Titus 1:12
New International Version
One of Crete’s own prophets has said it: “Cretans are always liars, evil brutes, lazy gluttons.”

New Living Translation
Even one of their own men, a prophet from Crete, has said about them, “The people of Crete are all liars, cruel animals, and lazy gluttons.”

English Standard Version
One of the Cretans, a prophet of their own, said, “Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, lazy gluttons.”

Berean Standard Bible
As one of their own prophets has said, “Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, lazy gluttons.”

Berean Literal Bible
One of them, a prophet of their own, said, "Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, lazy gluttons."

King James Bible
One of themselves, even a prophet of their own, said, The Cretians are alway liars, evil beasts, slow bellies.

New King James Version
One of them, a prophet of their own, said, “Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, lazy gluttons.”

New American Standard Bible
One of them, a prophet of their own, said, “Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, lazy gluttons.”

NASB 1995
One of themselves, a prophet of their own, said, “Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, lazy gluttons.”

NASB 1977
One of themselves, a prophet of their own, said, “Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, lazy gluttons.”

Legacy Standard Bible
One of themselves, a prophet of their own, said, “Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, lazy gluttons.”

Amplified Bible
One of them [Epimenides, a Cretan], a prophet of their own, said, “Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, lazy gluttons.”

Christian Standard Bible
One of their very own prophets said, “Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, lazy gluttons.”

Holman Christian Standard Bible
One of their very own prophets said, Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, lazy gluttons.

American Standard Version
One of themselves, a prophet of their own, said, Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, idle gluttons.

Aramaic Bible in Plain English
One man among them, their own Prophet said, “The children of Crete are always liars, wicked beasts and idle bellies.”

Contemporary English Version
It is like one of their own prophets once said, "The people of Crete always tell lies. They are greedy and lazy like wild animals."

Douay-Rheims Bible
One of them a prophet of their own, said, The Cretians are always liars, evil beasts, slothful bellies.

English Revised Version
One of themselves, a prophet of their own, said, Cretans are alway liars, evil beasts, idle gluttons.

GOD'S WORD® Translation
Even one of their own prophets said, "Cretans are always liars, savage animals, and lazy gluttons."

International Standard Version
One of their very own prophets said, "Liars ever, men of Crete, savage brutes that live to eat."

Literal Standard Version
A certain one of them, a prophet of their own, said, “Cretans! Always liars, evil beasts, lazy bellies!”

Majority Standard Bible
As one of their own prophets has said, “Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, lazy gluttons.”

New American Bible
One of them, a prophet of their own, once said, “Cretans have always been liars, vicious beasts, and lazy gluttons.”

NET Bible
A certain one of them, in fact, one of their own prophets, said, "Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, lazy gluttons."

New Revised Standard Version
It was one of them, their very own prophet, who said, “Cretans are always liars, vicious brutes, lazy gluttons.”

New Heart English Bible
One of them, a prophet of their own, said, "Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, and idle gluttons."

Webster's Bible Translation
One of themselves, even a prophet of their own, said, The Cretians are always liars, evil beasts, slow bellies.

Weymouth New Testament
One of their own number--a Prophet who is a countryman of theirs--has said, "Cretans are always liars, dangerous animals, idle gluttons."

World English Bible
One of them, a prophet of their own, said, “Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, and idle gluttons.”

Young's Literal Translation
A certain one of them, a prophet of their own, said -- 'Cretans! always liars, evil beasts, lazy bellies!'

Additional Translations ...
Audio Bible



Context
Correcting False Teachers
11who must be silenced. For the sake of dishonorable gain, they undermine entire households and teach things they should not. 12As one of their own prophets has said, “Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, lazy gluttons.” 13This testimony is true. Therefore rebuke them sternly, so that they will be sound in the faith…

Cross References
Acts 2:11
both Jews and converts to Judaism; Cretans and Arabs--we hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues!"

Acts 27:7
After sailing slowly for many days, we arrived off Cnidus. When the wind impeded us, we sailed to the lee of Crete, opposite Salmone.

