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20 Dear brothers and sisters, don’t be childish in your understanding of these things. Be innocent as babies when it comes to evil, but be mature in understanding matters of this kind. 21 It is written in the Scriptures[a]:

“I will speak to my own people
    through strange languages
    and through the lips of foreigners.
But even then, they will not listen to me,”[b]
    says the Lord.

22 So you see that speaking in tongues is a sign, not for believers, but for unbelievers. Prophecy, however, is for the benefit of believers, not unbelievers.

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Footnotes

  1. 14:21a Greek in the law.
  2. 14:21b Isa 28:11-12.

20 Brothers and sisters,[a] do not be children in your thinking. Instead, be infants in evil, but in your thinking be mature. 21 It is written in the law: “By people with strange tongues and by the lips of strangers I will speak to this people, yet not even in this way will they listen to me,”[b] says the Lord. 22 So then, tongues are a sign not for believers but for unbelievers. Prophecy, however, is not for unbelievers but for believers.

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Footnotes

  1. 1 Corinthians 14:20 tn Grk “brothers.” See note on the phrase “brothers and sisters” in 1:10.
  2. 1 Corinthians 14:21 sn A quotation from Isa 28:11-12.