What Does 1 Corinthians 14:31 Mean?
For all of you can prophesy, one by one, that all may learn, and all may be comforted.
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
For ye may all prophesy one by one, that all may learn, and all may be comforted.THE KEY
Prophecy is shared turn by turn so that everyone can learn and be strengthened, rather than belonging to one commanding voice.
THE MEANING
Every voice has a turn, and every person remains a recipient: all may learn, and all may be comforted. The verse locates prophecy’s fruit in a whole community becoming instructed and strengthened.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The belief that spiritual insight belongs only to a rare or dominant voice dissolves here: the verse makes room for all to speak in turn, with everyone able to receive.
THE ROOT
προφητεύω
prophēteuō
GROWS FROM
φημί
phēmi
to say, speak
“prophesy” in this verse is prophēteuō. At the center of this word family is speaking: prophecy is voiced communication, not merely a title or private possession. “One by one” makes each utterance available to the assembly, where all may learn and be strengthened.
ALSO GROWS
prophētēs: prophet; one who speaks a message
προφήτης
The speaker and the act of prophesying belong to one word family, linking a prophetic voice to speech shared with others.
prophēteia: prophecy; prophetic utterance
προφητεία
This names the utterance itself, keeping the focus on speech that can be received and understood by the assembly.
παρακαλέω
parakaleō
GROWS FROM
καλέω
kaleō
to call, summon
“comforted” in this verse is parakaleō. This word family carries comfort, encouragement, and urging. Here, the speech can steady and strengthen its hearers while calling them toward what is spoken.
ALSO GROWS
paraklēsis: comfort, encouragement, appeal
παράκλησις
The same family names comfort received and an appeal made, showing how shared words can both strengthen and move their hearers.
paraklētos: advocate, helper, comforter
παράκλητος
This related word describes advocacy or support, illuminating comfort as sustaining help.
μανθάνω
manthanō
GROWS FROM
μαθ-
math-
to learn, come to understand through learning
“learn” in this verse is manthanō. This word shares its family with “disciple” and “lesson,” so prophecy forms a community of learners. Speaking in turn leaves room for understanding to take root in everyone.
ALSO GROWS
mathētēs: learner, disciple
μαθητής
A disciple is a learner from the same word family, linking prophecy’s purpose with an assembly that receives and learns.
mathēma: lesson; what is learned
μάθημα
The shared root connects each spoken message with what the whole assembly can learn from it.
THE PATTERN
God’s speech is distributed across many voices so the whole community can be formed.
And Moses said to him, "Are you burning for my sake? Would that all the LORD's people were prophets, and that the LORD would set his breath upon them!"And it shall be afterward, that I will pour out my breath upon all flesh, and your sons and your daughters will prophesy, your elders will dream dreams, your young men will see visions.Let no rotten word come out of your mouth, but whatever is good for building up where there is need, that it may give favor to those who hear.THE THREAD
For whatever was written before was written for our instruction, so that through endurance and through the comfort of the writings we might hold hope.Romans 15:4 uses παράκλησις (paraklēsis), meaning “comfort,” from the same word family as παρακαλέω (parakaleō), “comforted” in this verse. The connection opens comfort beyond a single voice: it can reach the assembly through spoken prophecy and through the words of scripture.
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