Acts 27:12
Since the harbor was unsuitable to winter in, the majority decided to sail on, if somehow they could reach Phoenix to winter there. Phoenix was a harbor in Crete facing both southwest and northwest.

Acts 27:13
When a gentle south wind began to blow, they thought they had their opportunity. So they weighed anchor and sailed along, hugging the coast of Crete.

Philippians 3:19
Their end is destruction, their god is their belly, and their glory is in their shame. Their minds are set on earthly things.

Titus 1:5
The reason I left you in Crete was that you would set in order what was unfinished and appoint elders in every town, as I directed you.


Treasury of Scripture

One of themselves, even a prophet of their own, said, The Cretians are always liars, evil beasts, slow bellies.

of.

Acts 17:28
For in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring.

liars.

Romans 16:18
For they that are such serve not our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly; and by good words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the simple.

1 Timothy 4:2
Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron;

2 Peter 2:12,15
But these, as natural brute beasts, made to be taken and destroyed, speak evil of the things that they understand not; and shall utterly perish in their own corruption; …

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Alway Always Animals Beasts Bellies Brutes Countryman Cretans Crete Dangerous Evil False. Food Gluttons Hating Idle Liars Prophet Prophets Slow Theirs Themselves Wild
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Titus 1
1. Paul greets Titus, who was left to finish the work in Crete.
6. How those chosen as ministers ought to be qualified.
11. The mouths of evil teachers to be stopped;
12. and what manner of men they be.














(12) One of themselves, even a prophet of their own, said.--St. Paul had spoken (Titus 1:10-11) in the severest terms of certain influential members of the Cretan Church; he had even alluded to their disastrous teaching ruining whole families, evidently implying that he had perceived among the Cretans a readiness to welcome a teaching which countenanced a laxer moral tone, the invariable result of perverted doctrine; and now he supports his own condemning words by a reference to a well-known Cretan poet--to one who, according to tradition, was even honoured by them as a god. The verse quoted is an hexameter, written by the famous Epimenides, of Gnossus, in Crete. He flourished some 600 years B.C., and is said to have lived to the strange age of 150 years or more. He appears to have deserved the title of prophet in its fullest sense--Plato speaking of him as a "divine man," and Cicero coupling him with the Erythaean Sibyl. The first three words were well known, and even used by Callimachus in his hymn to Zeus, "Cretans always liars." St. Paul's knowledge of the poem where the verse occurs is one of the several instances which we meet with in his writings indicating his familiarity with profane literature. The quotation, occurring as it does in the midst of an inspired writing, was the occasion of Calvin's wise, brave words, which style those who decline to avail themselves of the learning and research of profane writers as superstitious. Nothing wise and learned, he says, should be rejected, even though it proceed "ab impiis."

The Cretians are alway liars.--This terrible estimate of the national Cretan character is amply borne out by the testimony of many profane writers, such as Callimachus, Plato, Polybius, Ovid, &c. The very word "to Cretize" (kretizein), or to play the part of a Cretan, was invented as a word synonymous with "to deceive," "to utter a lie;" just as corinthiazein. "to play the part of a Corinthian," signified to commit a still darker moral offence. Some writers suggest that this despicable vice of lying was received as a bequest from the early Ph?nician colonists.

Evil beasts.--These words refer to their wild, fierce nature, their ferocity, their love of cruelty.

Slow bellies.--Rather, idle bellies. These terms paint with sharp accuracy another of the evil characteristics of the Cretan peoples--their dull gluttony, their slothful sensuality. The words are used especially of those who, by indulging their bodily appetites, become corpulent and indolent.

