Lord.” ²²Thus tongues are a sign not for believers but for unbelievers, while prophecy is a sign^[b] not for unbelievers but for believers. ²³If, therefore, the whole church comes together and all speak in tongues, and outsiders or unbelievers enter, ^(J)will they not say that you are out of your minds? ²⁴But if all prophesy, and an unbeliever or outsider enters, he is convicted by all, he is called to account by all, ²⁵^(K)the secrets of his heart are disclosed, and so, ^(L)falling on his face, he will worship God and ^(M)declare that God is really among you.

Orderly Worship

²⁶What then, brothers? When you come together, each one has ^(N)a hymn, ^(O)a lesson, ^(P)a revelation, ^(Q)a tongue, or ^(R)an interpretation. ^(S)Let all things be done for building up. ²⁷If any speak in ^(T)a tongue, let there be only two or at most three, and each in turn, and let someone interpret. ²⁸But if there is no one to interpret, let each of them keep silent in church and speak to himself and to God. ²⁹Let two or three prophets speak, and let the others ^(U)weigh what is said. ³⁰If a revelation is made to another sitting there, ^(V)let the first be silent. ³¹For you can all prophesy one by one, so that all may learn and all be encouraged, ³²and the spirits of prophets are subject to prophets. ³³For God is not a God of ^(W)confusion but of peace.