Bible Strands
1 Timothy 3:11
In the same way, the women must be dignified, not slanderers, but temperate and faithful in all things.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Paul instructs Timothy in Ephesus to regulate church leadership qualifications. The directive sits between the testing of deacons in 1 Timothy 3:10 and the household management rules for deacons in 1 Timothy 3:12.
The words — σεμνὲς (semnas) translates to dignified or reverent, and διαβόλους (diabolous) means slanderers or accusers. These terms set the explicit behavioral boundary that the women must embody respectability while avoiding destructive speech.
The thread — The prohibition against slander and the demand for sober conduct recur in Titus 2:3 and Titus 3:2. Paul applies parallel standards of temperance and respectability to male overseers in 1 Timothy 3:2.
Why it lands — The text commands these women to maintain sober judgment and unwavering trustworthiness in every action. A reader must align personal conduct with the standard of consistent faithfulness rather than situational convenience.
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
Even so must their wives be grave, not slanderers, sober, faithful in all things.
Cross-references
- Titus 2:3 Older women, likewise, are to be reverent in their behavior, not slanderers or addicted to much wine, but teachers of good.
- Titus 3:2 to malign no one, and to be peaceable and gentle, showing full consideration to everyone.
- 1 Timothy 3:2 An overseer, then, must be above reproach, the husband of but one wife, temperate, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach,
- Proverbs 10:18 The one who conceals hatred has lying lips, and whoever spreads slander is a fool.
- 2 Timothy 3:3 unloving, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, without love of good,
- 1 Peter 5:8 Be sober-minded and alert. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.
- Leviticus 21:7 A priest must not marry a woman defiled by prostitution or divorced by her husband, for the priest is holy to his God.
- Leviticus 21:13 The woman he marries must be a virgin.
- Psalms 15:3 who has no slander on his tongue, who does no harm to his neighbor, who casts no scorn on his friend,
- Psalms 50:20 You sit and malign your brother; you slander your own mother’s son.