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A woman must learn in quietness and full submissiveness.
1 Timothy 2:11 · Berean Standard Bible
Parallel translations
  • WEB Let a woman learn in quietness with full submission.
  • KJV Let the woman learn in silence with all subjection.
  • NKJV Let a woman learn in silence with all submission.
  • NASB A woman must quietly receive instruction with entire submissiveness.
  • NLT Women should learn quietly and submissively.

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

A woman is to learn quietly and submissively. It affirms women as learners while setting an orderly manner for the gathered church.

Overview

Paul directs that a woman 'learn in quietness with full submission,' affirming her place as a learner of doctrine, which was countercultural in honoring women's instruction. The 'quietness' concerns respectful order in the assembly. This verse introduces the teaching that follows on roles within the church's public worship.

Cross-references & the web

Cross-references · 9

  • 1 Cor 14:34–35Women are to be silent in the churches. They are not permitted to speak, but must be in submission, as the law says.
  • 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.
  • Col 3:18Wives, submit to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord.
  • 1 Pet 3:5–6For this is how the holy women of the past adorned themselves. They put their hope in God and were submissive to their husbands,
  • 1 Pet 3:1Wives, 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
  • 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.”
  • 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.
  • Esth 1:20The edict the king issues will be heard throughout his vast kingdom—and so all women, from the least to the greatest, will honor their husbands.”

Themes, concepts, people & topics

Topics (1)

Resources, by level

Commentaries & study tools

  • VideoBibleProject — 1 Timothy videosBibleProject · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.

  • VideoWatch teaching on 1 Timothy 2:11YouTube · Lay · Free

    Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.

  • CommentaryEnduring Word — verse-by-verseDavid Guzik · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.

  • CommentaryClassic commentaries for this verseBibleHub (20+ works) · Pastoral · Free

    Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.

  • CommentaryMatthew Henry on 1 TimothyMatthew Henry · Pastoral · Free · evangelical

    The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).

  • ReferenceInterlinear, lexicon & Strong'sBlue Letter Bible · Seminary · Free

    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 2:11 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.