# Titus 1.10

<!-- type: passage | created: 2026-11-06 | updated: 2026-11-06 -->

**Book:** [Titus](/codex/titus/) · NASB95

## Immediate context (±2 verses)

**ASV** ([ASV](/codex/asv/))
> 8. but given to hospitality, a lover of good, sober-minded, just, holy, self-controlled; 9. holding to the faithful word which is according to the teaching, that he may be able both to exhort in the sound doctrine, and to convict the gainsayers.
>
> **10. For there are many unruly men, vain talkers and deceivers, specially they of the circumcision,**
>
> 11. whose mouths must be stopped; men who overthrow whole houses, teaching things which they ought not, for filthy lucre's sake. 12. One of themselves, a prophet of their own, said, Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, idle gluttons. (Titus 1:8-12, ASV)

**WEB** ([WEB](/codex/web/))
> 8. but given to hospitality, a lover of good, sober minded, fair, holy, self-controlled; 9. holding to the faithful word which is according to the teaching, that he may be able to exhort in the sound doctrine, and to convict those who contradict him.
>
> **10. For there are also many unruly men, vain talkers and deceivers, especially those of the circumcision,**
>
> 11. whose mouths must be stopped; men who overthrow whole houses, teaching things which they ought not, for dishonest gain’s sake. 12. One of them, a prophet of their own, said, “Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, and idle gluttons.” (Titus 1:8-12, WEB)

**KJV** ([KJV](/codex/kjv/))
> 8. But a lover of hospitality, a lover of good men, sober, just, holy, temperate; <sup>men: or, things</sup> 9. Holding fast the faithful word as he hath been taught, that he may be able by sound doctrine both to exhort and to convince the gainsayers. <sup>as: or, in teaching</sup>
>
> **10. For there are many unruly and vain talkers and deceivers, specially they of the circumcision:**
>
> 11. Whose mouths must be stopped, who subvert whole houses, teaching things which they ought not, for filthy lucre's sake. 12. One of themselves, even a prophet of their own, said, The Cretians are alway liars, evil beasts, slow bellies. (Titus 1:8-12, KJV)

**YLT** ([YLT](/codex/ylt/))
> 8. but a lover of strangers, a lover of good men, sober-minded, righteous, kind, self-controlled, 9. holding, according to the teaching, to the stedfast word, that he may be able also to exhort in the sound teaching, and the gainsayers to convict;
>
> **10. for there are many both insubordinate, vain-talkers, and mind-deceivers, especially they of the circumcision**
>
> 11. whose mouth it behoveth to stop, who whole households do overturn, teaching what things it behoveth not, for filthy lucre's sake. 12. A certain one of them, a prophet of their own, said, 'Cretans! always liars, evil beasts, lazy bellies!' (Titus 1:8-12, YLT)

## Setting

- **Speaker:** [Paul](/codex/paul-the-apostle/), who opens the letter as "a servant of God, and an apostle of Jesus Christ" (1:1). Authorship of the three Pastoral Epistles (1 and 2 Timothy, Titus) is disputed. Many critical scholars hold that a later follower wrote them in Paul's name, pointing to differences of vocabulary and style from the undisputed letters and to a more settled church order. Others defend Paul's authorship, among them William Mounce (Word Biblical Commentary, 2000) and Philip Towner (NICNT, 2006), citing the letter's personal details and travel plans (3:12-13).
- **Audience:** Titus, "my true child after a common faith" (1:4). He was a Greek convert whom Paul took up to Jerusalem and who, "being a Greek", was not "compelled to be circumcised" (Galatians 2:1-3), and later Paul's envoy to Corinth, "my partner and my fellow-worker to you-ward" (2 Corinthians 8:23). Acts never names him. Paul had left him on Crete "that thou shouldest set in order the things that were wanting, and appoint elders in every city" (1:5).
- **Location:** addressed to Titus on Crete. Paul's own location is not stated; he says only that he has decided to winter at Nicopolis (3:12). The note at the end of the letter in the KJV, naming "Nicopolis of Macedonia", is a later scribal subscription, not part of the original text.
- **Time period:** on Pauline authorship, usually c. AD 62-66, after Paul's release from the Roman imprisonment that ends Acts. Acts records no mission on Crete; Paul passes the island only as a prisoner bound for Rome (Acts 27:7-13). Scholars who regard the letter as pseudonymous usually place it late in the first century or early in the second. The reading below does not depend on the choice.
- **Literary context:** the reason for the elders' qualifications. An elder must be able "to convict the gainsayers" (1:9), and verses 10-16 explain why: there are many of them on Crete.

## Theological reading

"For there are many unruly men, vain talkers and deceivers, specially they of the circumcision," (Titus 1:10, ASV)

**Three labels.** The opponents are "unruly", refusing to submit to the church's order; "vain talkers", whose words are empty; and "deceivers", who lead others astray. The "For" ties the verse to 1:9: this is why Titus must appoint elders who hold "the faithful word" and can answer such men.

**They of the circumcision.** The phrase most likely means Jewish Christians, or people under Jewish influence, who pressed law-observance and Jewish speculation on Gentile believers. That fits the rest of the letter, which warns against "Jewish fables, and commandments of men" (1:14) and against "fightings about the law" (3:9). Crete had a Jewish population: "Cretans and Arabians" are among those who heard the apostles at Pentecost (Acts 2:11). Paul uses similar language for the party whose arrival made Peter withdraw from Gentile believers at Antioch, "fearing them that were of the circumcision" (Galatians 2:12).

**Not an ethnic charge.** Paul, himself a Jew, is not condemning Jewish people as such. The issue is what these men teach and why: they upset households, "teaching things which they ought not, for filthy lucre's sake" (1:11), and "by their works they deny" the God they profess (1:16). See [Titus 1.11](/codex/titus-1-11/) and [Titus 1.14](/codex/titus-1-14/).

## 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._

- None of the words in this verse has its own lexicon entry yet.


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## Quoted in

**Passages:**

- [Titus 1.11](/codex/titus-1-11/)

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## Notes

_Your annotations._

## 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](/codex/asv/)** (American Standard Version, 1901). The basis of the modern critical-text English tradition.
- **[WEB](/codex/web/)** (World English Bible, contemporary). Public-domain revision in the ASV line, in current English.
- **[KJV](/codex/kjv/)** (King James Version, 1611). Reformation-era, Textus Receptus base.
- **[YLT](/codex/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](/codex/bibles/) for the full per-translation history, translators, textual basis, strengths, and weaknesses.