1 Timothy 2:9

Likewise, I want the women to adorn themselves with respectable apparel, with modesty, and with self-control, not with braided hair or gold or pearls or expensive clothes,

Berean Standard Bible

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Study note

Setting — Paul writes to Timothy in Ephesus, addressing conduct in the assembly; this verse follows instruction for men (v. 8) and is completed by v. 10, which names good deeds as the proper mark of women who profess to worship God.

The words — Κοσμιῷ (kosmiō), translated "respectable," is the adjective of κόσμος (kosmos), "order," so the sense is "in good order" or "well-arranged" rather than merely "modest."

The thread — 1 Peter 3:3 lists the same three items (braided hair, gold, fine clothes) and likewise redirects beauty inward; Titus 2:3 applies the same principle to older women's conduct.

Why it lands — The verse does not forbid adornment but reorders it: what counts as the visible sign of a woman's devotion is not what she wears but what she does (v. 10).

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

In like manner also, that women adorn themselves in modest apparel, with shamefacedness and sobriety; not with broided hair, or gold, or pearls, or costly array;

Cross-references

1 Peter 3:3 Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as braided hair or gold jewelry or fine clothes,
Titus 2:3 Older women, likewise, are to be reverent in their behavior, not slanderers or addicted to much wine, but teachers of good.
Psalms 149:4 For the LORD takes pleasure in His people; He adorns the afflicted with salvation.
Jeremiah 4:30 And you, O devastated one, what will you do, though you dress yourself in scarlet, though you adorn yourself with gold jewelry, though you enlarge your eyes with paint? You adorn yourself in vain; your lovers despise you; they want to take your life.
Isaiah 3:16 The LORD also says: “Because the daughters of Zion are haughty—walking with heads held high and wanton eyes, prancing and skipping as they go, jingling the bracelets on their ankles—
2 Kings 9:30 Now when Jehu arrived in Jezreel, Jezebel heard of it. So she painted her eyes, adorned her head, and looked down from a window.
Isaiah 3:18 In that day the Lord will take away their finery: their anklets and headbands and crescents;
Jeremiah 2:32 Does a maiden forget her jewelry or a bride her wedding sash? Yet My people have forgotten Me for days without number.
Genesis 24:53 Then he brought out jewels of silver and gold, and articles of clothing, and he gave them to Rebekah. He also gave precious gifts to her brother and her mother.
Proverbs 7:10 Then a woman came out to meet him, with the attire of a harlot and cunning of heart.