The interpretation timeline

1Cor 14:9

How this passage has been read — the sources, oldest to newest.

From the early Church Fathers to now.

2 Patristic · 1 Methodist · 1 Reformed

1Cor 14:9 · Douay-Rheims
“So likewise you, except you utter by the tongue plain speech, how shall it be known what is said? For you shall be speaking into the air.”
Patristic before A.D. 750
215
A.D.
c. A.D. 150–215
“You see that the barbarian philosophy professes deeds, not words. The apostle thus speaks: "So likewise ye, except ye utter by the tongue a word easy to be understood, how shall ye know what is spoken? for ye shall speak into the air. There are, it may be, so many kind of voices in the world, and none of them is without signification. 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." And, "Let him that speaketh in an unknown tongue pray that he may interpret."”
Source
192 years pass — nothing from this stretch is hosted yet
407
A.D.
John Chrysostom Patristic
A.D. 347–407
“"So also ye, unless ye utter by the tongue, speech easy to be understood, ye will be speaking into the air:" i. e., calling to nobody, speaking unto no one. Thus every where he shows its unprofitableness. "But if it be unprofitable, why was it given?" saith one. So as to be useful to him that hath received it. But if it is to be so to others also, there must be added interpretation. Now this he saith, bringing them near to one another; that if a person himself have not the gift of interpretation, he may take unto him another that hath it, and make his own gift useful through him. Wherefore he every where points out its imperfection, that so he may bind them together. Any how, he that accounts it to be sufficient for itself, doth not so much commend it as disparage it, not suffering it to shine brightly by the interpretation. For excellent indeed and necessary is the gift, but it is so when it hath one to explain what is spoken. Since the finger too is a necessary thing, but when you separate it from the other members, it will not be equally useful: and the trumpet is necessary, but when it sounds at random, it is rather an annoyance. Yea, neither shall any art come to light, without matter subject to it; nor is matter put into shape, if no form be assigned to it. Suppose then the voice to be as the subject-matter, but the distinctness as that form, which not being present, there will be no use in the material.”
Source
1,425 years pass — nothing from this stretch is hosted yet
Post-Reformation c. 1650 – 1900
1832
A.D.
Adam Clarke Methodist
1762–1832
“Likewise ye - If ye do not speak in the Church so as to be understood, your labor is useless; ye shall speak into the air - your speech will be lost and dissipated in the air, without conveying any meaning to any person: there will be a noise or sound, but nothing else. Gifts of that kind, thus used, are good for nothing.”
Source
1871
A.D.
1871
“So . . . ye--who have life; as opposed to "things without life" (Co1 14:7). by the tongue--the language which ye speak in. ye shall speak--Ye will be speaking into the air, that is, in vain (Co1 9:26).”
Modern · 1953 →

The in-app commentary runs from the Fathers to the early-modern record, then stops — that's where the public-domain sources end, not where the reading does. For the modern reading, follow the sources directly.