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OET (OET-LV) no_one to_be_slandering, to_be peaceable, gentle, all displaying gentleness toward all people.
OET (OET-RV) Don’t slander others, be peaceable. Don’t be strong-willed, but rather show gentleness to all people.
This section contains the last major theme in this letter. In 2:1–14, Paul had discussed relationships between Christians. Now in 3:1–11, he wrote about relationships that Christians have with non-Christians. He once more gave Titus instructions to pass on to the believers: they must submit to government authorities, be kind to other people, and not participate in useless arguments. God has given them new life because of what Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit have done, and they should live in peace and be generous to others.
In this paragraph, Paul told the believers to obey the laws of the government officers. He also gave general instructions about living peacefully and in a humble and kind way with other people.
These two verses form one long sentence in Greek and contain seven instructions for Titus to pass on to the believers on Crete. In some languages it may be natural to divide these verses into several shorter sentences. For example:
1Remind your people to submit to rulers and authorities, to obey them, and to be ready to do good in every way. 2Tell them not to speak evil of anyone, but to be peaceful and friendly, and always to show a gentle attitude toward everyone. (GNT)
1aRemind the believers to submit to the government and its officers. They should be obedient, always ready to do what is good. 2aThey must not slander anyone and must avoid quarreling. Instead, they should be gentle and show true humility to everyone. (NLT)
to malign no one,
They should not speak lies/evil about anyone,
Remind them they should not criticize any other people.
to malign no one: The Greek word that the BSB translates as malign means “blaspheme/defame/revile.” Titus was to teach that Christians should not speak evil of anyone falsely. See 2:5d and 2:3b.
Here are some other ways to translate this:
to speak no evil about anyone (NCV)
They must not slander anyone (NET)
and to be peaceable and gentle,
but instead live peacefully with other people, and show kindness to them,
Remind them they should not quarrel/argue with other people but they should be gentle/patient with them.
and to be peaceable: The Greek word that the BSB translates as peaceable describes someone who does not quickly or often fight with others. Here are some other ways to translate this word:
to live in peace (NCV)
not…argue (CEV)
to avoid quarrels (REB)
and gentle: The Greek word that the BSB translates as gentle means “considerate, forbearing, yielding.” It is the opposite of being aggressive. It describes people who are gracious and patient in their behavior toward others and do not demand their own way and their own rights. A modern English term for such people is “mellow.” Here are some other ways to translate this:
kind (NIrV)
not demanding their own way
respectful/thoughtful of others
showing full consideration to everyone.
and be truly gentle in their dealings with everyone.
and they should behave in a completely gentle way toward everyone.
showing full consideration to everyone: The Greek word that the BSB translates as full can be interpreted in two ways:
It means that consideration should be complete and shown in all kinds of different ways. For example:
to show perfect courtesy to all people (ESV)
(BSB, RSV/NRSV, NLT, NASB, KJV, NET, ESV, NABRE)
It means consideration should be shown at all times. Believers should always show consideration to others. For example:
and always to show a gentle attitude toward everyone (GNT) (NJB, GNT, REB, NIV)
It is recommended that you follow the first option (1). Most scholars understand the word this way. In some languages it may be possible to combine the ideas by using a word meaning “consistent”:
show consistent courtesy/gentleness to all
have a consistently courteous/gentle attitude toward everyone
showing full consideration: The Greek phrase that the BSB translates as showing…consideration is literally “showing gentleness.” In some languages it may be more natural to say:
act with gentleness
to everyone: This last phrase to everyone means “in your dealings with everyone.” The idea here is that the believers were to show gentleness and courtesy to their unbelieving pagan neighbors and not just to other Christians.
βλασφημεῖν
˓to_be˒_slandering
Alternate translation: [to speak evil of]
Note 1 topic: figures-of-speech / doublenegatives
ἀμάχους εἶναι
peaceable to_be
If it would be clearer in your language, you could use a positive expression to translate this double negative that consists of the negative particle un and the negative word contentious. Alternate translation: [to be peaceful]
Note 2 topic: figures-of-speech / abstractnouns
πᾶσαν ἐνδεικνυμένους πραΰτητα
(Some words not found in SR-GNT: μηδένα βλασφημεῖν ἀμάχους εἶναι ἐπιεικεῖς πασᾶν ἐνδεικνυμένους πραΰτητα πρός πάντας ἀνθρώπους)
If your language does not use an abstract noun for the idea of humility, you could express the same idea in another way. Alternate translation: [always being humble] or [always being considerate]
Note 3 topic: figures-of-speech / gendernotations
πρὸς πάντας ἀνθρώπους
(Some words not found in SR-GNT: μηδένα βλασφημεῖν ἀμάχους εἶναι ἐπιεικεῖς πασᾶν ἐνδεικνυμένους πραΰτητα πρός πάντας ἀνθρώπους)
Although the term men is masculine, Paul is using the word in a generic sense that includes both men and women. If it would be helpful in your language, you could use a phrase that makes this clear. Alternate translation: [toward everyone]
OET (OET-LV) no_one to_be_slandering, to_be peaceable, gentle, all displaying gentleness toward all people.
OET (OET-RV) Don’t slander others, be peaceable. Don’t be strong-willed, but rather show gentleness to all people.
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.