God’s Word Translation
1 Timothy 5:3
3Honor widows who have no families.
1 Timothy 5:3 in other versions
Context of 1 Timothy 5:3
1Never use harsh words when you correct an older man, but talk to him as if he were your father. Talk to younger men as if they were your brothers, 2older women as if they were your mothers, and younger women as if they were your sisters, while keeping yourself morally pure. Honor widows who have no families. 4The children or grandchildren of a widow must first learn to respect their own family by repaying their parents. This is pleasing in God’s sight. 5A widow who has no family has placed her confidence in God by praying and asking for his help night and day.
Read all of 1 Timothy 51 Timothy 5:3 word by word
χήρας τίμα τὰς ὄντως χήρας.Read the interlinear
Words taken from the KJV.
Cross-references for 1 Timothy 5:3
- 1 Timothy 5:2older women as if they were your mothers, and younger women as if they were your sisters, while keeping yourself morally pure.
- Exodus 20:12“Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live for a long time in the land the Lord your God is giving you.
- Matthew 15:6does not have to honor his father. Because of your traditions you have destroyed the authority of God’s word.
- 1 Thessalonians 2:6We didn’t seek praise from people, from you or from anyone else,
- 1 Peter 2:17Honor everyone. Love your brothers and sisters in the faith. Fear God. Honor the emperor.
- 1 Peter 3:7Husbands, in a similar way, live with your wives with understanding since they are weaker than you are. Honor your wives as those who share God’s life-giving kindness so that nothing will interfere with your prayers.
- 1 Timothy 5:9Any widow who had only one husband and is at least 60 years old should be put on your list ⌞of widows⌟.
- Deuteronomy 10:18He makes sure orphans and widows receive justice. He loves foreigners and gives them food and clothes.
- Deuteronomy 14:29Foreigners, orphans, and widows who live in your cities may come to eat all they want. The Levites may also come because they have no land of their own as you have. Then the Lord your God will bless you in whatever work you do.
- Deuteronomy 16:11Enjoy yourselves in the presence of the Lord your God along with your sons, daughters, male and female slaves, the Levites who live in your cities, the foreigners, orphans, and widows who live among you. Enjoy yourselves at the place the Lord your God will choose for his name to live.
- Deuteronomy 27:19“Whoever deprives foreigners, orphans, or widows of justice will be cursed.” Then all the people will say amen.
- Job 29:13I received a blessing from the dying. I made the widow’s heart sing for joy.
- Job 31:16“If I have refused the requests of the poor or made a widow’s eyes stop ⌞looking for help⌟,
- Psalms 68:5The God who is in his holy dwelling place is the father of the fatherless and the defender of widows.
- Psalms 94:6They kill widows and foreigners, and they murder orphans.
- Psalms 146:9The Lord protects foreigners. The Lord gives relief to orphans and widows. But he keeps wicked people from reaching their goal.
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
In the dictionaries
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
God’s Word Translation — © 1995 God’s Word to the Nations Bible Society
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