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Selected Verse: 1 Corinthians 14:11 - Strong Concordance

Verse	Translation	Text
1Co 14:11	Strong Concordance	Therefore [3767] if [3362] I know [1492] not [3362] the meaning [1411] of the voice [5456], I shall be [2071] unto him that speaketh [2980] a barbarian [915], and [2532] he that speaketh [2980] shall be a barbarian [915] unto [1722] me [1698].
	King James	Therefore if I know not the meaning of the voice, I shall be unto him that speaketh a barbarian, and he that speaketh shall be a barbarian unto me.

Summary Of Commentaries Associated With The Selected Verse

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A Commentary, Critical, Practical, and Explanatory on the Old and New Testaments, by Robert Jamieson, A.R. Fausset and David Brown [1882]
Therefore--seeing that none is without meaning. a barbarian--a foreigner (Act 28:2). Not in the depreciatory sense as the term is now used, but one speaking a foreign language.

A Commentary, Critical, Practical, and Explanatory on the Old and New Testaments, by Robert Jamieson, A.R. Fausset and David Brown [1882]

Therefore--seeing that none is without meaning.

a barbarian--a foreigner (Act 28:2). Not in the depreciatory sense as the term is now used, but one speaking a foreign language.

Notes on the Bible, by Albert Barnes, [1834]
The meaning of the voice - Of the language that is uttered, or the sounds that are made. I shall be unto him ... - What I say will be unintelligible to him, and what he says will be unintelligible to me. We cannot understand one another any more than people can who speak different languages. A barbarian - See the note at Rom 1:14. The word means one who speaks a different, or a foreign language.

Notes on the Bible, by Albert Barnes, [1834]

The meaning of the voice - Of the language that is uttered, or the sounds that are made.

I shall be unto him ... - What I say will be unintelligible to him, and what he says will be unintelligible to me. We cannot understand one another any more than people can who speak different languages.

A barbarian - See the note at Rom 1:14. The word means one who speaks a different, or a foreign language.

Vincent's Word Studies, by Marvin R. Vincent [1886]
Meaning (δύναμιν) Lit., force. Barbarian Supposed to be originally a descriptive word of those who uttered harsh, rude accents - bar bar. Homer calls the Carians, βαρβαρόφωνοι barbar-voiced, harsh-speaking ("Illiad," 2, 867). Later, applied to all who did not speak Greek. Socrates, speaking of the way in which the Greeks divide up mankind, says: "Here they cut off the Hellenes as one species, and all the other species of mankind, which are innumerable and have no connection or common language, they include under the single name of barbarians" (Plato, "Statesman," 262). So Clytaemnestra of the captive Cassandra: "Like a swallow, endowed with an unintelligible barbaric voice" (Aeschylus, "Agamemnon," 1051). Prodicus in Plato's "Protagoras" says: "Simonides is twitting Pittacus with ignorance of the use of terms, which, in a Lesbian, who has been accustomed to speak in a barbarous language, is natural" (341). Aristophanes calls the birds barbarians because they sing inarticulately ("Birds," 199); and Sophocles calls a foreign land ἄγλωσσος without a tongue. "Neither Hellas nor a tongueless land" ("Trachiniae," 1060). Later, the word took the sense of outlandish or rude.

Vincent's Word Studies, by Marvin R. Vincent [1886]

Meaning (δύναμιν)

Lit., force.

Barbarian

Supposed to be originally a descriptive word of those who uttered harsh, rude accents - bar bar. Homer calls the Carians, βαρβαρόφωνοι barbar-voiced, harsh-speaking ("Illiad," 2, 867). Later, applied to all who did not speak Greek. Socrates, speaking of the way in which the Greeks divide up mankind, says: "Here they cut off the Hellenes as one species, and all the other species of mankind, which are innumerable and have no connection or common language, they include under the single name of barbarians" (Plato, "Statesman," 262). So Clytaemnestra of the captive Cassandra: "Like a swallow, endowed with an unintelligible barbaric voice" (Aeschylus, "Agamemnon," 1051). Prodicus in Plato's "Protagoras" says: "Simonides is twitting Pittacus with ignorance of the use of terms, which, in a Lesbian, who has been accustomed to speak in a barbarous language, is natural" (341). Aristophanes calls the birds barbarians because they sing inarticulately ("Birds," 199); and Sophocles calls a foreign land ἄγλωσσος without a tongue. "Neither Hellas nor a tongueless land" ("Trachiniae," 1060). Later, the word took the sense of outlandish or rude.

Explanatory Notes on the Whole Bible, by John Wesley [1754-65]
I shall be a barbarian to him - Shall seem to talk unintelligible gibberish.

Explanatory Notes on the Whole Bible, by John Wesley [1754-65]

I shall be a barbarian to him - Shall seem to talk unintelligible gibberish.

Adam Clarke Commentary on the Whole Bible - Published 1810-1826
If I know not the meaning of the voice - Την δυναμιν της φωνης, The power and signification of the language. I shall be unto him that speaketh a barbarian - I shall appear to him, and he to me, as a person who had no distinct and articulate sounds which can convey any kind of meaning. This observation is very natural: when we hear persons speaking in a language of which we know nothing, we wonder how they can understand each other, as, in their speech, there appears to us no regular distinction of sounds or words. For the meaning and origin of the word barbarian, see the note on Act 28:2.

Adam Clarke Commentary on the Whole Bible - Published 1810-1826

If I know not the meaning of the voice - Την δυναμιν της φωνης, The power and signification of the language.

I shall be unto him that speaketh a barbarian - I shall appear to him, and he to me, as a person who had no distinct and articulate sounds which can convey any kind of meaning. This observation is very natural: when we hear persons speaking in a language of which we know nothing, we wonder how they can understand each other, as, in their speech, there appears to us no regular distinction of sounds or words. For the meaning and origin of the word barbarian, see the note on Act 28:2.

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