What Does 1 Corinthians 14:27 Mean?
If anyone speaks in a tongue no one knows, let it be by two, or at most by three, and by turns; and let one carry it across.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
If any man speak in an unknown tongue, let it be by two, or at the most by three, and that by course; and let one interpret.THE KEY
A tongue is given only a portion of the gathering, and interpretation turns that portion into meaning others can receive.
THE MEANING
When speech rises in a tongue among you, it takes a measured place: two or three at most, one after another, with one interpreting. The gathering receives more than sound; the utterance is carried into meaning it can share.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
A mysterious utterance automatically serves the gathering even when no one understands it.
THE ROOT
διερμηνευέτω
diermēneuetō
GROWS FROM
διερμηνεύω
diermēneuō
to interpret, explain, or translate
“carry it across” in this verse is diermēneuetō. The instruction reaches beyond speaking: the utterance must also become intelligible. This word family names both the act of interpretation and the person who interprets, linking speech to the shared understanding it can open.
ALSO GROWS
diermēneia: interpretation
διερμηνεία
The same word family names the interpretation of tongues, showing that understanding is part of how the utterance reaches the gathering.
diermēneutēs: interpreter
διερμηνευτής
The interpreter is not an afterthought; the word family gives a name to the person who carries speech into meaning for others.
ἀνὰ μέρος
ana meros
GROWS FROM
μέρος
meros
a part, portion, or share
“by turns” in this verse is ana meros. The phrase means speaking one by one, while μέρος carries the sense of a part or share. Each voice receives a portion of the gathering rather than taking the whole space.
ALSO GROWS
merizō: to divide or distribute
μερίζω
This related verb shows the sense of something apportioned, illuminating the measured turn each speaker receives.
merismos: division or distribution
μερισμός
This noun carries the same sense of apportionment, making the turn-taking feel like a share assigned within a common space.
THE PATTERN
Speech among a community becomes shareable when it is ordered and made understandable.
So they read aloud from the scroll of the instruction of God, spread open, and set the sense in place, and caused the people to perceive in the reading.How do we each hear them in our own tongue, in which we were born?So also you, unless you give through the tongue a word with a clear sign, how shall what is spoken be known? For you will be speaking into the air.THE THREAD
I wish all of you to speak in tongues, but rather that you prophesy. For greater is the one who prophesies than the one who speaks in tongues, unless he carries it across, so that the assembly may take hold of the building up.The same Greek interpret verb appears here, and the verse names the result: the assembly receives edifying when the utterance is interpreted. Verse 27 gives that same movement a shape, measured turns, then meaning the gathering can receive.
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