ris3n's Apologetics Codex
1 Thessalonians 5.19-20
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Passage

1 Thessalonians 5.19-20

Book: 1 Thessalonians · ASV / WEB / KJV / YLT

Immediate context (±2 verses)

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ASV

17. pray without ceasing; 18. in everything give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus to you-ward.

19. Quench not the Spirit; 20. despise not prophesyings;

  1. prove all things; hold fast that which is good; 22. abstain from every form of evil. (1 Thessalonians 5:17-22, ASV)
WEB

17. Pray without ceasing. 18. In everything give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus toward you.

19. Don’t quench the Spirit. 20. Don’t despise prophesies.

  1. Test all things, and hold firmly that which is good. 22. Abstain from every form of evil. (1 Thessalonians 5:17-22, WEB)
KJV

17. Pray without ceasing. 18. In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.

19. Quench not the Spirit. 20. Despise not prophesyings.

  1. Prove all things; hold fast that which is good. 22. Abstain from all appearance of evil. (1 Thessalonians 5:17-22, KJV)
YLT

17. continually pray ye; 18. in every thing give thanks, for this [is] the will of God in Christ Jesus in regard to you.

19. The Spirit quench not; 20. prophesyings despise not;

  1. all things prove; that which is good hold fast; 22. from all appearance of evil abstain ye; (1 Thessalonians 5:17-22, YLT)

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Setting

  • Speaker: Paul, writing with Silvanus and Timothy, who are named as co-senders (1 Thessalonians 1:1)
  • Audience: the church of the Thessalonians (1 Thessalonians 1:1), converts who "turned unto God from idols" (1:9)
  • Location: written from Corinth, after Timothy came back from Thessalonica with news of the church (1 Thessalonians 3:6; Acts 18:5)
  • Time period: c. AD 50-51, not long after the church was founded (1 Thessalonians 2:17; Acts 17:1-10)

Theological reading

"Quench not the Spirit; despise not prophesyings." "Quench" is Strong's G4570, the word for putting out fire, used of "smoking flax" (Matthew 12:20), of lamps "going out" (Matthew 25:8), and of quenching "all the fiery darts of the evil one" (Ephesians 6:16). The Spirit's work is pictured as a flame the church can smother.

The second command names one way it can be smothered: by despising "prophesyings." Paul does not tell the church to accept every prophecy uncritically; the next verse adds "prove all things; hold fast that which is good" (5:21). Elsewhere he gives the same balance: "let the prophets speak by two or three, and let the others discern" (1 Corinthians 14:29).

The pairing guards against two errors at once: shutting down the Spirit's gifts and receiving them without testing.

Key words

Theologically-loaded Greek or Hebrew words in this verse may have entries in the lexicon. Curated to roughly 100 contested terms across the corpus, not every word; see Lexicon Roadmap.

Quoted in

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Why these four translations

ris3n chose ASV, WEB, KJV, and YLT for two reasons together. They are the most literal English translations available (formal-equivalence: word-for-word renderings that preserve the Hebrew and Greek grammar rather than smoothing it into modern dynamic-equivalence idiom). And they are in the public domain in the United States, which means fair-use quotation at any length requires no publisher license. Modern licensed translations (NASB95, ESV, NIV) restrict volume of quotation under their copyright terms, so they are not used at stub-level coverage here. NASB95 appears only on hand-curated rich passage hubs under Lockman Foundation's fair-use allowance.

The four:

  • ASV (American Standard Version, 1901). The basis of the modern critical-text English tradition.
  • WEB (World English Bible, contemporary). Public-domain revision in the ASV line, in current English.
  • KJV (King James Version, 1611). Reformation-era, Textus Receptus base.
  • YLT (Young's Literal Translation, Robert Young, 1862). Hyper-literal preservation of Hebrew and Greek grammar; useful for word-study work even where English reads stiff.

See Bibles for the full per-translation history, translators, textual basis, strengths, and weaknesses.