1 Corinthians 14:20-22

New King James Version

Tongues a Sign to Unbelievers

²⁰Brethren, ^(A)do not be children in understanding; however, in malice ^(B)be babes, but in understanding be mature.

²¹^(C)In the law it is written:

^(D)“With men of other tongues and other lips
I will speak to this people;
And yet, for all that, they will not hear Me,”

says the Lord.

²²Therefore tongues are for a ^(E)sign, not to those who believe but to unbelievers; but prophesying is not for unbelievers but for those who believe.

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1 Corinthians 14:20-22

American Standard Version

²⁰Brethren, be not children in mind: yet in malice be ye babes, but in mind be ^[a]men. ²¹In the law it is written, ^[b]By men of strange tongues and by the lips of strangers will I speak unto this people; and not even thus will they hear me, saith the Lord. ²²Wherefore tongues are for a sign, not to them that believe, but to the unbelieving: but prophesying is for a sign, not to the unbelieving, but to them that believe.

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Footnotes

1 Corinthians 14:20 Greek of full age. Compare 2:6.
1 Corinthians 14:21 Isa. 28:11f.

1 Corinthians 14:20-22

New International Version

²⁰Brothers and sisters, stop thinking like children.^(A) In regard to evil be infants,^(B) but in your thinking be adults. ²¹In the Law^(C) it is written:

“With other tongues
and through the lips of foreigners
I will speak to this people,
but even then they will not listen to me,^(D)
says the Lord.”^[a]

²²Tongues, then, are a sign, not for believers but for unbelievers; prophecy,^(E) however, is not for unbelievers but for believers.

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