What Does 1 Corinthians 14:30 Mean?
But if something is unveiled to another who is seated beside, let the first one hush.
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 thing be revealed to another that sitteth by, let the first hold his peace.THE KEY
When something is uncovered to another, the first speaker’s silence makes room for it to be heard.
THE MEANING
When something is revealed to another person in the gathering, the one speaking falls silent. The new unveiling changes the movement of speech, and the first voice gives way so the other can be heard.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
This undoes the belief that the first to speak owns the floor until they choose to stop; another person’s revelation can bring that speech to a pause.
THE ROOT
ἀποκαλυφθῇ
apokalyphthē
GROWS FROM
καλυπ-
kalyp-
to cover or conceal; with ἀπο- (apo-, away), the verb carries the sense of uncovering
“unveiled” in this verse is apokalyphthē. The verb pictures what is covered being uncovered: what comes to light in another person is named as revelation, not merely as an interruption. The first speaker’s silence follows that unveiling and gives it room to be heard.
ALSO GROWS
kalýptō: to cover, conceal
καλύπτω
This is the covering held within the word for revelation; what is revealed is what was covered now brought into view.
apokálypsis: revelation, unveiling
ἀποκάλυψις
This noun shares the same word family and names the uncovering that shifts who is speaking in the verse.
σιγάτω
sigátō
GROWS FROM
σιγ-
sig-
silence; being quiet
“hold his peace” in this verse is sigátō. The verb means to be silent, while the surrounding words give that silence its turn-taking role. The same verb family appears when a gathered multitude falls quiet to hear another testimony in Acts 15:12.
ALSO GROWS
sigē: silence
σιγή
The noun names the quiet that the verb in this verse calls for.
sigáō: to be silent, keep quiet
σιγάω
This is the verb’s dictionary form and the same word family used for the multitude’s silence in Acts 15:12.
THE PATTERN
Speech in a gathering makes room for another voice in turn, so what is shared can be heard.
A time to tear, and a time to sew; a time to hush, and a time to speak.Then the whole crowd kept silence, and listened to Barnabas and Paul, telling what signs and wonders God had made among the nations by them.For all of you can prophesy, one by one, that all may learn, and all may be comforted.THE THREAD
Then the whole crowd kept silence, and listened to Barnabas and Paul, telling what signs and wonders God had made among the nations by them.“Kept silence” uses the same Greek verb family as “hold his peace” here. In both verses, the gathered people fall quiet so another voice can be heard.
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