1 Corinthians 14:18

I thank my God, I speak with tongues more than ye all:

1 Corinthians 14:18, King James Version

1 Corinthians 14:18 in other translations

BSB	I thank God that I speak in tongues more than all of you.
WEB	I thank my God, I speak with other languages more than you all.
ASV	I thank God, I speak with tongues more than you all:
YLT	I give thanks to my God--more than you all with tongues speaking--
DARBY	I thank God I speak in a tongue more than all of you:
BBE	I give praise to God that I am able to make use of tongues more than you all:
Webster	I thank my God, I speak in languages more than ye all:

What does 1 Corinthians 14:18 mean?

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown

18. tongues--The oldest manuscripts have the singular, "in a tongue [foreign]."

Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown, 1871 · public domain

Barnes' Notes

Verse 18. I thank my God. Paul here shows that he did not undervalue or despise the power of speaking foreign languages. It was with him a subject of thanksgiving that he could speak so many; but he felt that there were more valuable endowments than this. See the next verse.

With tongues more than ye all. I am able to speak more foreign languages than all of you. How many languages Paul could speak, he has nowhere told us. It is reasonable, however, to presume that he was able to speak the language of any people to whom God in his providence, and by his Spirit, called him to preach. He had been commissioned to preach to the Gentiles, and it is probable that he was able to speak the languages of all the nations among whom he ever travelled. There is no account of his being under a necessity of employing an interpreter wherever he preached.

(*) "more" "In more languages"

Albert Barnes, 1834 · public domain

Adam Clarke's Commentary

Verse 18 I speak with tongues more than ye all - He understood more languages than any of them did: and this was indispensably necessary, as he was the apostle of the Gentiles in general, and had to preach to different provinces where different dialects, if not languages, were used. In the Hebrew, Syriac, Greek, and Latin, he was undoubtedly well skilled from his education; and how many he might understand by miraculous gift we cannot tell. But, even literally understood, it is very probable that he knew more languages than any man in the Church of Corinth.

Adam Clarke, 1831 · public domain

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on 1 Corinthians 14:15-25

There can be no assent to prayers that are not understood. A truly Christian minister will seek much more to do spiritual good to men's souls, than to get the greatest applause to himself. This is proving himself the servant of Christ. Children are apt to be struck with novelty; but do not act like them. Christians should be like children, void of guile and malice; yet they should not be unskilful as to the word of…

Read the full comment on 1 Corinthians 14:15-25 →

1 Corinthians 14:18 in the original Greek

Word-by-word with transliteration, English gloss and Strong's number. Tap a number for the full definition and every place the word is used.

ΕὐχαριστῶEucharistōI thankG2168

τῷtōtheG3588

θεῷtheōGodG2316

πάντωνpantōnthan allG3956

ὑμῶνhumōnof youG4771

μᾶλλονmallonmoreG3123

γλώσσαιςglōssaisin tonguesG1100

λαλῶ·lalōspeaking;G2980

Source: STEPBible TAHOT/TAGNT (Tyndale House, CC BY 4.0).

Cross references for 1 Corinthians 14:18

1 Corinthians 1:4-6
I thank my God always on your behalf, for the grace of God which is given you by Jesus Christ; That in every thing ye are enriched by him, in all utterance, and in all knowledge; Even as the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you:
1 Corinthians 4:7
For who maketh thee to differ from another? and what hast thou that thou didst not receive? now if thou didst receive it, why dost thou glory, as if thou hadst not received it?

Ranked by reader votes · OpenBible.info cross references (CC BY).

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

1:4-6; 4:7

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (Samuel Bagster, c. 1836) · public domain

Context

1 Corinthians 14:17
For thou verily givest thanks well, but the other is not edified.
1 Corinthians 14:18
I thank my God, I speak with tongues more than ye all:
1 Corinthians 14:19
Yet in the church I had rather speak five words with my understanding, that by my voice I might teach others also, than ten thousand words in an unknown tongue.

Read all of 1 Corinthians 14

1 Corinthians 14:18 in other languages

Spanish Reina-Valera 1909	Doy gracias á Dios que hablo lenguas más que todos vosotros:
French Bible J.N. Darby 1885	Je rends grâces à Dieu de ce que je parle en langue plus que vous tous;
German Elberfelder 1871	Ich danke Gott, ich rede mehr in einer Sprache als ihr alle.
Latin Clementine Vulgate	Gratias ago Deo meo, quod omnium vestrum lingua loquor.