"For if the trumpet give an uncertain sound, who shall prepare himself to the battle?" — 1 Corinthians 14:8

1 Corinthians 14:8 · KJV

“For if the trumpet give an uncertain sound, who shall prepare himself to the battle?”

— 1 Corinthians 14:8

And even things without life giving sound, whether pipe or harp, except they give a distinction in the sounds, how shall it be known what is piped or harped? {sounds: or, tunes}

Verse 9

So likewise ye, except ye utter by the tongue words easy to be understood, how shall it be known what is spoken? for ye shall speak into the air. {easy...: Gr. significant}

1 Corinthians 14 — Context

Now, brethren, if I come unto you speaking with tongues, what shall I profit you, except I shall speak to you either by revelation, or by knowledge, or by prophesying, or by doctrine?

And even things without life giving sound, whether pipe or harp, except they give a distinction in the sounds, how shall it be known what is piped or harped? {sounds: or, tunes}

For if the trumpet give an uncertain sound, who shall prepare himself to the battle?

So likewise ye, except ye utter by the tongue words easy to be understood, how shall it be known what is spoken? for ye shall speak into the air. {easy...: Gr. significant}

There are, it may be, so many kinds of voices in the world, and none of them {is} without signification.

Cross References

Numbers 10:9

And if ye go to war in your land against the enemy that oppresseth you, then ye shall blow an alarm with the trumpets; and ye shall be remembered before the LORD your God, and ye shall be saved from your enemies.

Ezekiel 33:3-6

If when he seeth the sword come upon the land, he blow the trumpet, and warn the people;

Jeremiah 4:19

My bowels, my bowels! I am pained at my very heart; my heart maketh a noise in me; I cannot hold my peace, because thou hast heard, O my soul, the sound of the trumpet, the alarm of war. {my very...: Heb. the walls of my heart}

Amos 3:6

Shall a trumpet be blown in the city, and the people not be afraid? shall there be evil in a city, and the LORD hath not done {it}? {be afraid: or, run together?} {the LORD...: or, shall not the LORD do somewhat?}

Isaiah 27:13

And it shall come to pass in that day, {that} the great trumpet shall be blown, and they shall come which were ready to perish in the land of Assyria, and the outcasts in the land of Egypt, and shall worship the LORD in the holy mount at Jerusalem.

Nehemiah 4:18-21

For the builders, every one had his sword girded by his side, and {so} builded. And he that sounded the trumpet {was} by me. {by his side: Heb. on his loins}

Job 39:24-25

He swalloweth the ground with fierceness and rage: neither believeth he that {it is} the sound of the trumpet.

Joel 2:1

Blow ye the trumpet in Zion, and sound an alarm in my holy mountain: let all the inhabitants of the land tremble: for the day of the LORD cometh, for {it is} nigh at hand; {trumpet: or, cornet}