InterlinearVerse GEN EXO LEV NUM DEUT JOB YEHO (JOS) HERO (JDG) RUTH 1 SAM 2 SAM PSA AMOS HOS 1 KI 2 KI 1 CHR 2 CHR PROV ECC SNG YOEL (JOEL) MIC ISA ZEP HAB YIR (JER) LAM YNA (JNA) NAH OBAD DAN EZEK EZRA EST NEH HAG ZEC MAL 2 PS WIS TOB MAN BAR G DAN G ESD L ESD ESG JDT 3 MAC SIR 1 MAC 2 MAC 4 MAC YHN (JHN) MARK MAT LUKE ACTs YAC (JAM) GAL 1 TH 2 TH 1 COR 2 COR ROM COL LAOD PHM EPH PHP 1 TIM TIT 1 PET 2 PET 2 TIM HEB YUD (JUD) 1 YHN (1 JHN) 2 YHN (2 JHN) 3 YHN (3 JHN) REV
Php 3 V1 V2 V3 V4 V5 V6 V7 V8 V9 V10 V11 V12 V13 V14 V15 V16 V18 V19 V20 V21
People tagged in the matching LV passage: Epaphroditus · Paul
OET-LV Fellow-imitators of_me be_becoming, brothers, and be_observing the ones thus walking, as you_all_are_having for_an_example us.
OET (OET-RV) Brothers and sisters, become imitators of me, as well as watching others that have walked a similar path and can be examples for all of you.
Paul told the believers to watch out for those who were teaching that believers must be circumcised. He also warned them against those who were proud of doing evil. He encouraged them to follow his example instead. Paul tried to be like Christ and depended on him alone in order to become righteous.
In both 3:1 and 4:1, Paul talked about being joyful. Therefore, it is possible to consider that 3:1 is an introduction to this section and 4:1 is a summary of this section. However, some English versions consider that 3:1a is the final statement in the previous section and so attach it to the end of chapter 2 (REB, NJB, NRSV). You may want to follow whatever the national language version in your area does here.
Paul wanted the Philippians to act like citizens of heaven, as he did, and not to act like those who were proud of doing wrong.
Join one another in following my example, brothers,
¶ Brothers, join together in imitating me.
¶ My Christian brothers and sisters, unite together to follow my good example of behaving as a Christian.
Join one another in following my example: Paul wanted the believers in Philippi to follow the same principles that he lived by. The phrase he used here literally means “become joint imitators of me.” This can be interpreted in several ways:
The believers should unite with one another in imitating Paul. (BSB, RSV, NJB, NCV, KJV, NASB)
They should join with others who imitated Paul. (NIV, REB)
The command just means “imitate me.” The prefix sun- on the verb “imitate,” which the BSB has translated as Join one another, has no significance and can be ignored. (NIV, CEV, GNT, NET, NLT, GW)
There is strongest commentary support for meaning (1), and it is recommended that you follow this in your translation. Paul wanted the Philippians to unite together in imitating his Christian way of thinking and acting.
brothers: The term brothers here refers to other Christians, fellow believers, not to literal brothers. You might translate this as “brothers and sisters,” “older and younger siblings” or “relatives.” The term brothers also occurs in 1:12, 3:13, 3:17, 4:1, 4:8. See the note on 1:12a.
and carefully observe those who walk according to the pattern we set for you.
Watch carefully and behave like those who behave as you saw us(excl) behave when we(excl) were with you.
carefully observe: This means to watch something carefully.
those who walk according to the pattern we set for you: Other believers were following Paul’s example and his companions’ example of how Christians should behave. Paul wanted the rest of the Philippians to watch how those believers acted, and to imitate them.
walk: The word walk here refers to acting or behaving in a certain way.
we: This probably refers to Paul and some other apostles or teachers who had gone to teach in Philippi with him (BSB, NIV, RSV, GNT, NET, NCV, CEV, NLT, GW, REB). It does not include the Philippians.
συνμιμηταί μου γίνεσθε
(Some words not found in SR-GNT: Συμμιμηταί μού γίνεσθε ἀδελφοί καί σκοπεῖτε τούς οὕτω περιπατοῦντας καθώς ἔχετε τύπον ἡμάς)
Alternate translation: [Do what I do] or [Live as I live]
Note 1 topic: figures-of-speech / yousingular
γίνεσθε
˓be˒_becoming
The word Become is a command or instruction to all of the Philippian Christians. Use the most natural form in your language to give direction to a group of people. Alternate translation: [I exhort each of you to become] or [Each of you become] or [I command each of you to become]
Note 2 topic: figures-of-speech / gendernotations
ἀδελφοί
brothers
See how you translated the word brothers in Philippians 1:12.
Note 3 topic: figures-of-speech / yousingular
σκοπεῖτε
˓be˒_observing
The phrase watch closely is a command or instruction to all of the Philippian Christians. Use the most natural form in your language to give direction to a group of people. Alternate translation: [I exhort each of you to watch closely] or [each of you watch closely] or [I urge each of you to watch closely]
τοὺς οὕτω περιπατοῦντας, καθὼς ἔχετε τύπον ἡμᾶς
(Some words not found in SR-GNT: Συμμιμηταί μού γίνεσθε ἀδελφοί καί σκοπεῖτε τούς οὕτω περιπατοῦντας καθώς ἔχετε τύπον ἡμάς)
Alternate translation: [those people who are already living just as I live and follow our example] or [those people who are already doing what I do and imitating us]
OET-LV Fellow-imitators of_me be_becoming, brothers, and be_observing the ones thus walking, as you_all_are_having for_an_example us.
OET (OET-RV) Brothers and sisters, become imitators of me, as well as watching others that have walked a similar path and can be examples for all of you.
Note: The OET-RV is still only a first draft, and so far only a few words have been (mostly automatically) matched to the Hebrew or Greek words that they’re translated from.
Acknowledgements: The SR Greek text, lemmas, morphology, and VLT gloss are all thanks to the CNTR.
Open Bible Data site copyright © 2023–2026 Freely-Given.org.
Python source code for creating these static pages is available on GitHub under an open licence.
For Bible data copyrights, see the details for each displayed Bible version.
The Open English Translation (OET) main site is at OpenEnglishTranslation.Bible or OET.Bible.