New Living Translation
1 Timothy 5:3
3Take care of any widow who has no one else to care for her.
1 Timothy 5:3 in other versions
Context of 1 Timothy 5:3
1Never speak harshly to an older man, but appeal to him respectfully as you would to your own father. Talk to younger men as you would to your own brothers. 2Treat older women as you would your mother, and treat younger women with all purity as you would your own sisters. Take care of any widow who has no one else to care for her. 4But if she has children or grandchildren, their first responsibility is to show godliness at home and repay their parents by taking care of them. This is something that pleases God. 5Now a true widow, a woman who is truly alone in this world, has placed her hope in God. She prays night and day, asking God for his help.
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 5:2Treat older women as you would your mother, and treat younger women with all purity as you would your own sisters.
- Exodus 20:12“Honor your father and mother. Then you will live a long, full life in the land the Lord your God is giving you.
- Matthew 15:6In this way, you say they don’t need to honor their parents. And so you cancel the word of God for the sake of your own tradition.
- 1 Thessalonians 2:6As for human praise, we have never sought it from you or anyone else.
- 1 Peter 2:17Respect everyone, and love the family of believers. Fear God, and respect the king.
- 1 Peter 3:7In the same way, you husbands must give honor to your wives. Treat your wife with understanding as you live together. She may be weaker than you are, but she is your equal partner in God’s gift of new life. Treat her as you should so your prayers will not be hindered.
- 1 Timothy 5:9A widow who is put on the list for support must be a woman who is at least sixty years old and was faithful to her husband.
- Deuteronomy 10:18He ensures that orphans and widows receive justice. He shows love to the foreigners living among you and gives them food and clothing.
- Deuteronomy 14:29Give it to the Levites, who will receive no allotment of land among you, as well as to the foreigners living among you, the orphans, and the widows in your towns, so they can eat and be satisfied. Then the Lord your God will bless you in all your work.
- Deuteronomy 16:11This is a time to celebrate before the Lord your God at the designated place of worship he will choose for his name to be honored. Celebrate with your sons and daughters, your male and female servants, the Levites from your towns, and the foreigners, orphans, and widows who live among you.
- Deuteronomy 27:19‘Cursed is anyone who denies justice to foreigners, orphans, or widows.’ And all the people will reply, ‘Amen.’
- Job 29:13I helped those without hope, and they blessed me. And I caused the widows’ hearts to sing for joy.
- Job 31:16“Have I refused to help the poor, or crushed the hopes of widows?
- Psalms 68:5Father to the fatherless, defender of widows— this is God, whose dwelling is holy.
- Psalms 94:6They kill widows and foreigners and murder orphans.
- Psalms 146:9The Lord protects the foreigners among us. He cares for the orphans and widows, but he frustrates the plans of 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
New Living Translation — © 1996, 2004, 2015 Tyndale House Foundation
Commentaries