1 Corinthians 14:20-40
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
20 Brothers and sisters, do not be children in your thinking; rather, be infants in evil, but in thinking be adults.(A) 21 In the law it is written,
“By people of strange tongues
and by the lips of foreigners
I will speak to this people,
yet even then they will not listen to me,”
says the Lord.(B) 22 Tongues, then, are a sign not for believers but for unbelievers, while prophecy is not for unbelievers but for believers. 23 If, therefore, the entire church comes together and all speak in tongues, and outsiders or unbelievers enter, will they not say that you are out of your mind?(C) 24 But if all prophesy, an unbeliever or outsider who enters is reproved by all and called to account by all. 25 After the secrets of the unbeliever’s heart are disclosed, that person will bow down before God and worship, declaring, “God is really among you.”
Orderly Worship
26 What should be done then, my brothers and sisters? When you come together, each one has a hymn, a lesson, a revelation, a tongue, or an interpretation. Let all things be done for building up.(D) 27 If anyone speaks in a tongue, let there be only two or at most three and each in turn, and let one interpret. 28 But if there is no one to interpret, let them be silent in church and speak to themselves and to God. 29 Let two or three prophets speak, and let the others weigh what is said. 30 If someone sitting receives a revelation, let the first person be silent. 31 For you can all prophesy one by one, so that all may learn and all be encouraged 32 (and the spirits of prophets are subject to the prophets, 33 for God is a God not of disorder but of peace), as in all the churches of the saints.
34 Women should be silent in the churches. For they are not permitted to speak but should be subordinate, as the law also says.(E) 35 If there is something they want to learn, let them ask their husbands at home.[a] For it is shameful for a woman to speak in church.[b] 36 Or did the word of God originate with you? Or are you the only ones it has reached?
37 Anyone who claims to be a prophet or spiritual must acknowledge that what I am writing to you is a command[c] of the Lord.(F) 38 Anyone who does not recognize this is not to be recognized. 39 So, my brothers and sisters, strive to prophesy, and do not forbid speaking in tongues,(G) 40 but all things should be done decently and in order.
Read full chapterNew Revised Standard Version, Updated Edition. Copyright © 2021 National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.