1 TIM 2:4 Parallel Verse View

Note: This view shows ‘verses’ which are not natural language units and hence sometimes only part of a sentence will be visible—click on any Bible version abbreviation down the left-hand side to see the verse in more of its context. Normally the OET discourages the reading of individual ‘verses’, but this view is only designed as a tool for doing comparisons of different translations—the older translations are further down the page (so you can read up from the bottom to trace the English translation history). The OET segments on this page are still very early looks into the unfinished texts of the Open English Translation of the Bible—please double-check these texts in advance before using in public.

Text critical issues=none Clarity of original=clear Importance to us=normal (All still tentative.)

Key: khaki:verbs, light-green:nominative/subject, orange:accusative/object, pink:genitive/possessor.
Note: Automatic aligning of the OET-RV to the LV is done by some temporary software, hence the RV alignments are incomplete (and may occasionally be wrong).

UST God wants to rescue all people. He wants everyone to understand what is true.

BLB who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.

AICNT who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.

OEB whose will is that everyone should be saved, and attain to a full knowledge of the truth.

WEBBE who desires all people to be saved and come to full knowledge of the truth.

WMBB (Same as above)

MSG ^(4-7)He wants not only us but everyone saved, you know, everyone to get to know the truth we’ve learned: that there’s one God and only one, and one Priest-Mediator between God and us—Jesus, who offered himself in exchange for everyone held captive by sin, to set them all free. Eventually the news is going to get out. This and this only has been my appointed work: getting this news to those who have never heard of God, and explaining how it works by simple faith and plain truth.

NET since he wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth.

LSV who wills all men to be saved, and to come to the full knowledge of the truth;

FBV He wants everyone to be saved, and come to understand what truth really is.

TCNT who wants all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.

T4T He desires to save everyone. He wants everyone to fully know and accept his true message.

LEB who wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth.

BBE Whose desire is that all men may have salvation and come to the knowledge of what is true.

Moff to the God who desires all men to be saved and to attain the knowledge of the Truth.

Wymth who is willing for all mankind to be saved and come to a full knowledge of the truth.

ASV who would have all men to be saved, and come to the knowledge of the truth.

DRA Who will have all men to be saved, and to come to the knowledge of the truth.

YLT who doth will all men to be saved, and to come to the full knowledge of the truth;

Drby who desires that all men should be saved and come to [the] knowledge of [the] truth.

RV who willeth that all men should be saved, and come to the knowledge of the truth.

SLT Who wills all men to be saved, and to come to the knowledge of the truth.

Wbstr Who will have all men to be saved, and to come to the knowledge of the truth.

KJB-1769 Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.

KJB-1611 Who will haue all men to bee saued, and to come vnto the knowledge of the trueth.
(Modernised spelling is same as from KJB-1769 above)

Bshps Who wyll haue all men to be saued, and to come vnto the knowledge of the trueth.
(Modernised spelling is same as from KJB-1769 above)

Gnva Who will that all men shalbe saued, and come vnto the acknowledging of the trueth.
(Who will that all men shall be saved, and come unto the acknowledging of the truth. )

Cvdl which wil haue all men saued, and to come vnto the knowlege of ye trueth.
(which will have all men saved, and to come unto the knowledge of ye/you_all truth.)

TNT which will have all men saved and to come vnto the knowledge of the trueth.
(which will have all men saved and to come unto the knowledge of the truth. )

Wycl oure sauyour, that wole that alle men ben maad saaf, and that thei come to the knowyng of treuthe.
(our saviour, that will that all men been made safe, and that they come to the knowing of truth.)

Luth welcher will, daß allen Menschen geholfen werde, und zur Erkenntnis der Wahrheit kommen.
(which will, that all/everyone people helped become, and to/for knowledge the/of_the truth coming.)

ClVg qui omnes homines vult salvos fieri, et ad agnitionem veritatis venire.[fn]
(who/which everyone people/men wants salvos to_be_done, and to lambtionem to_the_truths to_come. )

2.4 Mediator Dei, etc. Hic est arbiter ille, quem Job desiderat, dicens: Utinam esset nobis arbiter. AUG., lib. IX de Civit. Dei, c. 15. Mediator inter Deum et homines, oportebat ut aliquid haberet simile Deo, etc., usque ad alius bonus, qui reconciliat inimicos, Jesus Christus.

2.4 Mediator of_God, etc. Here/This it_is arbiter he/that_one, which Yob desires, saying: Utinam was us arbiter. AUG., lib. 9 from/about Civit. of_God, c. 15. Mediator between God and people/men, oportebat as something would_have simile to_God, etc., until to another good/kind/gracious, who/which reconciliat enemies, Yesus Christ/Messiah.

UGNT ὃς πάντας ἀνθρώπους θέλει σωθῆναι, καὶ εἰς ἐπίγνωσιν ἀληθείας ἐλθεῖν.
(hos pantas anthrōpous thelei sōthaʸnai, kai eis epignōsin alaʸtheias elthein.)

SBL-GNT ὃς πάντας ἀνθρώπους θέλει σωθῆναι καὶ εἰς ἐπίγνωσιν ἀληθείας ἐλθεῖν.
(hos pantas anthrōpous thelei sōthaʸnai kai eis epignōsin alaʸtheias elthein.)

RP-GNT ὃς πάντας ἀνθρώπους θέλει σωθῆναι καὶ εἰς ἐπίγνωσιν ἀληθείας ἐλθεῖν.
(hos pantas anthrōpous thelei sōthaʸnai kai eis epignōsin alaʸtheias elthein.)

