Passage

1 Timothy 3.2

Book: 1 Timothy · NASB95

Immediate context (±2 verses)

ASV (ASV)

"1. Faithful is the saying, If a man seeketh the office of a bishop, he desireth a good work."

"2. The bishop therefore must be without reproach, the husband of one wife, temperate, sober-minded, orderly, given to hospitality, apt to teach;"

"3. no brawler, no striker; but gentle, not contentious, no lover of money; 4. one that ruleth well his own house, having his children in subjection with all gravity;" (1 Timothy 3:1-4, ASV)

WEB (WEB)

"1. This is a faithful saying: if a man seeks the office of an overseer, he desires a good work."

"2. The overseer therefore must be without reproach, the husband of one wife, temperate, sensible, modest, hospitable, good at teaching;"

"3. not a drinker, not violent, not greedy for money, but gentle, not quarrelsome, not covetous; 4. one who rules his own house well, having children in subjection with all reverence;" (1 Timothy 3:1-4, WEB)

KJV (KJV)

"1. This is a true saying, If a man desire the office of a bishop, he desireth a good work."

"2. A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, vigilant, sober, of good behaviour, given to hospitality, apt to teach; ^{of good: or, modest}"

"3. Not given to wine, no striker, not greedy of filthy lucre; but patient, not a brawler, not covetous; ^{given: or, ready to quarrel, and offer wrong, as one in wine} 4. One that ruleth well his own house, having his children in subjection with all gravity;" (1 Timothy 3:1-4, KJV)

YLT (YLT)

"1. Stedfast [is] the word: If any one the oversight doth long for, a right work he desireth;"

"2. it behoveth, therefore, the overseer to be blameless, of one wife a husband, vigilant, sober, decent, a friend of strangers, apt to teach,"

"3. not given to wine, not a striker, not given to filthy lucre, but gentle, not contentious, not a lover of money, 4. his own house leading well, having children in subjection with all gravity," (1 Timothy 3:1-4, YLT)

Setting

Speaker: TBD
Audience: TBD
Location: TBD
Time period: TBD

Theological reading

Patristic / early-church-father exegesis, to be added.

Key words

Theologically-loaded Greek or Hebrew words in this verse may have entries in the lexicon. Curated to roughly 100 contested terms across the corpus, not every word; see Lexicon Roadmap.

TBD
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Quoted in

Why these four translations

ris3n chose ASV, WEB, KJV, and YLT for two reasons together. They are the most literal English translations available (formal-equivalence: word-for-word renderings that preserve the Hebrew and Greek grammar rather than smoothing it into modern dynamic-equivalence idiom). And they are in the public domain in the United States, which means fair-use quotation at any length requires no publisher license. Modern licensed translations (NASB95, ESV, NIV) restrict volume of quotation under their copyright terms, so they are not used at stub-level coverage here. NASB95 appears only on hand-curated rich passage hubs under Lockman Foundation's fair-use allowance.

The four:

ASV (American Standard Version, 1901). The basis of the modern critical-text English tradition.
WEB (World English Bible, contemporary). Public-domain revision in the ASV line, in current English.
KJV (King James Version, 1611). Reformation-era, Textus Receptus base.
YLT (Young's Literal Translation, Robert Young, 1862). Hyper-literal preservation of Hebrew and Greek grammar; useful for word-study work even where English reads stiff.

See Bibles for the full per-translation history, translators, textual basis, strengths, and weaknesses.