but with good deeds, as is proper for women who profess to worship God.
Parallel translations
- WEB but (which becomes women professing godliness) with good works.
- KJV But (which becometh women professing godliness) with good works.
- NKJV but, which is proper for women professing godliness, with good works.
- NASB but rather by means of good works, as is proper for women making a claim to godliness.
- NLT For women who claim to be devoted to God should make themselves attractive by the good things they do.
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
True adornment for godly women is good works. It teaches that visible godliness, not appearance, marks genuine faith.
Overview
Paul completes the thought: women professing godliness should be known for good works. Deeds of love and service are the fitting 'ornament' of faith. The verse redirects attention from external display to a life that adorns the gospel.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 12
- 1 Pet 2:12Conduct yourselves with such honor among the Gentiles that, though they slander you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day He visits us.
- 1 Pet 3:3–5Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as braided hair or gold jewelry or fine clothes,
- Rev 2:19I know your deeds—your love, your faith, your service, your perseverance—and your latter deeds are greater than your first.
- Acts 9:36In Joppa there was a disciple named Tabitha (which is translated as Dorcas), who was always occupied with works of kindness and charity.
- Prov 31:31Give her the fruit of her hands, and let her works praise her at the gates.
- Titus 3:8This saying is trustworthy. And I want you to emphasize these things, so that those who have believed God will take care to devote themselves to good deeds. These things are excellent and profitable for the people.
- 2 Pet 3:11Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to conduct yourselves in holiness and godliness
- 2 Pet 1:6–8and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness;
- Eph 2:10For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance as our way of life.
- 1 Tim 5:6–10But she who lives for pleasure is dead even while she is still alive.
- Titus 2:14He gave Himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for Himself a people for His own possession, zealous for good deeds.
- Acts 9:39So Peter got up and went with them. On his arrival, they took him to the upper room. All the widows stood around him, weeping and showing him the tunics and other clothing that Dorcas had made while she was still with them.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.
Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.
Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
Christ at the center
There is 'one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself a ransom for all' — the mystery of godliness, God manifest in the flesh.
How 1 Timothy 2:10 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
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Greek word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.