1 Timothy 5:3

1 Timothy 5:3 in other versions

• King James Version (KJV)Honour widows that are widows indeed.
• New International Version (NIV)Give proper recognition to those widows who are really in need.
• English Standard Version (ESV)Honor widows who are truly widows.
• New King James Version (NKJV)Honor widows who are really widows.

Context of 1 Timothy 5:3

1Do not rebuke an older man, but appeal to him as to a father. Treat younger men as brothers, 2older women as mothers, and younger women as sisters, with absolute purity. Honor the widows who are truly widows. 4But if a widow has children or grandchildren, they must first learn to show godliness to their own family and repay their parents, for this is pleasing in the sight of God. 5The widow who is truly in need and left all alone puts her hope in God and continues night and day in her petitions and prayers.

1 Timothy 5:3 word by word

χήρας τίμα τὰς ὄντως χήρας.Read the interlinear

• Honorτιμάωtimaō · to honorG5091
• widowsχήραchēra · widowG5503
• whoὁho hē to · the/this/whoG3588
• trulyὄντωςontōs · reallyG3689

Cross-references for 1 Timothy 5:3

• 1 Timothy 5:2older women as mothers, and younger women as sisters, with absolute purity.
• Exodus 20:12Honor your father and mother, so that your days may be long in the land that the LORD your God is giving you.
• Matthew 15:6he need not honor his father or mother with it. Thus you nullify the word of God for the sake of your tradition.
• 1 Thessalonians 2:6Nor did we seek praise from you or from anyone else, although as apostles of Christ we had authority to demand it.
• 1 Peter 2:17Treat everyone with high regard: Love the brotherhood of believers, fear God, honor the king.
• 1 Peter 3:7Husbands, in the same way, treat your wives with consideration as a delicate vessel, and with honor as fellow heirs of the gracious gift of life, so that your prayers will not be hindered.
• 1 Timothy 5:9A widow should be enrolled if she is at least sixty years old, faithful to her husband,
• Deuteronomy 10:18He executes justice for the fatherless and widow, and He loves the foreigner, giving him food and clothing.
• Deuteronomy 14:29Then the Levite (because he has no portion or inheritance among you), the foreigner, the fatherless, and the widow within your gates may come and eat and be satisfied. And the LORD your God will bless you in all the work of your hands.
• Deuteronomy 16:11and you shall rejoice before the LORD your God in the place He will choose as a dwelling for His Name—you, your sons and daughters, your menservants and maidservants, and the Levite within your gates, as well as the foreigner, the fatherless, and the widows among you.
• Deuteronomy 27:19‘Cursed is he who withholds justice from the foreigner, the fatherless, or the widow.’ And let all the people say, ‘Amen!’
• Job 29:13The dying man blessed me, and I made the widow’s heart sing for joy.
• Job 31:16If I have denied the desires of the poor or allowed the widow’s eyes to fail,
• Psalms 68:5A father of the fatherless and a defender of widows is God in His holy habitation.
• Psalms 94:6They kill the widow and the foreigner; they murder the fatherless.
• Psalms 146:9The LORD protects foreigners; He sustains the fatherless and the widow, but the ways of the wicked He frustrates.

Commentaries on 1 Timothy 5:3

• Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 3Honor widows that are widows indeed - One meaning of the word , to honor, is to support, sustain, etc., Matthew 15:4, Matthew 15:5; and here it is most obviously to be taken in this sense. Provide for those widows especially which are widows indeed - persons truly destitute, being aged and helpless, and having neither children nor friends to take care of them, and who behave as becometh their destitute state. But see the note on 1 Timothy 5:10.Read the comment
• Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 3Honour widows - The particular attention and respect which are enjoined here, seem to refer to the class of widows who were supported by the church, and who were entrusted with the performance of certain duties toward the other female members, see 1 Timothy 5:9. It is to be remembered that the contact of the sexes was much more circumscribed in Oriental countries than it is among us; that access to the female members of the church would be much less free…Read the comment
• Matthew Henry Concise Commentary · v. 3-8Verses 3-8 Honour widows that are widows indeed, relieve them, and maintain them. It is the duty of children, if their parents are in need, and they are able to relieve them, to do it to the utmost of their power. Widowhood is a desolate state; but let widows trust in the Lord, and continue in prayer. All who live in pleasure, are dead while they live, spiritually dead, dead in trespasses and sins. Alas, what numbers there are of this description among…Read the comment
• Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 3-16A widow without wealth or family was alone in a world that did not support her. The Christian community was expected to care for such widows among its members (see Deuteronomy 10:17–19; Isaiah 1:17; compare Acts 6:1–6; James 1:27). Some suggest this passage implies a religious order of widows in the first-century AD church at Ephesus. However, there is no obvious evidence of such an order, only of a ministry to help community members without financial…Read the comment
• Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 33. Honour--by setting on the church roll, as fit objects of charitable sustenance (1Ti 5:9, 17, 18; Ac 6:1). So "honor" is used for support with necessaries (Mt 15:4, 6; Ac 28:10). widows indeed--(1Ti 5:16). Those really desolate; not like those (1Ti 5:4) having children or relations answerable for their support, nor like those (in 1Ti 5:6) "who live in pleasure"; but such as, from their earthly desolation as to friends, are most likely to trust wholly in…Read the comment

Topics related to 1 Timothy 5:3

• Commandments
• Minister, Christian
• Widow
• Women

In the dictionaries

• Beforehand
• Deny
• Guide
• Marry
• Reproachfully
• Requite
• Reward
• Widows
• Widow
• Deaconess

Commentaries on 1 Timothy 5

• Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
• Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
• Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
• Tyndale Open Study Notes
• Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary
• Calvin’s Commentaries
• John Wesley’s Notes
• Illustrated New Testament
• Burkitt’s Expository Notes
• Darby Translation Notes
• Family Bible Notes
• Geneva Bible Translation Notes
• Kingcomments
• Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
• Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
• The People’s New Testament
• Robertson’s Word Pictures
• Scofield Reference Notes, 1917 Edition
• Original Douay–Rheims Annotations
• Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
• EGW Writings