Verse 12. - A prophet for even a prophet, A.V.; Cretan, s for the Cretinous, A.V.; idle gluttons for slow bellies, A.V. A prophet of their own; viz. Epimenides, a native either of Phaestus or of Cnossus in Crete, the original author of this line, which is also quoted by Callimachus. Epimenides is here called a prophet, not simply as a poet, but from his peculiar character as priest, bard, and seer; called by Plato θεῖος ἀνήρ, and coupled by Cicero with Bacis the B.C.eotian prophet, and the sibyl (Bishop Ellicott); described by other ancient writers as a prophet (Alford); "everything we hear of him is of a priestly or religious nature" ('Dict. of Gr. and Romans Biogr. and Mythol.'). Cretans are always liars, etc. So truly was this their characteristic, that κρητίζειν was used to denote" telling lies" - "to lie like a Cretan" (Plutarch, etc.). From their general bad character arose the line, Κρῆτες Καππάδοκοι, Κίλικες τρία κάππα κάκιστα; and Livy, Polybius, and Plutarch alike hear witness to their covetousness and dishonesty: Τις Κρητῶν οἴδε δικαιοσύνην; "When was there ever an upright Cretan?" asks Leonides in an ' Epigram' (Farrar, ' St. Paul,' vol. it. p. 534). Evil beasts. Θήριον is "a wild beast;" applied to men as a term of reproach (1 Corinthians 15:32), it implies brutality, stupidity, unreasonableness, and, with the epithet κακά, mischief, like the French mechante bete. The 'Epigram' above quoted calls them ληισταὶ καὶ ἁλιφθόροι, "pirates and wreckers." Idle gluttons; literally, idle bellies. The substantive denotes their gluttony and sensuality (comp. Romans 16:18; Philippians 3:19, where κοιλία is equivalent to γαστήρ), and the adjective their sloth (ἀργαί, i.e. ἀεργαί); in old Greek it is usually of the common gender.

Parallel Commentaries ...


Greek
[As] one
τις (tis)
Interrogative / Indefinite Pronoun - Nominative Masculine Singular
Strong's 5100: Any one, some one, a certain one or thing. An enclitic indefinite pronoun; some or any person or object.

of
ἐξ (ex)
Preposition
Strong's 1537: From out, out from among, from, suggesting from the interior outwards. A primary preposition denoting origin, from, out.

their
αὐτῶν (autōn)
Personal / Possessive Pronoun - Genitive Masculine 3rd Person Plural
Strong's 846: He, she, it, they, them, same. From the particle au; the reflexive pronoun self, used of the third person, and of the other persons.

own
ἴδιος (idios)
Adjective - Nominative Masculine Singular
Strong's 2398: Pertaining to self, i.e. One's own; by implication, private or separate.

prophets
προφήτης (prophētēs)
Noun - Nominative Masculine Singular
Strong's 4396: From a compound of pro and phemi; a foreteller; by analogy, an inspired speaker; by extension, a poet.

has said,
εἶπέν (eipen)
Verb - Aorist Indicative Active - 3rd Person Singular
Strong's 2036: Answer, bid, bring word, command. A primary verb; to speak or say.

“Cretans
Κρῆτες (Krētes)
Noun - Nominative Masculine Plural
Strong's 2912: A Cretan, an inhabitant of Crete. From Krete; a Cretan, i.e. Inhabitant of Crete.

[are] always
ἀεὶ (aei)
Adverb
Strong's 104: From an obsolete primary noun; 'ever, 'by qualification regularly; by implication, earnestly.

liars,
ψεῦσται (pseustai)
Noun - Nominative Masculine Plural
Strong's 5583: A liar, deceiver. From pseudomai; a falsifier.

evil
κακὰ (kaka)
Adjective - Nominative Neuter Plural
Strong's 2556: Bad, evil, in the widest sense. Apparently a primary word; worthless, i.e. depraved, or injurious.

beasts,
θηρία (thēria)
Noun - Nominative Neuter Plural
Strong's 2342: Properly: a wild beast, hence: any animal; met: a brute. Diminutive from the same as thera; a dangerous animal.

lazy
ἀργαί (argai)
Adjective - Nominative Feminine Plural
Strong's 692: Idle, lazy, thoughtless, unprofitable, injurious. (by implication) lazy, useless.

gluttons.”
γαστέρες (gasteres)
Noun - Nominative Feminine Plural
Strong's 1064: The stomach; by analogy, the matrix; figuratively, a gourmand.


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NT Letters: Titus 1:12 One of them a prophet of their (Ti. Tt.)
Titus 1:11
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