Bible Strands
1 Peter 2:1
Rid yourselves, therefore, of all malice, deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — The apostle Peter addresses Christian believers, commanding them to strip away specific vices before directing their attention to spiritual nourishment. He frames this ethical purge as the immediate prerequisite for the community's ongoing growth in salvation.
The words — The opening participle Ἀποθέμενοι (Apothemenoi) literally renders "having put aside," marking the action as a completed requirement. The particle οὖν (oun) translates as "therefore," binding the command to the preceding argument.
The thread — The directive to discard corrupt attitudes parallels Ephesians 4:31, which orders the removal of bitterness and malice, and aligns with James 1:21, which commands the rejection of moral filth. James 4:11 further reinforces the prohibition against slander within the community.
Why it lands — The text requires the deliberate elimination of specific interpersonal sins before spiritual development can proceed. It asks readers to treat moral cleanliness as a structural foundation for receiving and growing in divine instruction.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Greek words
King James Version
Wherefore laying aside all malice, and all guile, and hypocrisies, and envies, and all evil speakings,
Cross-references
- Ephesians 4:31 Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, outcry and slander, along with every form of malice.
- James 1:21 Therefore, get rid of all moral filth and every expression of evil, and humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save your souls.
- James 4:11 Brothers, do not slander one another. Anyone who speaks against his brother or judges him speaks against the law and judges it. And if you judge the law, you are not a practitioner of the law, but a judge of it.
- 1 Peter 3:10 For, “Whoever would love life and see good days must keep his tongue from evil and his lips from deceitful speech.
- Colossians 3:5 Put to death, therefore, the components of your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires, and greed, which is idolatry.
- Titus 3:3 For at one time we too were foolish, disobedient, misled, and enslaved to all sorts of desires and pleasures—living in malice and envy, being hated and hating one another.
- Ephesians 4:22 to put off your former way of life, your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires;
- 1 Timothy 3:11 In the same way, the women must be dignified, not slanderers, but temperate and faithful in all things.
- 1 Peter 4:4 Because of this, they consider it strange of you not to plunge with them into the same flood of reckless indiscretion, and they heap abuse on you.
- Titus 2:3 Older women, likewise, are to be reverent in their behavior, not slanderers or addicted to much wine, but teachers of good.