complete verse (1 Timothy 2:11)

Following are a number of back-translations of 1 Timothy 2:11:

  • Uma: “Women must be silent listening to teaching with low [humble] hearts.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
  • Yakan: “Women also when they are being taught/preached to they ought to listen only and they should be willing to be taught.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
  • Western Bukidnon Manobo: “It’s necesssary for the women that they carefully listen to what is taught to them, and not chatter. And it’s necessary that they always submit themselves to their masters.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
  • Kankanaey: “The women should also keep-quiet in their learning of God’s word and humble (lit. lower) themselves to the one who is teaching.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Tagbanwa: “It is also necessary that women aren’t talkative in the gathering-place. Rather, they are to be listening well with meekness/patience.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
  • Tenango Otomi: “During the time in which the word is taught to the people, the woman must not speak, they must be respectful.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)
  • German New Testament translation by Berger / Nord (publ. 1999): “Unlike the young men who learn noisily in school, the women shall learn the teachings that were passed down quietly and they shall pay attention to strict submission.”

Translation commentary on 1 Timothy 2:11 – 2:12

After dealing with the physical appearance of women, the passage goes on to deal with the behavior of women. The primary concern still seems to be the conduct of women during the worship service and other church meetings, although as verse 12 indicates there may also be a reference to the relationship between men and women in general, and in particular the relationship between a woman and her husband.

The three ingredients of the behavior of women are: they should be learners, they should observe silence, and they should be submissive. So women should learn and not teach, since teaching in church was the exclusive function of men. This at least accents a feature of the early Christian community that makes it different from the Jewish synagogue, where instruction was reserved for men and boys. From the beginning of the Christian movement, women were included in instruction classes together with the men. But there was one condition: the women should learn in silence, which means that women were not allowed to speak at church meetings. Other ways to express learn in silence are “listen to the men’s teaching without asking questions” or “when the men are teaching them the Christian principles, the women should listen silently.” And finally, women should be submissive and should not have authority over men. Submissiveness includes the elements of recognition, subordination, and obedience; the addition of all indicates the intensity and extent of the submission; hence New Revised Standard Version “learn … with full submission.” Or one may translate “be completely submissive to the authority of the men as teachers.” This perhaps means that the women should submit to the authority of the men as teachers and should accept with humility and obedience what is taught to them. The logical offshoot of this is that women should not teach men or have authority over them. To have authority translates a Greek verb that means “to control,” “to dominate,” “to control in a domineering manner.” It is suggested that the Greek word for have authority can mean “interrupt,” in which case what verse 12 is saying is that the women should remain completely quiet during the meetings and should not interrupt the men teachers in any way. This suggestion is attractive in view of the context. However, so far as we know, no modern translation reflects this understanding.

An alternative translation model for verses 11 and 12 is the following:
• When the men are teaching them, the women should listen (or, learn) silently (or, without asking questions), recognizing the complete authority of the men. I do not allow women to teach men or to dominate (or, have authority over) them. Women should remain silent when you meet together in worship.

One other thing that needs to be noted is that, from verse 11 on, the singular form woman is used, in contrast to verse 9, which has the plural form. If, however, it is more natural in the receptor language to use the plural form when talking about women in general, then the plural form can be used in verses 11, 12, and 15.

Quoted with permission from Arichea, Daniel C. and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on Paul’s First Letter to Timothy. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1995. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .

SIL Translator's Notes on 1 Timothy 2:11

2:11

Paul continued to give instructions to women in general in 2:11–12. In these verses he told Timothy the way that women should behave when believers met together.

A woman: That is, every woman, all women. In some languages it will be better to use a plural here.

must learn: Paul was saying that people must learn about God. This normally happened when believers met together so that someone could teach them from Scripture. (Some people interpret this to mean that Paul is commanding that women learn, and is implying that they would be able to teach men after they have learned. They say that the real problem is that women in Ephesus had not learned before they taught. However, this overlooks the fact that Paul is not emphasizing that women learn, but that they learn quietly and submissively. Also, Paul expressly forbids women from teaching men in verse 12. For a more detailed rebuttal, see Schreiner in Women in the Church, pages 121–123.)

in quietness: Paul did not mean that women should be totally silent in church. This is clear from 1 Corinthians 11:5, where Paul referred to women praying and prophesying during public worship. Paul probably meant that women were to listen quietly when someone was teaching the believers. They were not to chatter and interrupt the person who was teaching God’s message.

and full submissiveness: Paul meant that women were not to argue publicly with those who taught the believers. They were to be respectful and submit to their authority.

full: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as full is literally “all.” Paul meant that women were to be completely respectful to those who taught the believers.

