Note: This view shows ‘verses’ which are not natural language units and hence sometimes only part of a sentence will be visible. This view is only designed for doing comparisons of different translations. Click on the version abbreviation to see the verse in more of its context.

OET (OET-RV) Even if I could speak in human languages as well as the languages of God’s messengers, but didn’t love others, then I’d just be like a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.

Key: yellow:verbs, light-green:nominative/subject, orange:accusative/object, pink:genitive/possessor, cyan:dative/indirect object.
Note: Automatic aligning of the OET-RV to the LV is done by some temporary software, hence the OET-RV alignments are incomplete (and may occasionally be wrong).

ULT If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but I do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.

UST Imagine that I could speak many human and angelic languages, but I did not love others. I would be able to make much noise, like a loud metal instrument, but I would not be helping anyone.

BSB § If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a ringing gong or a clanging cymbal.

BLB If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become a sounding brass or a clanging cymbal.

AICNT If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love, I have become a sounding brass or a clanging cymbal.

OEB Though I speak in the “tongues” of people, or even of angels, yet have not love, I have become mere echoing brass, or a clanging cymbal!

WEB If I speak with the languages of men and of angels, but don’t have love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal.

NET If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but I do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.

LSV If I speak with the tongues of men and of messengers, and do not have love, I have become sounding brass, or a clanging cymbal;

FBV If I were to have eloquence in human languages—even the language of angels—but have no love, then I would only be an echoing gong or a clashing cymbal.

TCNT If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.

T4T Supposing we could speak all the various languages [MTY] that people in the world speak and even speak the language that angels speak. If we did not love others, speaking those languages would be as useless as beating a brass gong or clanging cymbals together.

LEB If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love, I have become a ringing brass gong or a clashing cymbal.

BBE If I make use of the tongues of men and of angels, and have not love, I am like sounding brass, or a loud-tongued bell.

MOF No MOF 1COR book available

ASV If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am become sounding brass, or a clanging cymbal.

DRA If I speak with the tongues of men, and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal.

YLT If with the tongues of men and of messengers I speak, and have not love, I have become brass sounding, or a cymbal tinkling;

DBY If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal.

RV If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am become sounding brass, or a clanging cymbal.

WBS If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am become sounding brass, or a clanging cymbal.

KJB Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal.

BB Though I speake with the tongues of men and of Angels, and haue not loue, I am as soundyng brasse, or as a tincklyng Cimball:
(Though I speak with the tongues of men and of Angels, and have not loue, I am as soundyng brasse, or as a tincklyng Cimball:)

GNV Though I speake with the tongues of men and Angels, and haue not loue, I am as sounding brasse, or a tinkling cymbal.
(Though I speak with the tongues of men and Angels, and have not loue, I am as sounding brasse, or a tinkling cymbal.)

CB Though I spake with the tunges of men and angels, and yet had not loue, I were euen as sowndinge brasse, or as a tynklinge Cymball.
(Though I spake with the tongues of men and angels, and yet had not loue, I were even as sowndinge brasse, or as a tynklinge Cymball.)

TNT Though I spake with the tonges of me and angels and yet had no love I were even as soundinge brasse: or as a tynklynge Cymball.

WYC If Y speke with tungis of men and of aungels, and Y haue not charite, Y am maad as bras sownynge, or a cymbal tynkynge.
(If I speke with tongues of men and of angels, and I have not charity, I am made as bras sownynge, or a cymbal tynkynge.)

LUT Wenn ich mit Menschen- und mit Engelzungen redete und hätte der Liebe nicht, so wäre ich ein tönend Erz oder eine klingende Schelle.
(Wenn I with Menschen- and with angelzungen talked and hätte the love not, so wäre I a tönend Erz or one klingende Schelle.)

CLV Si linguis hominum loquar, et angelorum, caritatem autem non habeam, factus sum velut æs sonans, aut cymbalum tinniens.
(Si linguis hominum loquar, and angelorum, caritatem however not/no habeam, factus I_am velut æs sonans, aut cymbalum tinniens.)

UGNT ἐὰν ταῖς γλώσσαις τῶν ἀνθρώπων λαλῶ καὶ τῶν ἀγγέλων, ἀγάπην δὲ μὴ ἔχω, γέγονα χαλκὸς ἠχῶν ἢ κύμβαλον ἀλαλάζον.
(ean tais glōssais tōn anthrōpōn lalō kai tōn angelōn, agapaʸn de maʸ eⱪō, gegona ⱪalkos aʸⱪōn aʸ kumbalon alalazon.)

SBL-GNT Ἐὰν ταῖς γλώσσαις τῶν ἀνθρώπων λαλῶ καὶ τῶν ἀγγέλων, ἀγάπην δὲ μὴ ἔχω, γέγονα χαλκὸς ἠχῶν ἢ κύμβαλον ἀλαλάζον.
(Ean tais glōssais tōn anthrōpōn lalō kai tōn angelōn, agapaʸn de maʸ eⱪō, gegona ⱪalkos aʸⱪōn aʸ kumbalon alalazon.)

TC-GNT Ἐὰν ταῖς γλώσσαις τῶν ἀνθρώπων λαλῶ καὶ τῶν ἀγγέλων, ἀγάπην δὲ μὴ ἔχω, γέγονα χαλκὸς ἠχῶν ἢ κύμβαλον ἀλαλάζον.
(Ean tais glōssais tōn anthrōpōn lalō kai tōn angelōn, agapaʸn de maʸ eⱪō, gegona ⱪalkos aʸⱪōn aʸ kumbalon alalazon.)

