Passage

Philippians 4.5

Book: Philippians · ASV / WEB / KJV / YLT

Immediate context (±2 verses)

ASV

3. Yea, I beseech thee also, true yokefellow, help these women, for they labored with me in the gospel, with Clement also, and the rest of my fellow-workers, whose names are in the book of life. 4. Rejoice in the Lord always: again I will say, Rejoice.

5. Let your forbearance be known unto all men. The Lord is at hand.

In nothing be anxious; but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. 7. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall guard your hearts and your thoughts in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4:3-7, ASV)

WEB

3. Yes, I beg you also, true partner, help these women, for they labored with me in the Good News, with Clement also, and the rest of my fellow workers, whose names are in the book of life. 4. Rejoice in the Lord always! Again I will say, “Rejoice!”

5. Let your gentleness be known to all men. The Lord is at hand.

In nothing be anxious, but in everything, by prayer and petition with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God. 7. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your thoughts in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4:3-7, WEB)

KJV

3. And I intreat thee also, true yokefellow, help those women which laboured with me in the gospel, with Clement also, and with other my fellowlabourers, whose names are in the book of life. 4. Rejoice in the Lord alway: and again I say, Rejoice.

5. Let your moderation be known unto all men. The Lord is at hand.

Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. 7. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4:3-7, KJV)

YLT

3. and I ask also thee, genuine yoke-fellow, be assisting those women who in the good news did strive along with me, with Clement also, and the others, my fellow-workers, whose names [are] in the book of life. 4. Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice;

5. let your forbearance be known to all men; the Lord [is] near;

for nothing be anxious, but in everything by prayer, and by supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God; 7. and the peace of God, that is surpassing all understanding, shall guard your hearts and your thoughts in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4:3-7, YLT)

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Setting

Speaker: Paul the Apostle, writing with Timothy named as co-sender (Philippians 1:1).
Audience: The Church at Philippi, in a Roman colony of Macedonia (Acts 16:12), founded on the mission narrated in Acts 16 and addressed with its bishops and deacons (Philippians 1:1). The church had sent Paul a gift by Epaphroditus (Philippians 2:25-30, 4:18). The verse sits in a run of short commands (Philippians 4:4-9) between the call to rejoice and the call to pray instead of being anxious.
Location: Written from imprisonment (Philippians 1:7, 1:13). The place is debated: Rome is the traditional identification, and Ephesus and Caesarea are proposed as alternatives.
Time period: Depends on the imprisonment: c. AD 60-62 if Rome, c. AD 57-59 if Caesarea, the mid-50s if Ephesus.

Theological reading

"Forbearance" is hard to render in one English word. The Greek is to epieikes hymōn (G1933), an adjective used as a noun. Translations vary: "forbearance" (ASV), "gentleness" (WEB), "moderation" (KJV). The word describes a yielding, reasonable spirit that does not insist on its full rights. Paul uses the related noun of Christ himself, "the meekness and gentleness of Christ" (2 Corinthians 10:1, ASV), and the adjective appears among the qualities of an overseer in 1 Timothy 3:3.

It is to be known "unto all men." The command looks outward. In a letter where the church faces opponents (1:28) and lives "in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation" (Philippians 2:15, ASV), Paul asks that its public character be marked by restraint rather than retaliation.

"The Lord is at hand" can be read spatially or temporally. The word is engys (G1451), "near." One reading hears the Lord's nearness to his people, as in "Jehovah is nigh unto all them that call upon him" (Psalm 145:18, ASV), which leads naturally into the command about prayer in 4:6. Another hears the nearness of Christ's return, which Paul has just described (3:20-21), and which gives a reason not to grasp at rights now. The phrase can bear both senses, and its position between the two commands supports reading it with each.

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.

G1097 - ginosko, ginosko, Strong's G1097
G2962 - kyrios, kyrios, Strong's G2962
G3956 - pas, pas, Strong's G3956

Quoted in

Arguments and defeaters:

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.