New English Translation
1 Timothy 5:3
3Honor widows who are truly in need.
1 Timothy 5:3 in other versions
Context of 1 Timothy 5:3
1Do not address an older man harshly but appeal to him as a father. Speak to younger men as brothers, 2older women as mothers, and younger women as sisters – with complete purity. Honor widows who are truly in need. 4But if a widow has children or grandchildren, they should first learn to fulfill their duty toward their own household and so repay their parents what is owed them. For this is what pleases God. 5But the widow who is truly in need, and completely on her own, has set her hope on God and continues in her pleas and prayers 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 mothers, and younger women as sisters – with complete purity.
- Exodus 20:12“Honor your father and your mother, that you may live a long time in the land the Lord your God is giving to you.
- Matthew 15:6he does not need to honor his father.’ You have nullified the word of God on account of your tradition.
- 1 Thessalonians 2:6nor to seek glory from people, either from you or from others,
- 1 Peter 2:17Honor all people, love the family of believers, fear God, honor the king.
- 1 Peter 3:7Husbands, in the same way, treat your wives with consideration as the weaker partners and show them honor as fellow heirs of the grace of life. In this way nothing will hinder your prayers.
- 1 Timothy 5:9No widow should be put on the list unless she is at least sixty years old, was the wife of one husband,
- Deuteronomy 10:18who justly treats the orphan and widow, and who loves resident foreigners, giving them food and clothing.
- Deuteronomy 14:29Then the Levites (because they have no allotment or inheritance with you), the resident foreigners, the orphans, and the widows of your villages may come and eat their fill so that the Lord your God may bless you in all the work you do.
- Deuteronomy 16:11You shall rejoice before him – you, your son, your daughter, your male and female slaves, the Levites in your villages, the resident foreigners, the orphans, and the widows among you – in the place where the Lord chooses to locate his name.
- Deuteronomy 27:19‘Cursed is the one who perverts justice for the resident foreigner, the orphan, and the widow.’ Then all the people will say, ‘Amen!’
- Job 29:13the blessing of the dying man descended on me, and I made the widow’s heart rejoice;
- Job 31:16If I have refused to give the poor what they desired, or caused the eyes of the widow to fail,
- Psalms 68:5He is a father to the fatherless and an advocate for widows. God rules from his holy palace.
- Psalms 94:6They kill the widow and the one residing outside his native land, and they murder the fatherless.
- Psalms 146:9The Lord protects those residing outside their native land; he lifts up the fatherless and the widow, but he opposes the wicked.
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
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