Key for above GNTs: yellow:punctuation differs (from our SR-GNT base).

TTN Tyndale Theme Notes:

Loving Others

Jesus spoke of loving one’s neighbor as the second most important of the Old Testament commandments (Mark 12:31). In fact, love summarizes the entire Old Testament law (22:40; cp. Matt 7:12; 9:9-13; 12:1-13; see Rom 13:8-10). Jesus criticized the Pharisees for their failure to show love (Matt 9:13; 12:7; 23:4, 13-14, 23). Love is the mark of a true follower of Jesus (John 13:34-35) and of an authentic experience of God (1 Jn 2:9-11; 3:11-18; 4:7-21).

For Paul, love is more important than any of the spiritual gifts and the most important virtue. Love “binds us all together in perfect harmony” (Col 3:14). Without love, ministry has limited value (1 Cor 13:1-3). Paul summed up the whole of Christian ethics as “faith expressing itself in love” (Gal 5:6). Love is the natural outworking of Christian faith, the primary fruit of the Spirit (Gal 5:22), and the most important motivation for ministry. As believers grow in Christ, they will seek more and more to love others as he did.

Passages for Further Study

Lev 19:18; Hos 6:6; Matt 7:12; 9:9-13; 12:1-13; 22:37-40; 23:2-4, 13, 23; John 13:34-35; Rom 13:8-10; 1 Cor 13:1-13; Gal 5:6, 22-23; Col 3:12-14; 1 Jn 2:7-11; 3:11-18; 4:7-21

UTN uW Translation Notes:

Note 1 topic: figures-of-speech / hypo

ἐὰν ταῖς γλώσσαις τῶν ἀνθρώπων λαλῶ καὶ τῶν ἀγγέλων, ἀγάπην δὲ μὴ ἔχω

if ˱with˲_the tongues ¬the ˱of˲_humans ˱I˲_/may_be/_speaking and ¬the ˱of˲_angels love but not ˱I˲_/may_be/_having

Connecting Statement:

Here Paul is using a hypothetical situation to teach the Corinthians. He wants them to imagine that he could speak with tongues of men and of angels but also that he did not have love. He uses himself in this hypothetical situation so that he does not offend the Corinthians by using them as an example of people without love. Use a natural way in your language to introduce a hypothetical situation. Alternate translation: “Suppose that I could speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but also suppose that I did not have love.”

Note 2 topic: figures-of-speech / metonymy

ταῖς γλώσσαις

˱with˲_the tongues

Here, tongues refers to something that one does with one’s “tongue,” which is to speak a language. If it would be helpful in your language, you could indicate that tongues is a way of speaking about “languages” by using a comparable term or expressing the idea plainly. Alternate translation: “with the languages” or “in the words”

Note 3 topic: translate-unknown

ταῖς γλώσσαις τῶν ἀνθρώπων & καὶ τῶν ἀγγέλων

˱with˲_the tongues ¬the ˱of˲_humans & and ¬the ˱of˲_angels

Here Paul refers to two specific categories of tongues: those of men and those of angels. He does not mean that these are the only kinds of tongues that exist, but he does think that these two kinds do exist. If it would be helpful in your language, you could express tongues of men and of angels with a normal way to refer to various human languages and then also modify it so that you could use it for angelic languages. Alternate translation: “foreign languages and angelic languages”

Note 4 topic: figures-of-speech / abstractnouns

ἀγάπην & μὴ ἔχω

love & not ˱I˲_/may_be/_having

If your language does not use an abstract noun for the idea behind love, you can express the idea by using a verb such as “love.” Alternate translation: “I do not love people”

Note 5 topic: figures-of-speech / metaphor

γέγονα χαλκὸς ἠχῶν ἢ κύμβαλον ἀλαλάζον

˱I˲_/have/_become brass resounding or /a/_cymbal screaming

Here Paul speaks as if he were a metallic instrument that makes loud noises. He speaks in this way because he wants to argue that tongues without love are noisy, like an instrument, but they do not actually help others. If it would be helpful in your language, you could express this figure of speech with a comparable metaphor or express the idea plainly. Alternate translation: “I have become loud but useless” or “I have become like loud radio static”

Note 6 topic: figures-of-speech / doublet

χαλκὸς ἠχῶν ἢ κύμβαλον ἀλαλάζον

brass resounding or /a/_cymbal screaming

Here Paul refers to two different loud, metallic instruments in his culture. If your culture does not have two different loud instruments made of metal, you could refer to just one here. Further, if your culture does not use metal instruments, you could refer to two or one instruments that make a loud noise. Alternate translation: “a noisy cymbal” or “a loud drum”

Note 7 topic: translate-unknown

χαλκὸς ἠχῶν

brass resounding

Here, a noisy gong refers to the sound that comes when someone hits a flat metal object. A gong is a metal instrument that someone hits to make a deep, booming sound. You could use a word that identifies a metal instrument in your culture, especially if it makes a loud sound. Alternate translation: “a loud bell”

Note 8 topic: translate-unknown

κύμβαλον ἀλαλάζον

/a/_cymbal screaming

A cymbal is a thin, round metal plate that someone hits with a stick or another cymbal to create a loud crashing sound (clanging). You could use a word that describes another metal instrument in your culture, especially if it makes a loud, harsh sound. Alternate translation: “loud percussion”

Parallel 1COR 13:1

Connecting Statement: