1st Timothy Chapter 3 verse 11 Holy Bible

ASV 1stTimothy 3:11

Women in like manner `must be' grave, not slanderers, temperate, faithful in all things.
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BBE 1stTimothy 3:11

Women are to be serious in behaviour, saying no evil of others, controlling themselves, true in all things.
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DARBY 1stTimothy 3:11

[The] women in like manner grave, not slanderers, sober, faithful in all things.
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KJV 1stTimothy 3:11

Even so must their wives be grave, not slanderers, sober, faithful in all things.
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WBT 1stTimothy 3:11


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WEB 1stTimothy 3:11

Their wives in the same way must be reverent, not slanderers, temperate, faithful in all things.
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YLT 1stTimothy 3:11

Women -- in like manner grave, not false accusers, vigilant, faithful in all things.
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Pulpit Commentary

Pulpit CommentaryVerse 11. - Women in like maturer must for even so must their wives, A.V.; temperate for sober, A.V. Women. What is meant by these "women"? Certainly not women in general, which would be quite out of harmony with the context. The choice lies between (1) the wives of the deacons, as in the A.V.; (2) the wives of the episcopi and deacons; (3) deaconesses. . . .

Ellicott's Commentary

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers(11) Even so must their wives . . .--The position of this solitary charge, respecting deacons' wives, in the midst of regulations concerning "deacons," is, of itself, almost decisive against the translation of the English version, adopted also by Luther and many others. The question naturally occurs--why are deacon's wives especially referred to, while nothing has been said respecting the wives of presbyters? Then, again, why should the choice of Timothy in the matter of his selection of a deacon be hampered with any special requirements in the wife of the candidate for the holy office? The literal translation of the Greek words would be, Women in like manner must, &c. These women, St. Chrysostom and most of the ancient expositors affirm, were deaconesses.It is certain that there were women holding a kind of official position as deaconesses in the early Church; nor is it probable that these deaconesses were, as a class, confined to the restriction of age referred to in the direction respecting a band of widows devoted to works of mercy (1Timothy 5:9-10). These widows seemed to have been in the first instance a class or order apart from the ordinary deaconesses.Phebe of Cenchrea (Romans 16:1), Euodias, and Syntyche (Philippians 4:2), probably the organisation alluded to (Acts 9:36-41) as existing at Joppa, of which Dorcas was the chief, may be cited as instances from the New Testament of the employment of these women-servants of the Church. In the next century the Proconsul Pliny, in his famous letter to the Emperor Trajan, distinctly alludes to these Christian deaconesses, in the words, "ancillae quae ministrae dicebantur." "In the Western Church," says Professor Reynolds, "the order did not cease to exist until the fifth century, and was continued in the Greek Church till the twelfth. The deaconess vanished into the cloister until partially revived in comparatively modern times."Be grave.--The same word is used as in the case of the deacons. These deaconesses, too, must, with their modest behaviour, with their sweet, decorous gravity, as it has been well said, "inspire reverence having the halo of purity and sanctity about them." . . .