First of all, then, I urge that petitions, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgiving be offered for everyone—
Parallel translations
- WEB I exhort therefore, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercessions, and givings of thanks, be made for all men:
- KJV I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men;
- NKJV Therefore I exhort first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men,
- NASB First of all, then, I urge that requests, prayers, intercession, and thanksgiving be made in behalf of all people,
- NLT I urge you, first of all, to pray for all people. Ask God to help them; intercede on their behalf, and give thanks for them.
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 urges that prayers and thanksgiving be made for all people. It establishes prayer for everyone as a first priority of the church.
Overview
Paul calls 'first of all' for various kinds of prayer offered for all people. The breadth of 'all men' reflects God's wide concern for humanity. Public worship is to be marked by intercession that reaches beyond the believing community.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 22
- 2 Th 1:3We are obligated to thank God for you all the time, brothers, as is fitting, because your faith is growing more and more, and your love for one another is increasing.
- Matt 6:9–10So then, this is how you should pray: ‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name.
- Jas 5:16Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man has great power to prevail.
- Ps 67:1–4For the choirmaster. With stringed instruments. A Psalm. A song. May God be gracious to us and bless us, and cause His face to shine upon us, Selah
- Eph 5:20always giving thanks to God the Father for everything in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
- 1 Tim 2:4who wants everyone to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.
- Titus 3:2to malign no one, and to be peaceable and gentle, showing full consideration to everyone.
- 2 Tim 2:24And a servant of the Lord must not be quarrelsome, but must be kind to everyone, able to teach, and forbearing.
- Titus 2:11For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to everyone.
- 1 Tim 5:5The widow who is truly in need and left all alone puts her hope in God and continues night and day in her petitions and prayers.
- Phil 1:3I thank my God every time I remember you.
- 1 Kgs 8:41–43And as for the foreigner who is not of Your people Israel but has come from a distant land because of Your name—
- Rom 1:8First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith is being proclaimed all over the world.
- Heb 6:11We want each of you to show this same diligence to the very end, in order to make your hope sure.
- Acts 17:30Although God overlooked the ignorance of earlier times, He now commands all people everywhere to repent.
- 1 Cor 15:3For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures,
- Rom 6:17But thanks be to God that, though you once were slaves to sin, you wholeheartedly obeyed the form of teaching to which you were committed.
- 2 Cor 8:6So we urged Titus to help complete your act of grace, just as he had started it.
- 1 Th 3:12And may the Lord cause you to increase and overflow with love for one another and for everyone else, just as our love for you overflows,
- Gen 18:23–32Abraham stepped forward and said, “Will You really sweep away the righteous with the wicked?
- Ps 72:19And blessed be His glorious name forever; may all the earth be filled with His glory. Amen and amen.
- Eph 3:13So I ask you not to be discouraged because of my sufferings for you, which are your glory.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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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 2:1 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.