1 Corinthians 14:34

1 Corinthians 14:34 in other versions

• King James Version (KJV)Let your women keep silence in the churches: for it is not permitted unto them to speak; but they are commanded to be under obedience, as also saith the law.
• New International Version (NIV)Women should remain silent in the churches. They are not allowed to speak, but must be in submission, as the law says.
• English Standard Version (ESV)the women should keep silent in the churches. For they are not permitted to speak, but should be in submission, as the Law also says.
• New King James Version (NKJV)Let your women keep silent in the churches, for they are not permitted to speak; but they are to be submissive, as the law also says.

Context of 1 Corinthians 14:34

32for the spirits of prophets are subject to the prophets [the prophecy is under the speaker’s control, and he can stop speaking]; 33for God [who is the source of their prophesying] is not a God of confusion and disorder but of peace and order. As [is the practice] in all the churches of the saints (God’s people), the women should be silent in the churches, for they are not authorized to speak, but are to take a subordinate place, as the Law says. 35If there is anything they want to learn [that is, if they have questions about anything being said or taught], they are to ask their own husbands at home; for it is improper for a woman to talk in church. 36Did the word of the Lord originate from you [Corinthians], or has it come to you only [so that you know best what God requires]?

1 Corinthians 14:34 word by word

Αἱ γυναῖκες ἐν ταῖς ἐκκλησίαις σιγάτωσαν· οὐ γὰρ ἐπιτρέπεται αὐταῖς λαλεῖν, ἀλλ᾽ ὑποτασσέσθωσαν καθὼς καὶ ὁ νόμος λέγει.Read the interlinear

Words taken from the KJV.

• Let yourσύsu · youG4771
• womenὁho hē to · the/this/whoG3588
• womenγυνήgunē · womanG1135
• keep silenceσιγάωsigaō · be silentG4601
• inἐνen · in/on/amongG1722
• the churchesἐκκλησίαekklēsia · assemblyG1577
• forγάρgar · forG1063
• it isἐπιτρέπωepitrepō · to permitG2010
• notοὐou · noG3756
• unto themαὐτόςautos · it/s/heG846
• to speakλαλέωlaleō · to speakG2980
• butἀλλάalla · butG235
• to be under obedienceὑποτάσσωhupotassō · to subjectG5293
• asκαθώςkathōs · as/just asG2531
• alsoκαίkai · andG2532
• saithλέγωlegō · to sayG3004
• the lawνόμοςnomos · lawG3551

Cross-references for 1 Corinthians 14:34

• 1 Corinthians 11:5And every woman who prays or prophesies when she has her head uncovered disgraces her head; for she is one and the same as the woman whose head is shaved [in disgrace].
• 1 Timothy 2:11A woman must quietly receive instruction with all submissiveness.
• 1 Corinthians 14:35If there is anything they want to learn [that is, if they have questions about anything being said or taught], they are to ask their own husbands at home; for it is improper for a woman to talk in church.
• 1 Corinthians 11:3But I want you to understand that Christ is the head (authority over) of every man, and man is the head of woman, and God is the head of Christ.
• Ephesians 5:22Wives, be subject to your own husbands, as [a service] to the Lord.
• Colossians 3:18Wives, be subject to your husbands [out of respect for their position as protector, and their accountability to God], as is proper and fitting in the Lord.
• 1 Peter 3:1In the same way, you wives, be submissive to your own husbands [subordinate, not as inferior, but out of respect for the responsibilities entrusted to husbands and their accountability to God, and so partnering with them] so that even if some do not obey the word [of God], they may be won over [to Christ] without discussion by the godly lives of their wives,
• 1 Corinthians 14:21It is written in the Law, “By men of strange tongues and by the lips of foreigners I will speak to this people, and not even then will they listen to Me,” says the Lord.
• Genesis 3:16To the woman He said, “I will greatly multiply Your pain in childbirth; In pain you will give birth to children; Yet your desire and longing will be for your husband, And he will rule [with authority] over you and be responsible for you.”
• Numbers 30:3“Also if a woman makes a vow to the Lord and binds herself by a pledge [of abstinence], while living in her father’s house in her youth,
• Esther 1:17For the queen’s conduct will become known to all women, causing them to look on their husbands with contempt (disrespect), since they will say, ‘King Ahasuerus commanded Queen Vashti to be brought before him, but she did not come.’

Commentaries on 1 Corinthians 14:34

• Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 34Let your women keep silence in the churches - This was a Jewish ordinance; women were not permitted to teach in the assemblies, or even to ask questions. The rabbins taught that "a woman should know nothing but the use of her distaff." And the sayings of Rabbi Eliezer, as delivered, Bammidbar Rabba, sec. 9, fol. 204, are both worthy of remark and of execration; they are these: לנשים ימסרו ואל תורה דברי ישרפו yisrephu dibrey torah veal yimsaru lenashim…Read the comment
• Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 34Let your women keep silence … - This rule is positive, explicit, and universal. There is no ambiguity in the expressions; and there can be no difference of opinion, one would suppose, in regard to their meaning. The sense evidently is, that in all those things which he had specified, the women were to keep silence; they were to take no part. He had discoursed of speaking foreign languages, and of prophecy; and the evident sense is, that in regard to all…Read the comment
• Matthew Henry Concise Commentary · v. 34-40Verses 34-40 When the apostle exhorts Christian women to seek information on religious subjects from their husbands at home, it shows that believing families ought to assemble for promoting spiritual knowledge. The Spirit of Christ can never contradict itself; and if their revelations are against those of the apostle, they do not come from the same Spirit. The way to keep peace, truth, and order in the church, is to seek that which is good for it, to bear…Read the comment
• Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 34-35This part of the discussion on using spiritual gifts shows a view on women's roles similar to that of the Pastoral Letters (see 1 Timothy 2:11–15). Paul advises women to be quiet and respectful in church meetings. We should understand this instruction considering 1 Corinthians 11:5, which clearly implies that women can pray and prophesy in public. as the law says: This possibly refers to Genesis 3:16.Read the comment
• Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 3434. (1Ti 2:11, 12). For women to speak in public would be an act of independence, as if they were not subject to their husbands (compare 1Co 11:3; Ep 5:22; Tit 2:5; 1Pe 3:1). For "under obedience," translate, "in subjection" or "submission," as the Greek is translated (Ep 5:21, 22, 24). the law--a term applied to the whole Old Testament; here, Ge 3:16.Read the comment

Topics related to 1 Corinthians 14:34

• Church
• Wife
• Women

In the dictionaries

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Commentaries on 1 Corinthians 14

• Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
• Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
• Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
• Tyndale Open Study Notes
• Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary
• Calvin’s Commentaries
• John Wesley’s Notes
• Illustrated New Testament
• Burkitt’s Expository Notes
• Darby Translation Notes
• Family Bible Notes
• Geneva Bible Translation Notes
• Kingcomments
• Luther’s Commentary on Selected Bible Passages
• Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
• Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
• The People’s New Testament
• Robertson’s Word Pictures
• Scofield Reference Notes, 1917 Edition
• Original Douay–Rheims Annotations
• Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
• EGW Writings