'Tongue' in the Bible

For he who speaks in an unknown tongue is not speaking to men, but to God; for no one understands him. Yet in the Spirit he is speaking secret truths.

He who speaks in an unknown tongue does good to himself, but he who prophesies does good to the Church.

If, however, I do not know the meaning of the particular language, I shall seem to the speaker of it, and he to me, to be merely talking some foreign tongue.

For if I pray in an unknown tongue, my spirit prays, but my understanding is barren.

I speak in a tongue, thank God, more than all of you;

but in the Church I would rather speak five words with my understanding--so as to instruct others also--than ten thousand words in an unknown tongue.

What then, brethren? Whenever you assemble, there is not one of you who is not ready either with a song of praise, a sermon, a revelation, a 'tongue,' or an interpretation. Let everything be done with a view to the building up of faith and character.

If there is speaking in an unknown tongue, only two or at the most three should speak, and they should do so one at a time, and one should interpret;