1 Corinthians 14:2-19

2If someone speaks in a different language, he is speaking only to God. The people who hear him do not understand his message. God's Spirit is causing him to speak about secret things. It does not help people.

3But if someone speaks a clear message from God, he helps the people who hear him. He helps them to become stronger as believers. He helps them to be happy and strong in their troubles.

4Anyone who speaks in a different language only helps himself. But a person who speaks a message from God helps the believers in the church to become strong.

5I would like all of you to speak in different kinds of languages. But even more, I want you to speak God's message clearly to people. Anyone who can speak a message from God is important in the church. He is more important than someone who speaks in different kinds of languages. That person only helps the church if someone can explain what he says. Only in that way will his message help the church to become stronger.

6My Christian friends, if I come to visit you, then I want to help you. But if I speak to you in languages that you do not understand, that will not help you at all. I would need to explain to you what God has shown to me. I would need to help you to understand something. I would need to speak a clear message from God, or teach you something. Only that would help you.

7Think about how people make music with flutes or harps. Those things are not alive. We have to use them to make clear sounds. If we do not use them properly, then nobody can recognize the music.

8Soldiers will not prepare to fight unless they hear a clear sound from the trumpet.

9It is the same for you. You must use your tongue to speak clearly. If not, nobody will understand what you are saying. You will only be speaking words into the air.

10There are many different kinds of languages in this world. They all mean something to the people who speak them.

11Perhaps somebody may speak to me in a language that I do not understand. Then we are like foreign people to each other.

12So think about what is best for you. You really want the gifts that come from God's Spirit. Most of all, you should want the gifts that will help the whole church to become stronger.

13So, if you speak a message in a different language, you should pray to God about it. Pray that you may be able to explain to people what the message means.

14If I pray in a different language, only my spirit is praying. But I do not use my mind while I pray like that.

15This is what I should do: I will not only pray with my spirit. I will also pray with my mind. I will sing to praise God with my spirit. And I will also do that with my mind.

16If you are praising God only with your spirit, not everyone will understand. Believers who have not learned these things will not know what you are saying. They cannot agree and say ‘Amen’.

17You may really be able to thank God very well in your spirit. But your words do not help those other believers to become strong.

18I thank God that I speak in different kinds of languages more than all of you.

19But when the church meets together, I want to help other believers and teach them. So I would rather say five words that people understand than thousands of words in a different language.