Women are to be silent in the churches. They are not permitted to speak, but must be in submission, as the law says.
Parallel translations
- WEB Let the women be quiet in the assemblies, for it has not been permitted for them to be talking except in submission, as the law also says,
- KJV Let your women keep silence in the churches: for it is not permitted unto them to speak; but they are commanded to be under obedience, as also saith the law.
- NKJV Let your women keep silent in the churches, for they are not permitted to speak; but they are to be submissive, as the law also says.
- NASB the women are to keep silent in the churches; for they are not permitted to speak, but are to subject themselves, just as the Law also says.
- NLT Women should be silent during the church meetings. It is not proper for them to speak. They should be submissive, just as the law says.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Paul instructs that women be silent in the assemblies and remain in submission, as the law also says. This concerns proper order in the gathered church.
Overview
This instruction comes within Paul's broader call for orderly worship and is understood in various ways by faithful Christians. Many take it to address a specific disruptive practice, perhaps interrupting the weighing of prophecy, rather than a blanket prohibition, especially given that 1 Corinthians 11 envisions women praying and prophesying. Whatever its precise scope, Paul's concern is peaceable, edifying worship that honors God's order.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 14
- 1 Tim 2:11–12A woman must learn in quietness and full submissiveness.
- Gen 3:16To the woman He said: “I will sharply increase your pain in childbirth; in pain you will bring forth children. Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you.”
- Num 30:3–13And if a woman in her father’s house during her youth makes a vow to the LORD or obligates herself by a pledge,
- 1 Cor 14:35If they wish to inquire about something, they are to ask their own husbands at home; for it is dishonorable for a woman to speak in the church.
- Col 3:18Wives, submit to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord.
- Titus 2:5to be self-controlled, pure, managers of their households, kind, and submissive to their own husbands, so that the word of God will not be discredited.
- 1 Cor 11:5And every woman who prays or prophesies with her head uncovered dishonors her head, for it is just as if her head were shaved.
- 1 Pet 3:1–6Wives, in the same way, submit yourselves to your husbands, so that even if they refuse to believe the word, they will be won over without words by the behavior of their wives
- Eph 5:22–24Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord.
- 1 Cor 11:3But I want you to understand that the head of every man is Christ, and the head of the woman is man, and the head of Christ is God.
- Eph 5:33Nevertheless, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband.
- 1 Cor 11:7–10A man ought not to cover his head, since he is the image and glory of God; but the woman is the glory of man.
- Esth 1:17–20For the conduct of the queen will become known to all women, causing them to despise their husbands and say, ‘King Xerxes ordered Queen Vashti to be brought before him, but she did not come.’
- 1 Cor 14:21It is written in the Law: “By strange tongues and foreign lips I will speak to this people, but even then they will not listen to Me, says the Lord.”
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
Christ crucified is the wisdom and power of God; he is our Passover sacrificed for us, the firstfruits of resurrection, the foundation on which everything is built.
How 1 Corinthians 14:34 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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