1 Timothy 2:9 I also want the women to dress modestly, with decency and propriety, adorning themselves, not with elaborate hairstyles or gold or pearls or expensive clothes,

◄ 1 Timothy 2:9 ►

Parallel Verses

New International Version
I also want the women to dress modestly, with decency and propriety, adorning themselves, not with elaborate hairstyles or gold or pearls or expensive clothes,

English Standard Version
likewise also that women should adorn themselves in respectable apparel, with modesty and self-control, not with braided hair and gold or pearls or costly attire,

New American Standard Bible
Likewise, I want women to adorn themselves with proper clothing, modestly and discreetly, not with braided hair and gold or pearls or costly garments,

King James Bible
In like manner also, that women adorn themselves in modest apparel, with shamefacedness and sobriety; not with broided hair, or gold, or pearls, or costly array;

Holman Christian Standard Bible
Also, the women are to dress themselves in modest clothing, with decency and good sense, not with elaborate hairstyles, gold, pearls, or expensive apparel,

International Standard Version
Women, for their part, should display their beauty by dressing modestly and decently in appropriate clothes, not with elaborate hairstyles or by wearing gold, pearls, or expensive clothes,

American Standard Version
In like manner, that women adorn themselves in modest apparel, with shamefastness and sobriety; not with braided hair, and gold or pearls or costly raiment;

Douay-Rheims Bible
In like manner women also in decent apparel: adorning themselves with modesty and sobriety, not with plaited hair, or gold, or pearls, or costly attire,

Darby Bible Translation
In like manner also that the women in decent deportment and dress adorn themselves with modesty and discretion, not with plaited hair and gold, or pearls, or costly clothing,

Young's Literal Translation
in like manner also the women, in becoming apparel, with modesty and sobriety to adorn themselves, not in braided hair, or gold, or pearls, or garments of great price,

Cross References

Proverbs 7:10
And, behold, there met him a woman with the attire of an harlot, and subtle of heart.

Proverbs 31:25
Strength and honor are her clothing; and she shall rejoice in time to come.

1 Timothy 2:10
But (which becomes women professing godliness) with good works.

1 Peter 3:3
Whose adorning let it not be that outward adorning of plaiting the hair, and of wearing of gold, or of putting on of apparel;

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Commentaries

Matthew Henry's Commentary

2:8-15 Under the gospel, prayer is not to be confined to any one particular house of prayer, but men must pray every where. We must pray in our closets, pray in our families, pray at our meals, pray when we are on journeys, and pray in the solemn assemblies, whether more public or private. We must pray in charity; without wrath, or malice, or anger at any person. We must pray in faith, without doubting, and without disputing. Women who profess the Christian religion, must be modest in apparel, not affecting gaudiness, gaiety, or costliness. Good works are the best ornament; these are, in the sight of God, of great price. Modesty and neatness are more to be consulted in garments than elegance and fashion. And it would be well if the professors of serious godliness were wholly free from vanity in dress. They should spend more time and money in relieving the sick and distressed, than in decorating themselves and their children. To do this in a manner unsuitable to their rank in life, and their profession of godliness, is sinful. These are not trifles, but Divine commands. The best ornaments for professors of godliness, are good works. According to St. Paul, women are not allowed to be public teachers in the church; for teaching is an office of authority. But good women may and ought to teach their children at home the principles of true religion. Also, women must not think themselves excused from learning what is necessary to salvation, though they must not usurp authority. As woman was last in the creation, which is one reason for her subjection, so she was first in the transgression. But there is a word of comfort; that those who continue in sobriety, shall be saved in child-bearing, or with child-bearing, by the Messiah, who was born of a woman. And the especial sorrow to which the female sex is subject, should cause men to exercise their authority with much gentleness, tenderness, and affection.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown

9, 10. The context requires that we understand these directions as to women, in relation to their deportment in public worship, though the rules will hold good on other occasions also.

in modest apparel—"in seemly guise" [Ellicott]. The adjective means properly. orderly, decorous, becoming; the noun in secular writings means conduct, bearing. But here "apparel." Women are apt to love fine dress; and at Ephesus the riches of some (1Ti 6:17) would lead them to dress luxuriously. The Greek in Tit 2:3 is a more general term meaning "deportment."

shamefacedness—Trench spells this word according to its true derivation, "shamefastness" (that which is made fast by an honorable shame); as "steadfastness" (compare 1Ti 2:11, 12).

sobriety—"self-restraint" [Alford]. Habitual inner self-government [Trench]. I prefer Ellicott's translation, "sober-mindedness": the well-balanced state of mind arising from habitual self-restraint.

with—Greek, "in."

braided hair—literally, "plaits," that is, plaited hair: probably with the "gold and pearls" intertwined (1Pe 3:3). Such gaud is characteristic of the spiritual harlot (Re 17:4).