2 Corinthians 6:14

KJV1611 – Modern English

Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion has light with darkness?

📖 Grammatical Analysis

Original Text

Μὴ γίνεσθε ἑτεροζυγοῦντες ἀπίστοις: τίς γὰρ μετοχὴ δικαιοσύνῃ καὶ ἀνομίᾳ; τίς δὲ κοινωνία φωτὶ πρὸς σκότος;

Transliteration

Not ginesthe heterozygountes with apistois: what for metochē for dikaiosynē and anomia? what de koinōnia for phōti pros skotos?

Grammar Details

• *ginesthe*: present imperative, middle, 2nd person plural - become/be
• *heterozygountes*: present participle, active, nominative, masculine, plural - unequally yoked/mismatched
• *apistois*: dative, masculine, plural - unbelievers/unfaithful ones
• *metochē*: nominative, feminine, singular - partnership/participation/sharing
• *dikaiosynē*: dative, feminine, singular - righteousness/justice
• *anomia*: dative, feminine, singular - lawlessness/iniquity
• *de*: postpositive conjunction - but/and/now
• *koinōnia*: nominative, feminine, singular - fellowship/communion/association
• *phōti*: dative, neuter, singular - light
• *pros*: preposition + accusative - with/toward
• *skotos*: accusative, neuter, singular - darkness

Word Meanings

• *ginesthe*: become/be/happen to be
• *heterozygountes*: unequally yoked/mismatched/paired with something different
• *apistois*: unbelievers/unfaithful ones/non-Christians
• *metochē*: partnership/participation/sharing/association
• *dikaiosynē*: righteousness/justice/rightness
• *anomia*: lawlessness/iniquity/wickedness
• *koinōnia*: fellowship/communion/association/partnership
• *phōti*: light/illumination/brightness
• *skotos*: darkness/obscurity/ignorance

Other Translations

• Linguistic Bible Translation from Source Texts

  Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what partnership can righteousness have with lawlessness? Or what fellowship does light have with darkness?

• King James Version 1769 (Standard Version)

  Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness?

• American Standard Version with Strong's Numbers

  Be{G1096} not{G3361} unequally yoked{G2086} with unbelievers:{G571} for{G1063} what{G5101} fellowship{G3352} have righteousness{G1343} and{G1161} iniquity?{G458} or{G1161} what{G5101} communion{G2842} hath light{G5457} with{G2532} darkness?{G4655}

• King James Version with Strong's Numbers

  Be ye{G1096}{(G5737)} not{G3361} unequally yoked together{G2086}{(G5723)} with unbelievers{G571}: for{G1063} what{G5101} fellowship{G3352} hath righteousness{G1343} with{G2532} unrighteousness{G458}? and{G1161} what{G5101} communion{G2842} hath light{G5457} with{G4314} darkness{G4655}?

• Tyndale Bible (1526/1534)

  Set youreselues therfore at large and beare not a straugers yoke wyth the vnbelevers. For what fellishippe hath rightewesnes with vnrightewesnes? What company hath light wt darcknes?

• Coverdale Bible (1535)

  Set youre selues therfore at large.Beare not a straunge yock with the vnbeleuers. For what fellishippe hath righteousnes with vnrighteousnes? What company hath lighte wt darknesse?

• Geneva Bible (1560)

  Be not vnequally yoked with the infidels: for what felowship hath righteousnesse with vnrighteousnesse? and what communion hath light with darkenesse?

• Bishops' Bible (1568)

  And beare not ye a straunge yoke with the vnbeleuers. For what felowship hath righteousnesse with vnrighteousnesse? Or what communion hath lyght with darkenesse?

• Authorized King James Version (1611)

  Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness?

• Webster's Bible (1833)

  Don't be unequally yoked with unbelievers, for what fellowship have righteousness and iniquity? Or what communion has light with darkness?

• Young's Literal Translation (1862/1898)

  Become not yoked with others -- unbelievers, for what partaking `is there' to righteousness and lawlessness?

• American Standard Version (1901)

  Be not unequally yoked with unbelievers: for what fellowship have righteousness and iniquity? or what communion hath light with darkness?

• American Standard Version (1901)

  Be not unequally yoked with unbelievers: for what fellowship have righteousness and iniquity? or what communion hath light with darkness?

• Bible in Basic English (1941)

  Do not keep company with those who have not faith: for what is there in common between righteousness and evil, or between light and dark?

• World English Bible (2000)

  Don't be unequally yoked with unbelievers, for what fellowship have righteousness and iniquity? Or what fellowship has light with darkness?

