Add parallel Print Page Options

14 If I pray ·in a different language [or with ecstatic utterance; L in a tongue], my spirit is praying, but my mind ·does nothing [L is unfruitful]. 15 So what should I do? I will pray with my spirit, but I will also pray with my mind. I will ·sing [sing praises/psalms] with my spirit, but I will also ·sing [sing praises/psalms] with my mind. 16 [L Otherwise] If you ·praise God [or pronounce a blessing] with your spirit, those persons there ·without understanding [or without the gift; or who are inquirers/seekers; vv. 23, 24] cannot say “Amen” [C from a Hebrew term meaning “it is true”; 1 Chr. 16:36] to your prayer of thanks, because they do not know what you are saying.

Read full chapter

14 For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays,(A) but my mind is unfruitful. 15 So what shall I do? I will pray with my spirit,(B) but I will also pray with my understanding; I will sing(C) 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”(D) to your thanksgiving,(E) since they do not know what you are saying?

Read full chapter

Footnotes

  1. 1 Corinthians 14:16 The Greek word for inquirer is a technical term for someone not fully initiated into a religion; also in verses 23 and 24.