If it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men.
Parallel translations
- WEB If it is possible, as much as it is up to you, be at peace with all men.
- BSB If it is possible on your part, live at peace with everyone.
- NKJV If it is possible, as much as depends on you, live peaceably with all men.
- NASB If possible, so far as it depends on you, be at peace with all people.
- NLT Do all that you can to live in peace with everyone.
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
So far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.
Overview
Paul exhorts believers to be peacemakers, doing all in their power to live peaceably. The careful qualifications ('if possible' and 'as much as it is up to you') acknowledge that peace is not always achievable, since it also depends on others. Believers are responsible for their own peaceable conduct, not for compromising truth or controlling another's response.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 19
- Heb 12:14Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord:
- Matt 5:9Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God.
- Rom 14:19Let us therefore follow after the things which make for peace, and things wherewith one may edify another.
- 2 Cor 13:11Finally, brethren, farewell. Be perfect, be of good comfort, be of one mind, live in peace; and the God of love and peace shall be with you.
- Jas 3:16–18For where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work.
- Gal 5:22But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,
- Mark 9:50Salt is good: but if the salt have lost his saltness, wherewith will ye season it? Have salt in yourselves, and have peace one with another.
- Prov 12:20Deceit is in the heart of them that imagine evil: but to the counsellors of peace is joy.
- 1 Pet 3:11Let him eschew evil, and do good; let him seek peace, and ensue it.
- 2 Tim 2:22Flee also youthful lusts: but follow righteousness, faith, charity, peace, with them that call on the Lord out of a pure heart.
- Ps 34:14Depart from evil, and do good; seek peace, and pursue it.
- Rom 14:17For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost.
- Eph 4:3Endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.
- Col 3:14–15And above all these things put on charity, which is the bond of perfectness.
- 1 Th 5:13And to esteem them very highly in love for their work’s sake. And be at peace among yourselves.
- Matt 5:5Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth.
- Ps 120:5–7Woe is me, that I sojourn in Mesech, that I dwell in the tents of Kedar!
- 1 Cor 7:15But if the unbelieving depart, let him depart. A brother or a sister is not under bondage in such cases: but God hath called us to peace.
- 2 Sam 20:19I am one of them that are peaceable and faithful in Israel: thou seekest to destroy a city and a mother in Israel: why wilt thou swallow up the inheritance of the LORD?
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
Paul unfolds the gospel in full: Christ our righteousness received by faith, the second Adam in whom many are made righteous, in whose death and resurrection we are buried and raised.
How Romans 12:18 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.