• NET Bible® (New English Translation)

  Unequal Partners Do not become partners with those who do not believe, for what partnership is there between righteousness and lawlessness, or what fellowship does light have with darkness?

Referenced Verses

• 1 Cor 15:33 : 33 Do not be deceived: Evil company corrupts good habits.
• Eph 5:6-9 : 6 Let no one deceive you with empty words: for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the children of disobedience. 7 Therefore do not be partakers with them. 8 For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord: walk as children of light: 9 (For the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth;) 10 Finding out what is acceptable to the Lord. 11 And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them. 12 For it is shameful even to speak of those things which are done by them in secret. 13 But all things that are exposed are made manifest by the light: for whatever makes manifest is light. 14 Therefore he says, Awake, you who sleep, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give you light.
• 1 Cor 10:21 : 21 You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons: you cannot partake of the Lord's table and of the table of demons.
• Deut 22:9-9 : 9 You shall not sow your vineyard with different kinds of seeds, lest the fruit of your seed which you have sown, and the fruit of your vineyard, be defiled. 10 You shall not plow with an ox and a donkey together. 11 You shall not wear a garment of different sorts, such as wool and linen together.
• Jas 4:4 : 4 You adulterers and adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore, whoever wants to be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.
• 1 Pet 2:9-9 : 9 But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; 10 Who once were not a people, but now are the people of God; who had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy.
• Ps 139:21-22 : 21 Do I not hate them, O LORD, who hate You? And am I not grieved with those who rise up against You? 22 I hate them with perfect hatred; I count them my enemies.
• 1 Thess 5:4-8 : 4 But you, brothers, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief. 5 You are all children of light, and children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness. 6 Therefore let us not sleep, as others do; but let us watch and be sober. 7 For those who sleep, sleep in the night; and those who are drunk are drunk in the night. 8 But let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love; and as a helmet, the hope of salvation.
• 1 Kgs 18:21 : 21 And Elijah came unto all the people, and said, How long will you waver between two opinions? If the LORD is God, follow him: but if Baal, then follow him. And the people answered him not a word.
• Ezra 9:11-12 : 11 Which You have commanded by Your servants the prophets, saying, The land unto which you go to possess it is an unclean land with the filthiness of the peoples of the lands, with their abominations, which have filled it from one end to another with their uncleanness. 12 Now therefore do not give your daughters to their sons, nor take their daughters for your sons, nor seek their peace or their wealth forever, that you may be strong and eat the good of the land, and leave it as an inheritance to your children forever.
• Ps 26:4-5 : 4 I have not sat with false persons, nor will I go in with hypocrites. 5 I have hated the congregation of evildoers, and will not sit with the wicked.
• Eph 4:17-20 : 17 This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that you should no longer walk as the rest of the Gentiles walk, in the futility of their mind, 18 Having their understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart; 19 Who, being past feeling, have given themselves over to lewdness, to work all uncleanness with greediness. 20 But you have not so learned Christ,
• Mal 2:11 : 11 Judah has dealt treacherously, and an abomination is committed in Israel and in Jerusalem; for Judah has profaned the holiness of the LORD which he loved, and has married the daughter of a foreign god.
• 1 Pet 4:2-4 : 2 That he should no longer live the rest of his time in the flesh to the lusts of men, but to the will of God. 3 For the time past of our life may suffice us to have done the will of the Gentiles, when we walked in sensuality, lusts, excess of wine, revelings, banquetings, and abominable idolatries: 4 Wherein they think it strange that you do not run with them in the same excess of riot, speaking evil of you:
• Mal 2:15 : 15 And did he not make one? Yet had he the residue of the spirit. And why one? That he might seek a godly seed. Therefore take heed to your spirit, and let none deal treacherously against the wife of his youth.
• John 7:7 : 7 The world cannot hate you, but it hates me, because I testify of it that its works are evil.
• John 15:18-19 : 18 If the world hates you, you know that it hated me before it hated you. 19 If you were of the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.
• Acts 4:23 : 23 And being let go, they went to their own companions and reported all that the chief priests and elders had said to them.
• Rom 13:12-14 : 12 The night is far spent, the day is at hand. Therefore let us cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light. 13 Let us walk properly, as in the day, not in revelry and drunkenness, not in lewdness and lust, not in strife and envy. 14 But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to fulfill its lusts.
