1 Corinthians 14:11

Amplified Bible

But if I do not know the meaning of the language, I will [appear to] be a foreigner to the one who is speaking [since he knows exactly what he is saying], and the one who is speaking will [appear to] be a foreigner to me.

Parallel Translations

Easy-to-Read Version
But if I don't understand the meaning of what someone is saying, it will just be strange sounds to me, and I will sound just as strange to them.

Revised Standard Version
but if I do not know the meaning of the language, I shall be a foreigner to the speaker and the speaker a foreigner to me.

Tyndale New Testament (1525)
If I knowe not what the voyce meaneth I shalbe vnto him that speaketh an alient: and and he that speaketh shalbe an alient vnto me

Hebrew Names Version
If then I don't know the meaning of the sound, I would be to him who speaks a foreigner, and he who speaks would be a foreigner to me.

International Standard Version
If I don't know the meaning of the language,sound">[fn] I will be a foreigner to the speaker and the speaker will be a foreigner to me.

New American Standard Bible
So if I do not know the meaning of the language, I will be unintelligible to the one who speaks, and the one who speaks will be unintelligible to me.

New Century Version
But unless I understand the meaning of what someone says to me, we will be like foreigners to each other.

Update Bible Version
If then I don't know the meaning of the voice, I shall be to him that speaks a barbarian, and he that speaks will be a barbarian to me.

Webster's Bible Translation
Therefore, if I know not the meaning of the voice, I shall be to him that speaketh a barbarian, and he that speaketh [will be] a barbarian to me.

English Standard Version
but if I do not know the meaning of the language, I will be a foreigner to the speaker and the speaker a foreigner to me.

World English Bible
If then I don't know the meaning of the voice, I would be to him who speaks a foreigner, and he who speaks will be a foreigner to me.

Wesley's New Testament (1755)
Yet if I know not the meaning of the language, I shall be a barbarian to him that speaketh, and he that speaketh will be a barbarian to me.

Weymouth's New Testament
If, however, I do not know the meaning of the particular language, I shall seem to the speaker of it, and he to me, to be merely talking some foreign tongue.

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
But if Y knowe not the vertu of a vois, Y schal be to hym, to whom Y schal speke, a barbarik; and he that spekith to me, schal be a barbarik.

English Revised Version
If then I know not the meaning of the voice, I shall be to him that speaketh a barbarian, and he that speaketh will be a barbarian unto me.

Berean Standard Bible
If, then, I do not know the meaning of someone's language, I am a foreigner to the speaker, and he is a foreigner to me.

Contemporary English Version
But if I don't understand the language that someone is using, we will be like foreigners to each other.

American Standard Version
If then I know not the meaning of the voice, I shall be to him that speaketh a barbarian, and he that speaketh will be a barbarian unto me.

Bible in Basic English
But if the sense of the voice is not clear to me, I am like a man from a strange country to him who is talking, and he will be the same to me.

Complete Jewish Bible
but if I don't know what a person's sounds mean, I will be a foreigner to the speaker and the speaker will be a foreigner to me.

Darby Translation
If therefore I do not know the power of the sound, I shall be to him that speaks a barbarian, and he that speaks a barbarian for me.

Etheridge Translation
but if I do not know the power of the voice, I become as a barbarian to him who speaks, and he also who speaks is a barbarian to me.

Murdock Translation
But if I do not know the import of the sound, I shall be a barbarian to him that speaketh, and the speaker will be a barbarian to me.

King James Version (1611)
Therefore if I know not the meaning of the voyce, I shall bee vnto him that speaketh, a Barbarian, and he that speaketh shall be a Barbarian vnto mee.

New Living Translation
But if I don't understand a language, I will be a foreigner to someone who speaks it, and the one who speaks it will be a foreigner to me.

New Life Bible
But if I do not understand the language someone uses to speak to me, the man who speaks is a stranger to me. I am a stranger to him.

New Revised Standard
If then I do not know the meaning of a sound, I will be a foreigner to the speaker and the speaker a foreigner to me.

Geneva Bible (1587)
Except I know then the power of ye voyce, I shall be vnto him that speaketh a barbarian, and he that speaketh, shalbe a barbarian vnto me.

George Lamsa Translation
So if I do not understand the utterance, I shall be as a barbarian to the speaker, and the speaker shall be as a barbarian to me.

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
If, then, I do not know the meaning of the language, I shall be, unto him that is speaking, a foreigner, and, he that is speaking, shall be, in my case, a foreigner.

Douay-Rheims Bible
If then I know not the power of the voice, I shall be to him to whom I speak a barbarian: and he that speaketh a barbarian to me.

Bishop's Bible (1568)
If I knowe not what the voyce meaneth, I shalbe lyke vnto hym that speaketh, an aliaunt: and he that speaketh, shalbe an aliaunt vnto me.

Good News Translation
But if I do not know the language being spoken, those who use it will be foreigners to me and I will be a foreigner to them.

Christian Standard Bible®
Therefore, if I do not know the meaning of the language, I will be a foreigner to the speaker, and the speaker will be a foreigner to me.

King James Version
Therefore if I know not the meaning of the voice, I shall be unto him that speaketh a barbarian, and he that speaketh shall be a barbarian unto me.

Lexham English Bible
Therefore, if I do not know the meaning of the language, I will be a barbarian to the one who is speaking, and the one who is speaking will be a barbarian in my judgment.

Literal Translation
If, then, I do not know the power of the sound, I will be a foreigner to the one speaking, and he speaking to me, a foreigner.

Young's Literal Translation
if, then, I do not know the power of the voice, I shall be to him who is speaking a foreigner, and he who is speaking, is to me a foreigner;

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
Yf I knowe not now what ye voyce meaneth, I shalbe an aleaunt vnto him that speaketh: & he that speaketh, shalbe an aleaut vnto me.

