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Let the woman learn in silence with all subjection.
1 Timothy 2:11 · King James Version
Parallel translations
  • WEB Let a woman learn in quietness with full submission.
  • BSB A woman must learn in quietness and full submissiveness.
  • 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 14:34–35Let 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.
  • Eph 5:22–24Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord.
  • 1 Cor 11:3But I would have you know, that the head of every man is Christ; and the head of the woman is the man; and the head of Christ is God.
  • Col 3:18Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as it is fit in the Lord.
  • 1 Pet 3:5–6For after this manner in the old time the holy women also, who trusted in God, adorned themselves, being in subjection unto their own husbands:
  • 1 Pet 3:1Likewise, ye wives, be in subjection to your own husbands; that, if any obey not the word, they also may without the word be won by the conversation of the wives;
  • Gen 3:16Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee.
  • Titus 2:5To be discreet, chaste, keepers at home, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God be not blasphemed.
  • Esth 1:20And when the king’s decree which he shall make shall be published throughout all his empire, (for it is great,) all the wives shall give to their husbands honour, both to great and small.

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.