What Does 1 Peter 5:6 Mean?
So be made low under the strong hand of God, that he may lift you up in season.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time:THE KEY
The hand beneath which you are lowered is the same hand that has the power to raise you.
THE MEANING
Your low place is held beneath God’s mighty hand, and it does not determine how your story ends. God is the one who raises you, in the fitting season. The movement is from lowliness under God’s power to being lifted by God.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
This undoes the belief that being low means God has forgotten you, or that you must raise yourself to secure your future.
THE ROOT
ταπεινώθητε
tapeinōthēte
GROWS FROM
ταπειν- (tapein-), from ταπεινόω (tapeinoō)
To lower, bring low, or humble.
“be made low” in this verse is tapeinōthēte. The verb’s form can carry the sense of being brought low, though the KJV renders it “humble yourselves.” The words that follow place this low position beneath God’s powerful hand; the verse’s motion is downward under God, then upward by God.
ALSO GROWS
tapeinos: Low, humble.
ταπεινός
It names the lowly position that fits the verse’s image of being beneath God’s hand.
tapeinōsis: Low estate, humiliation.
ταπείνωσις
It names the state of being brought low, which the verse does not call final: God raises the one beneath his hand.
ὑψώσῃ
hypsōsē
GROWS FROM
ὑψ- (hyps-), from ὑψόω (hypsoō)
To raise high, lift up, or exalt.
“lift up” in this verse is hypsōsē. Exalt carries the sense of being raised to a height. God is the one who does the raising here, so the upward movement belongs to him.
ALSO GROWS
hypsos: Height.
ὕψος
It makes the image of exaltation concrete: a movement upward.
hypsistos: Highest, Most High.
ὕψιστος
This word from the same height-family shows how elevation can name the highest place.
καιρῷ
kairō
GROWS FROM
καιρ- (kair-), from καιρός (kairos)
A fitting season or opportune time.
“in season” in this verse is kairō. The verse places the raising in a fitting season, without naming a schedule. The low place is real, but it is not named permanent.
ALSO GROWS
eukairos: At a fitting or seasonable time.
εὐκαίρως
It echoes the sense of a time suited to what happens within it.
akairos: Untimely, out of season.
ἄκαιρος
Its contrast helps show that καιρός (kairos) points to a fitting season, not just any moment.
THE PATTERN
God raises the lowly, while self-exaltation ends in being brought low.
The LORD strips, and makes rich; he lays low, and lifts high.The LORD lifts up the bowed, and brings the wicked low to the earth.And whoever lifts themselves high will be brought low, and whoever makes themselves low will be lifted high.THE THREAD
Be made low before the face of the LORD, and he will lift you up.James uses ταπεινόω (tapeinoō, “lower or humble”) and ὑψόω (hypsoō, “raise high”), the same verb families as Peter’s “humble” and “exalt.” Peter adds the mighty hand and fitting season, naming the power and timing of that rise.
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