What Does 1 Peter 3:5 Mean in the King James?
For after this manner in the old time the holy women also, who trusted in God, adorned themselves, being in subjection unto their own husbands:
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
The women’s adornment is the visible order of a life whose hope rests in God.
THE MEANING
This verse describes a life shaped by hope in God, with that hope visible in a wife’s submission to her own husband. The relationship is named plainly, while God remains the ground of her hope.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
A woman’s beauty does not come from visible ornament alone; the verse places her adornment in a life shaped by hope in God.
THE ROOT
ἐκόσμουν
ekosmoun
GROWS FROM
κοσμ-
kosm-
To arrange or put in order; by extension, to adorn.
The word translated “adorned” carries the sense of arranging as well as decorating. The same word family can name an arrangement, an ornament, or the ordered world, so the verse presents adornment as the visible shape of a life.
ALSO GROWS
kosmos: An arrangement or adornment; also the world as an ordered whole.
κόσμος
It shows how the same word family reaches from personal adornment to the larger order of the world.
kosmios: Well-ordered or fitting.
κόσμιος
This branch keeps the sense of adornment tied to the way a person’s life is arranged.
ἐλπίζουσαι
elpizousai
GROWS FROM
ἐλπ-
elp-
To hope, expect, or look toward what is anticipated; here, hope is directed toward God.
“trusted” in this verse is elpizousai. The Greek word here is from the hope-and-expectation family: the women’s inward orientation is toward God. That hope becomes visible in the life described by the rest of the verse.
ALSO GROWS
elpis: Hope or expectation.
ἐλπίς
It names the inward stance carried by the verb in this verse.
proelpizō: To hope in advance; the same word family appears in Ephesians 1:12.
προελπίζω
It shows hope as an orientation already held before its outcome is seen.
ὑποτασσόμεναι
hypotassomenai
GROWS FROM
τασσ-
tass-
To arrange, set in order, or appoint; the compound ὑποτάσσω (hypotassō) means to arrange under.
“being in subjection” in this verse is hypotassomenai. The Greek verb joins “under” with “arrange,” giving the phrase a sense of relational ordering. Beside the word for adornment, it makes the relationship named here part of how the women’s lives are arranged.
ALSO GROWS
tassō: To place or arrange in order; to appoint.
τάσσω
It supplies the arranging sense within the compound verb used for submission.
taxis: An arrangement, order, or rank.
τάξις
This related word makes the root’s order-and-placement sense visible.
THE PATTERN
Hope placed in God becomes visible in the way a life is clothed and ordered.
Behold, the eye of the LORD is upon them that fear him, upon them that hope in his mercy;I will greatly rejoice in the LORD, my soul shall be joyful in my God; for he hath clothed me with the garments of salvation, he hath covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decketh himself with ornaments, and as a bride adorneth herself with her jewels.Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering;THE THREAD
Whose adorning let it not be that outward adorning of plaiting the hair, and of wearing of gold, or of putting on of apparel;The Greek uses the same κοσμ- word family for “adorning” here and “adorned” in verse 5. Verse 5 shows the life and relationship in which that adornment takes shape: hope in God expressed through an ordered way of living.
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