Mace New Testament (1729)
therefore if I don't know the meaning of the language, with respect to him that speaks, I shall be a barbarian; and he that speaks shall be a barbarian to me.

New English Translation
If then I do not know the meaning of a language, I will be a foreigner to the speaker and the speaker a foreigner to me.

New King James Version
Therefore, if I do not know the meaning of the language, I shall be a foreigner to him who speaks, and he who speaks will be a foreigner to me.

Simplified Cowboy Version
But if no one speaks that language, then there is no meaning. The person who doesn't understand will feel like a foreigner in a strange land or

New American Standard Bible (1995)
If then I do not know the meaning of the language, I will be to the one who speaks a barbarian, and the one who speaks will be a barbarian to me.

Legacy Standard Bible
If then I do not know the meaning of the sound, I will be to the one who speaks a barbarian, and the one who speaks will be a barbarian to me.

Contextual Overview

⁶Now, believers, if I come to you speaking in unknown tongues, how will I benefit you unless I also speak to you [clearly] either by revelation [revealing God's mystery], or by knowledge [teaching about God], or by prophecy [foretelling the future, speaking a new message from God to the people], or by instruction [teaching precepts that develop spiritual maturity]? ⁷Yet even lifeless things, whether flute or harp, when producing a sound, if they do not produce distinct [musical] tones, how will anyone [listening] know what is piped or played? ⁸And if the [war] bugle produces an indistinct sound, who will prepare himself for battle? ⁹So it is with you, if you speak words [in an unknown tongue] that are not intelligible and clear, how will anyone understand what you are saying? You will be talking into the air [wasting your breath]! ¹⁰There are, I suppose, a great many kinds of languages in the world [unknown to us], and none is lacking in meaning. ¹¹But if I do not know the meaning of the language, I will [appear to] be a foreigner to the one who is speaking [since he knows exactly what he is saying], and the one who is speaking will [appear to] be a foreigner to me.¹²So it is with you, since you are so very eager to have spiritual gifts and manifestations of the Spirit, strive to excel in ways that will build up the church [spiritually]. ¹³Therefore let one who speaks in a tongue pray that he may [be gifted to] translate or explain [what he says]. ¹⁴For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays, but my mind is unproductive [because it does not understand what my spirit is praying].

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

I shall: 1 Corinthians 14:21, Acts 28:2, Acts 28:4, Romans 1:14, Colossians 3:11

Cross-References

Genesis 12:5
Abram took Sarai his wife and Lot his nephew, and all their possessions which they had acquired, and the people (servants) which they had acquired in Haran, and they set out to go to the land of Canaan. When they came to the land of Canaan,

Genesis 14:16
And he brought back all the goods, and also brought back his nephew Lot and his possessions, and also the women, and the people.

Genesis 14:21
The king of Sodom said to Abram, "Give me the people and keep the goods (spoils of battle) for yourself."

Deuteronomy 28:31
"Your ox will be slaughtered before your eyes, but you will not eat any of it; your donkey will be torn away from you, and it will not be returned to you; your sheep will be given to your enemies, and you will have no one to save you.

Deuteronomy 28:35
"The LORD will strike you on the knees and on the legs with sore boils that you cannot heal, from the sole of your foot to the crown of your head.

Deuteronomy 28:51
and it will eat the offspring of your herd and the produce of your ground until you are destroyed, who will leave you no grain, new wine, or oil, nor the offspring of your herd or the young of your flock until they have caused you to perish.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Therefore if I know not the meaning of the voice,.... The force and power of a language, the signification of it, the ideas its words convey, but only hear the sound of it:

I shall be to him that speaketh a barbarian, and he that speaketh shall be a barbarian unto me: like one of those rude and uncultivated people that inhabit deserts and wild places, who can neither understand the language of others, nor be understood by others; and indeed may be meant of any sort of people, that do not understand one another's language: the word בר, "bar", and ברא, "bara", in the Chaldee, Syriac, and Arabic languages, not only signifies a field, a wood, or desert place, but also without, or any thing extraneous; and being doubled, signifies one that lives without, in another land; a stranger, and that speaks a strange language; so all other nations of the world were barbarians to the Hebrews, and particularly the Egyptians; see the Targum on Psalms 114:1 and so were all other nations to the Greeks, see Romans 1:14 and also to the Romans: and the sense is, that where the signification of a language and the sense of words are not known, the speaker is like a man that lives in a strange country to him that hears him; and the hearer is like to one that lives in a strange country to him that speaks, since they cannot understand one another. The word sometimes is used for men, αφωνοι η ανκοοι, z, "that can neither speak nor hear", men dumb and deaf; and when words cannot be understood, the case is all one as with such persons.

z Scholia in Aristoph. in Avibus, p. 550.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

The meaning of the voice - Of the language that is uttered, or the sounds that are made.

I shall be unto him ... - What I say will be unintelligible to him, and what he says will be unintelligible to me. We cannot understand one another any more than people can who speak different languages.

A barbarian - See the note at Romans 1:14. The word means one who speaks a different, or a foreign language.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse 1 Corinthians 14:11. If I know not the meaning of the voice — την δυναμις της φωνης, The power and signification of the language.

I shall be unto him that speaketh a barbarian — I shall appear to him, and he to me, as a person who had no distinct and articulate sounds which can convey any kind of meaning. This observation is very natural: when we hear persons speaking in a language of which we know nothing, we wonder how they can understand each other, as, in their speech, there appears to us no regular distinction of sounds or words. For the meaning and origin of the word barbarian, Acts 28:2.