New International Version
2 Corinthians 6:14
14Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness?
2 Corinthians 6:14 in other versions
- King James Version (KJV)Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness?
- English Standard Version (ESV)Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness?
- New King James Version (NKJV)Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion has light with darkness?
- New Living Translation (NLT)Don’t team up with those who are unbelievers. How can righteousness be a partner with wickedness? How can light live with darkness?
Context of 2 Corinthians 6:14
12We are not withholding our affection from you, but you are withholding yours from us. 13As a fair exchange—I speak as to my children—open wide your hearts also. Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness? 15What harmony is there between Christ and Belial? Or what does a believer have in common with an unbeliever? 16What agreement is there between the temple of God and idols? For we are the temple of the living God. As God has said: “I will live with them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be my people.”
Read all of 2 Corinthians 62 Corinthians 6:14 word by word
Μὴ γίνεσθε ἑτεροζυγοῦντες ἀπίστοις· τίς γὰρ μετοχὴ δικαιοσύνῃ καὶ ἀνομίᾳ; ἢ τίς κοινωνία φωτὶ πρὸς σκότος;Read the interlinear
Words taken from the KJV.
- Be yeγίνομαιginomai · to beG1096
- notμήmē · notG3361
- unequally yoked togetherἑτεροζυγέωheterozugeō · to yoke a mismatchG2086
- with unbelieversἄπιστοςapistos · unbelievingG571
- forγάρgar · forG1063
- whatτίςtis · which?G5101
- fellowshipμετοχήmetochē · participationG3352
- hath righteousnessδικαιοσύνηdikaiosunē · righteousnessG1343
- withκαίkai · andG2532
- unrighteousnessἀνομίαanomia · lawlessnessG458
- andδέde · thenG1161
- communionκοινωνίαkoinōnia · participationG2842
- hath lightφῶςphōs · lightG5457
- withπρόςpros · to/withG4314
- darknessσκότοςskotos · darknessG4655
Cross-references for 2 Corinthians 6:14
- Exodus 34:16And when you choose some of their daughters as wives for your sons and those daughters prostitute themselves to their gods, they will lead your sons to do the same.
- Leviticus 19:19“ ‘Keep my decrees. “ ‘Do not mate different kinds of animals. “ ‘Do not plant your field with two kinds of seed. “ ‘Do not wear clothing woven of two kinds of material.
- Deuteronomy 7:2and when the Lord your God has delivered them over to you and you have defeated them, then you must destroy them totally. Make no treaty with them, and show them no mercy.
- Deuteronomy 22:9Do not plant two kinds of seed in your vineyard; if you do, not only the crops you plant but also the fruit of the vineyard will be defiled.
- Ezra 9:1After these things had been done, the leaders came to me and said, “The people of Israel, including the priests and the Levites, have not kept themselves separate from the neighboring peoples with their detestable practices, like those of the Canaanites, Hittites, Perizzites, Jebusites, Ammonites, Moabites, Egyptians and Amorites.
- Ezra 10:19(They all gave their hands in pledge to put away their wives, and for their guilt they each presented a ram from the flock as a guilt offering.)
- Nehemiah 13:1On that day the Book of Moses was read aloud in the hearing of the people and there it was found written that no Ammonite or Moabite should ever be admitted into the assembly of God,
- Psalms 106:35but they mingled with the nations and adopted their customs.
- Proverbs 22:24Do not make friends with a hot-tempered person, do not associate with one easily angered,
- Malachi 2:11Judah has been unfaithful. A detestable thing has been committed in Israel and in Jerusalem: Judah has desecrated the sanctuary the Lord loves by marrying women who worship a foreign god.
- 1 Corinthians 5:9I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people—
- 1 Corinthians 7:39A woman is bound to her husband as long as he lives. But if her husband dies, she is free to marry anyone she wishes, but he must belong to the Lord.
- 1 Corinthians 15:33Do not be misled: “Bad company corrupts good character.”
- James 4:4You adulterous people, don’t you know that friendship with the world means enmity against God? Therefore, anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God.
- 1 Samuel 5:2Then they carried the ark into Dagon’s temple and set it beside Dagon.
- 1 Kings 18:21Elijah went before the people and said, “How long will you waver between two opinions? If the Lord is God, follow him; but if Baal is God, follow him.” But the people said nothing.
Commentaries on 2 Corinthians 6:14
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 14Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers - This is a military term: keep in your own ranks; do not leave the Christian community to join in that of the heathens. The verb ̔ signifies to leave one's own rank, place, or order, and go into another; and here it must signify not only that they should not associate with the Gentiles in their idolatrous feasts, but that they should not apostatize from Christianity; and the questions which follow show…Read the comment
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 14Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers - This is closely connected in sense with the previous verse. The apostle is there stating the nature of the remuneration or recompence which he asks for all the love which he had shown to them. He here says, that one mode of remuneration would be to yield obedience to his commands, and to separate themselves from all improper alliance with unbelievers. “Make me this return for my love. Love me as a…Read the comment
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary · v. 11-18Verses 11-18 It is wrong for believers to join with the wicked and profane. The word unbeliever applies to all destitute of true faith. True pastors will caution their beloved children in the gospel, not to be unequally yoked. The fatal effects of neglecting Scripture precepts as to marriages clearly appear. Instead of a help meet, the union brings a snare. Those whose cross it is to be unequally united, without their wilful fault, may expect consolation…Read the comment
- Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 14Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers: This advice refers to the Jewish rule against certain mixtures (Leviticus 19:19; Deuteronomy 22:10). Paul likely referred to the Corinthians' involvement in idol worship (see 1 Corinthians 8–10; compare 1 Corinthians 10:14–22).Read the comment
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 1414. Be not--Greek, "Become not." unequally yoked--"yoked with one alien in spirit." The image is from the symbolical precept of the law (Le 19:19), "Thou shalt not let thy cattle gender with a diverse kind"; or the precept (De 22:10), "Thou shalt not plough with an ox and an ass together." Compare De 7:3, forbidding marriages with the heathen; also 1Co 7:39. The believer and unbeliever are utterly heterogeneous. Too close intercourse with unbelievers in…Read the comment
Topics related to 2 Corinthians 6:14
In the dictionaries
Commentaries on 2 Corinthians 6
- 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
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