© 2003 by SIL International®

Made available under the terms of a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License (CC BY-SA) creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0

All Scripture quotations in this publication, unless otherwise indicated, are from The Holy Bible, Berean Standard Bible. BSB is produced in cooperation with Bible Hub, Discovery Bible, OpenBible.com, and the Berean Bible Translation Committee.

Commentaire sur la traduction de 1 Timothée 2.11

2.11-12

Paul passe maintenant à des instructions précises concernant le culte. Mais pour des raisons qu’on ignore, il change du pluriel « femmes » (1 Tim 2.10) et « hommes » (1 Tim 2.8) au singulier (1 Tim 2.11, 1 Tim 2.12). Néanmoins dans les deux cas, il s’agit de généralisations concernant le comportement dans les assemblées lors des cultes. Les traducteurs devraient utiliser la forme qui convient dans leur langue.

Ce verset est très court en grec, littéralement, « une femme en quiétude qu’elle apprenne en toute soumission ». Le contexte semble l’assemblée, mais le verbe μανθάνω manthanô est utilisé dans plusieurs circonstances dans les Évangiles et dans les écrits de Paul. En Jean 7.15 il semble renvoyer aux études formelles rabbiniques.

Dans la littérature séculaire en grec l’expression ἐν ἡσυχία en hêsuchia est utilisé en deux sens, renvoyant à un silence absolu ou à une attitude paisible. Dans d’autres passages dans le NT, le mot désigne le calme ou la quiétude. Voir Act 22.2 ; 1 Thess 3.12. Bien que plusieurs versions disent en silence (Traduction œcuménique de la Bible, Nouvelle Bible Segond, Bible en français courant), on pourrait dire plutôt « dans une attitude de tranquillité » (Nouvelle Français courant). La traduction de la Parole de Vie, « les femmes doivent rester tranquilles » ne doit pas être suivi car elle ajoute un ton de réprimande et insinue un comportement négatif de leur part.

« qu’elle apprenne » est un impératif que peut être rendu par une forme similaire ou une subjonctive. La Nouvelle Français courant a changé le passif « Il faut que les femmes reçoivent l’instruction en silence » en Bible en français courant à l’actif et dynamique « Qu’elles s’instruisent… dans un attitude de tranquillité ». En effet dans les premières assemblées, les hommes et les femmes étaient séparés comme dans certains synagogues juifs de nos jours. Chez les Juifs, les séances d’instruction dans les synagogues étaient réservées aux hommes et garçons, les femmes n’étant même pas admises ! Certains commentateurs pensent alors qu’au lieu de minimiser le rôle des femmes dans l’assemblée, Paul est en train de l’augmenter, en leur donnant la permission (ou l’ordre) de s’instruire. Certaines versions mettent ces informations au début de la phrase : Pendant l’instruction, « Pendant l’enseignement », mais ceci met l’emphase ailleurs.

en toute soumission : ces mots mènent les biblistes à poser bien des questions vu le rôle considérable des femmes attesté ailleurs dans le NT (Act 18.26 ; Rom 16.1), sans parler de leur place dans l’église d’aujourd’hui. Mais il faudrait se rappeler que le mot ὑποταγή hupotagê en grec a plusieurs nuances de sens de « respect » « obéissance », etc. Bien qu’en 1 Tim 2.12 les femmes ne puissent pas dominer les hommes, ici il y a une certaine ambiguïté, car Paul ne spécifie pas à qui soumission est due.

Source: Zogbo, Lynell & Ellingworth, Paul La première lettre à Timothée – Manuel de traduction – Commentaire linguistique et exégétique de la Bible. Alliance biblique universelle, 2021.