TC-GNT ὃς πάντας ἀνθρώπους θέλει σωθῆναι καὶ εἰς ἐπίγνωσιν ἀληθείας ἐλθεῖν.
(hos pantas anthrōpous thelei sōthaʸnai kai eis epignōsin alaʸtheias elthein. )

Key for above GNTs: yellow:punctuation differs (from our SR-GNT base).

SOTN SIL Open Translator’s Notes:

Section 2:1–15: Paul told Timothy that it was important that believers should pray

In this section Paul told Timothy some things that the believers should do when they met together regularly to worship God. They should pray for everybody. The men should pray in holiness and without anger, and the women should dress and behave modestly and appropriately.

Paragraph 2:1–7

When believers gather together, they should pray for everybody. They should pray that God would help their government officials to govern well so that believers can worship God peacefully. They should also pray for everybody else because God wants to save everybody.

Everything that Paul wrote in this paragraph (2:1–7) was to help Timothy communicate the gospel to everyone.

One reason that Paul emphasized that the gospel was for everyone was probably because the false teachers were doing exactly the opposite. They were encouraging their followers to consider themselves as better than other people and as part of a small, elite group that excluded other people.Fee, pages 61 and 62, says, “…what might be the place of this first paragraph in the argument? The frequent answer is that the point lies in verse 2, that prayer be made for rulers so that the church may enjoy a peaceful existence. It has even been suggested that a correct Christian attitude toward the state is what is in view. Verses 4–7, then, are seen as nearly irrelevant to that point, but go back to elaborate on a secondary point made in verse 1 (prayer be made for everyone). However, it seems much more likely that precisely the opposite is the case. The one clear concern that runs through the whole paragraph has to do with the gospel as for everyone (‘all people,’ vv. 1, 4–6, and 7). In this view, the phrase this is good in verse 3 refers to prayer for everyone in verse 1, thus seeing verse 2 as something of a digression —albeit as before (1:12–17), a meaningful one. The best explanation for this emphasis lies with the false teachers, who either through the esoteric, highly speculative nature of their teaching (1:4–6) or through its ‘Jewishness’ (1:7) or ascetic character (4:3) are promoting an elitist or exclusivist mentality among their followers. The whole paragraph attacks that narrowness.”

2:4

Here Paul stated the reasons that God would be pleased when believers prayed for everyone. Paul knew that God wanted two important things:

that people are saved (2:4a)
that people come to a knowledge of the truth (2:4b)

2:4a

who wants everyone to be saved

God wants everyone to be saved from sin

wants everyone to be saved: This is the first thing that God wants for everyone, that is he wants to save everyone.

to be saved: In some languages it will be necessary to provide a subject here and say that it is God who saves people. In other languages it may be necessary to make explicit what people are to be saved from. God saves people from their sin.

2:4b

and to come to the knowledge of the truth.

and to eventually know the truth.
and to learn the truth of his message.

to come to the knowledge of the truth: Not only does God want to save everyone. He also wants everyone to understand the truth about him, not just with their minds. They should also act according to the truth.

the truth: In this context, Paul used the expression that the BSB translates as the truth to refer to the Christian message. Paul explained more about this in 2:5b through 2:6b.

In many languages this can be a difficult expression to translate. Three possible ways are:

God’s true message

what is true, that is, God’s message

the true message about God

General Comment on 2:3–4

In 2:4, Paul stated the reason that it is good to pray for other people and why it pleases God. In some languages, it may be necessary to reorder 2:3 and 2:4. One way to do this is:

^4aGod wants all people to be saved ^4band come to know the truth. Therefore, when we pray for everyone, ^3awe are doing something right ^3band pleasing God.

UTN uW Translation Notes:

Note 1 topic: grammar-connect-logic-result

ὃς

(Some words not found in SR-GNT: ὅς πάντας ἀνθρώπους θέλει σωθῆναι καί εἰς ἐπίγνωσιν ἀληθείας ἐλθεῖν)

Here, the word who could primarily introduce: (1) a further description of God, who is “our Savior” (see [2:3](../02/03.md)). Alternate translation: [he who] (2) a reason why praying for all people is “good and acceptable” to God (see [2:3](../02/03.md)). Alternate translation: [since he]

Note 2 topic: figures-of-speech / activepassive

πάντας ἀνθρώπους & σωθῆναι, καὶ & ἐλθεῖν

all people & ˓to_be˒_saved (Some words not found in SR-GNT: ὅς πάντας ἀνθρώπους θέλει σωθῆναι καί εἰς ἐπίγνωσιν ἀληθείας ἐλθεῖν)

If your language does not use this passive form, you could express the idea in active form or in another way that is natural in your language. If you need to say who would do the action, it is clear from the context that it would be God. Alternate translation: [that he might save all men and that they might come]

Note 3 topic: figures-of-speech / gendernotations

πάντας ἀνθρώπους

all people

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: [everyone] or [all men and women]

Note 4 topic: figures-of-speech / metaphor

εἰς ἐπίγνωσιν & ἐλθεῖν

to ˓the˒_knowledge & ˓to˒_come

Paul speaks of knowledge of the truth as if it were a place where people could come. He means that God desires that all people gain knowledge of the truth. If it would be helpful in your language, you could use a comparable metaphor or state the meaning plainly. Alternate translation: [to acquire knowledge] or [to gain knowledge]

Note 5 topic: figures-of-speech / abstractnouns

εἰς ἐπίγνωσιν ἀληθείας

to ˓the˒_knowledge ˱of˲_˓the˒_truth

If your language does not use abstract nouns for the ideas of knowledge and truth, you could express the same ideas in another way. Alternate translation: [to learn the true teachings]

Parallel 1 TIM 2:4

Section 2:1–15: Paul told Timothy that it was important that believers should pray

Paragraph 2:1–7

2:4

2:4a

2:4b

General Comment on 2:3–4

Parallel 1 TIM 2:4