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 Living Translation (NLT)Take care of any widow who has no one else to care for her.

Context of 1 Timothy 5:3

1Do not rebuke an older man, but exhort him as a father, younger men as brothers, 2older women as mothers, younger women as sisters, with all purity. Honor widows who are really widows. 4But if any widow has children or grandchildren, let them first learn to show piety at home and to repay their parents; for this is good and acceptable before God. 5Now she who is really a widow, and left alone, trusts in God and continues in supplications and prayers night and day.

1 Timothy 5:3 word by word

χήρας τίμα τὰς ὄντως χήρας.Read the interlinear

Words taken from the KJV.

• ·ὁho hē to · the/this/whoG3588
• Honourτιμάωtimaō · to honorG5091
• widowsχήραchēra · widowG5503
• that areὄντωςontōs · reallyG3689

Cross-references for 1 Timothy 5:3

• 1 Timothy 5:2older women as mothers, younger women as sisters, with all purity.
• Exodus 20:12“Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long upon the land which the Lord your God is giving you.
• Matthew 15:6then he need not honor his father or mother.’ Thus you have made the commandment of God of no effect by your tradition.
• 1 Thessalonians 2:6Nor did we seek glory from men, either from you or from others, when we might have made demands as apostles of Christ.
• 1 Peter 2:17Honor all people. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the king.
• 1 Peter 3:7Husbands, likewise, dwell with them with understanding, giving honor to the wife, as to the weaker vessel, and as being heirs together of the grace of life, that your prayers may not be hindered.
• 1 Timothy 5:9Do not let a widow under sixty years old be taken into the number, and not unless she has been the wife of one man,
• Deuteronomy 10:18He administers justice for the fatherless and the widow, and loves the stranger, giving him food and clothing.
• Deuteronomy 14:29And the Levite, because he has no portion nor inheritance with you, and the stranger and the fatherless and the widow who are within your gates, may come and eat and be satisfied, that the Lord your God may bless you in all the work of your hand which you do.
• Deuteronomy 16:11You shall rejoice before the Lord your God, you and your son and your daughter, your male servant and your female servant, the Levite who is within your gates, the stranger and the fatherless and the widow who are among you, at the place where the Lord your God chooses to make His name abide.
• Deuteronomy 27:19‘Cursed is the one who perverts the justice due the stranger, the fatherless, and widow.’ “And all the people shall say, ‘Amen!’
• Job 29:13The blessing of a perishing man came upon me, And I caused the widow’s heart to sing for joy.
• Job 31:16“If I have kept the poor from their desire, Or caused the eyes of the widow to fail,
• Psalms 68:5A father of the fatherless, a defender of widows, Is God in His holy habitation.
• Psalms 94:6They slay the widow and the stranger, And murder the fatherless.
• Psalms 146:9The Lord watches over the strangers; He relieves the fatherless and widow; But the way of the wicked He turns upside down.

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