• 1 Cor 5:9 : 9 I wrote to you in a letter not to associate with sexually immoral people.
• 1 Cor 7:39 : 39 A wife is bound by law as long as her husband lives; but if her husband dies, she is at liberty to be married to whom she wishes, only in the Lord.
• Ps 119:63 : 63 I am a companion of all who fear You, and of those who keep Your precepts.
• Prov 29:27 : 27 An unjust man is an abomination to the just; and he who is upright in the way is an abomination to the wicked.
• Phil 2:15 : 15 That you may be blameless and harmless, children of God, without fault, in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world;
• Ps 26:9-9 : 9 Do not gather my soul with sinners, nor my life with bloodthirsty men, 10 in whose hands is mischief, and their right hand is full of bribes.
• Ps 44:20-21 : 20 If we have forgotten the name of our God, or stretched out our hands to a strange god; 21 Shall not God search this out? for He knows the secrets of the heart.
• Neh 13:23-26 : 23 In those days I also saw Jews who had married women of Ashdod, Ammon, and Moab; 24 and their children spoke half in the language of Ashdod, and could not speak the language of Judah, but spoke according to the language of each people. 25 So I contended with them and cursed them, struck some of them and pulled out their hair, and made them swear by God, saying, You shall not give your daughters as wives to their sons, nor take their daughters for your sons or yourselves. 26 Did not King Solomon of Israel sin by these things? Yet among many nations there was no king like him, who was beloved of his God, and God made him king over all Israel; nevertheless, pagan women caused even him to sin.
• Ps 16:3 : 3 But to the saints that are in the earth, and to the excellent, in whom is all my delight.'
• Ezra 10:19 : 19 They gave their promise that they would put away their wives. Being guilty, they presented a ram of the flock for their guilt offering.
• 1 Sam 5:2-3 : 2 When the Philistines took the ark of God, they brought it into the house of Dagon and set it by Dagon. 3 And when the people of Ashdod arose early the next day, behold, Dagon had fallen on his face to the ground before the ark of the LORD. So they took Dagon and set him back in his place.
• Exod 34:16 : 16 And you take their daughters for your sons, and their daughters go whoring after their gods, and make your sons go whoring after their gods.
• Lev 19:19 : 19 You shall keep my statutes. You shall not let your livestock breed with another kind; you shall not sow your field with mixed seed; nor shall a garment mixed of linen and wool come upon you.
• Deut 7:2-3 : 2 And when the LORD your God shall deliver them before you; you shall strike them, and utterly destroy them; you shall make no covenant with them, nor show mercy to them: 3 Neither shall you make marriages with them; your daughter you shall not give to his son, nor his daughter shall you take for your son.
• Neh 13:1-3 : 1 On that day they read from the book of Moses in the hearing of the people; and it was found written that the Ammonite and the Moabite should never enter the assembly of God forever, 2 because they did not meet the children of Israel with bread and water, but hired Balaam against them to curse them; however, our God turned the curse into a blessing. 3 So it happened, when they heard the law, that they separated all the mixed multitude from Israel.
• 2 Chr 19:2 : 2 And Jehu, the son of Hanani the seer, went out to meet him and said to King Jehoshaphat, Should you help the wicked and love those that hate the LORD? Therefore, wrath is upon you from before the LORD.
• Ezra 9:1-2 : 1 Now when these things were done, the princes came to me, saying, The people of Israel, the priests, and the Levites, have not separated themselves from the peoples of the lands, doing according to their abominations, even those of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Jebusites, the Ammonites, the Moabites, the Egyptians, and the Amorites. 2 For they have taken some of their daughters for themselves and for their sons, so that the holy seed has mingled with the peoples of those lands. Indeed, the hand of the princes and rulers has been chief in this trespass.
• Prov 8:18-19 : 18 Riches and honor are with me; yes, enduring riches and righteousness. 19 My fruit is better than gold, yes, than fine gold; and my revenue than choice silver.
• Prov 22:24 : 24 Make no friendship with an angry man, and with a furious man do not go,
• Ps 101:3-5 : 3 I will set no wicked thing before my eyes: I hate the work of those who turn aside; it shall not cling to me. 4 A perverse heart shall depart from me: I will not know a wicked person. 5 Whoever secretly slanders his neighbor, him will I cut off: him that has a haughty look and a proud heart I will not endure.
• Ps 106:35 : 35 But they were mingled among the heathen, and learned their works.
• 1 John 1:5-7 : 5 This then is the message which we have heard from him, and declare to you, that God is light, and in him there is no darkness at all. 6 If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not practice the truth: 7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanses us from all sin.
• 1 John 3:12-14 : 12 Not as Cain, who was of the wicked one, and killed his brother. And why did he kill him? Because his own works were evil, and his brother’s righteous. 13 Do not marvel, my brothers, if the world hates you. 14 We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love the brothers. He who does not love his brother abides in death.