Bible Strands
2 Timothy 2:20
A large house contains not only vessels of gold and silver, but also of wood and clay. Some indeed are for honorable use, but others are for common use.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Paul addresses Timothy after commanding him to separate from unrighteousness, using a domestic analogy to explain spiritual readiness.
The words — σκεῦη (skeuē) translates to vessels, and οἰκία (oikia) translates to house, denoting a large storage structure containing mixed materials.
The thread — The household vessel motif appears in Romans 9:21 regarding the potter’s authority over clay, 1 Timothy 3:15 regarding conduct in God’s household, and 1 Peter 2:5 regarding believers built into a spiritual house.
Why it lands — The text states that a large house contains vessels of gold and silver alongside wood and clay, designating some for honorable use and others for common use, requiring readers to cleanse themselves to become fit for the Master’s work.
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
But in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and of silver, but also of wood and of earth; and some to honour, and some to dishonour.
Cross-references
- Romans 9:21 Does not the potter have the right to make from the same lump of clay one vessel for special occasions and another for common use?
- 1 Timothy 3:15 in case I am delayed, so that you will know how each one must conduct himself in God’s household, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and foundation of the truth.
- 1 Peter 2:5 you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
- 1 Corinthians 3:9 For we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field, God’s building.
- Ezra 1:6 And all their neighbors supported them with articles of silver and gold, with goods and livestock, and with valuables, in addition to all their freewill offerings.
- Ezra 6:5 Furthermore, the gold and silver articles of the house of God, which Nebuchadnezzar took from the temple in Jerusalem and carried to Babylon, must also be returned to the temple in Jerusalem and deposited in the house of God.
- Ephesians 2:22 And in Him you too are being built together into a dwelling place for God in His Spirit.
- Lamentations 4:2 How the precious sons of Zion, once worth their weight in pure gold, are now esteemed as jars of clay, the work of a potter’s hands!
- 1 Corinthians 3:16 Do you not know that you yourselves are God’s temple, and that God’s Spirit dwells in you?
- 2 Corinthians 4:7 Now we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this surpassingly great power is from God and not from us.