In the same way, how will anyone understand what you are talking about if your message given in strange tongues is not clear? Your words will vanish in the air!

But if I do not know the language being spoken, those who use it will be foreigners to me and I will be a foreigner to them.

Let us go down and mix up their language so that they will not understand each other."

Joseph understood what they said, but they did not know it, because they had been speaking to him through an interpreter.

The LORD will bring against you a nation from the ends of the earth, a nation whose language you do not know. They will swoop down on you like an eagle.

Then Eliakim, Shebna, and Joah told the official, "Speak Aramaic to us, sir. We understand it. Don't speak Hebrew; all the people on the wall are listening."

They were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to talk in other languages, as the Spirit enabled them to speak.

When they heard this noise, a large crowd gathered. They were all excited, because all of them heard the believers talking in their own languages.

How is it, then, that all of us hear them speaking in our own native languages?

from Phrygia and Pamphylia, from Egypt and the regions of Libya near Cyrene. Some of us are from Rome,

For they heard them speaking in strange tongues and praising God's greatness. Peter spoke up:

Paul placed his hands on them, and the Holy Spirit came upon them; they spoke in strange tongues and also proclaimed God's message.

The men with me saw the light, but did not hear the voice of the one who was speaking to me.

The wisdom I proclaim is God's secret wisdom, which is hidden from human beings, but which he had already chosen for our glory even before the world was made.

But it was to us that God made known his secret by means of his Spirit. The Spirit searches everything, even the hidden depths of God's purposes.

I may have the gift of inspired preaching; I may have all knowledge and understand all secrets; I may have all the faith needed to move mountains---but if I have no love, I am nothing.

Listen to this secret truth: we shall not all die, but when the last trumpet sounds, we shall all be changed in an instant, as quickly as the blinking of an eye. For when the trumpet sounds, the dead will be raised, never to die again, and we shall all be changed.

My thoughts will be clear; I will speak words of wisdom.

I will turn my attention to proverbs and explain their meaning as I play the harp.

I am going to use wise sayings and explain mysteries from the past,

Jesus answered, "The knowledge about the secrets of the Kingdom of heaven has been given to you, but not to them.

"You have been given the secret of the Kingdom of God," Jesus answered. "But the others, who are on the outside, hear all things by means of parables,

Let us give glory to God! He is able to make you stand firm in your faith, according to the Good News I preach about Jesus Christ and according to the revelation of the secret truth which was hidden for long ages in the past.

God revealed his secret plan and made it known to me. (I have written briefly about this,

In past times human beings were not told this secret, but God has revealed it now by the Spirit to his holy apostles and prophets.

I was made a servant of the gospel by God's special gift, which he gave me through the working of his power.

and of making all people see how God's secret plan is to be put into effect. God, who is the Creator of all things, kept his secret hidden through all the past ages,

And pray also for me, that God will give me a message when I am ready to speak, so that I may speak boldly and make known the gospel's secret.

which is the secret he hid through all past ages from all human beings but has now revealed to his people.

God's plan is to make known his secret to his people, this rich and glorious secret which he has for all peoples. And the secret is that Christ is in you, which means that you will share in the glory of God.

I do this in order that they may be filled with courage and may be drawn together in love, and so have the full wealth of assurance which true understanding brings. In this way they will know God's secret, which is Christ himself.

they should hold to the revealed truth of the faith with a clear conscience.

No one can deny how great is the secret of our religion: He appeared in human form, was shown to be right by the Spirit, and was seen by angels. He was preached among the nations, was believed in throughout the world, and was taken up to heaven.

But when the seventh angel blows his trumpet, then God will accomplish his secret plan, as he announced to his servants, the prophets."