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

1Rebuke not an elder, but exhort him as a father; and the younger men as brethren; 2The elder women as mothers; the younger as sisters, with all purity. Honour widows that are widows indeed. 4But if any widow hath children or nephews, let them learn first to show piety at home, and to repay their parents: for that is good and acceptable before God. 5Now she that is a widow indeed, and desolate, trusteth in God, and continueth in supplications and prayers night and day.

1 Timothy 5:3 word by word

χήρας τίμα τὰς ὄντως χήρας.Read the interlinear

• Honourτιμάωtimaō · to honorG5091
• widowsχήραchēra · widowG5503
• indeedὄντωςontōs · reallyG3689

Cross-references for 1 Timothy 5:3

• 1 Timothy 5:2The elder women as mothers; the younger as sisters, with all purity.
• Exodus 20:12Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee.
• Matthew 15:6And honour not his father or his mother, he shall be free . Thus have ye made the commandment of God of no effect by your tradition.
• 1 Thessalonians 2:6Nor from men sought we glory, neither from you, nor yet from others, when we might have been burdensome, as the apostles of Christ.
• 1 Peter 2:17Honour all men . Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honour the king.
• 1 Peter 3:7Likewise, ye husbands, dwell with them according to knowledge, giving honour to the wife, as to the weaker vessel, and as being heirs together of the grace of life; that your prayers be not hindered.
• 1 Timothy 5:9Let not a widow be taken into the number under sixty years old, having been the wife of one man,
• Deuteronomy 10:18He executeth the judgment of the fatherless and widow, and loveth the stranger, in giving him food and raiment.
• Deuteronomy 14:29And the Levite, (because he hath no part nor inheritance with thee,) and the stranger, and the fatherless, and the widow, who are within thy gates, shall come, and shall eat and be satisfied; that the LORD thy God may bless thee in all the work of thy hand which thou doest.
• Deuteronomy 16:11And thou shalt rejoice before the LORD thy God, thou, and thy son, and thy daughter, and thy male, and female servant, and the Levite that is within thy gates, and the stranger, and the fatherless, and the widow, that are among you, in the place which the LORD thy God hath chosen to place his name there.
• Deuteronomy 27:19Cursed be he that perverteth the judgment of the stranger, fatherless, and widow. And all the people shall say, Amen.
• Job 29:13The blessing of him that was ready to perish came upon me: and I caused the widow’s heart to sing for joy.
• Job 31:16If I have withheld the poor from their desire, or have caused the eyes of the widow to fail;
• Psalms 68:5A father of the fatherless, and a judge of the widows, is God in his holy habitation.
• Psalms 94:6They slay the widow and the stranger, and murder the fatherless.
• Psalms 146:9The LORD preserveth the strangers; he relieveth the fatherless and widow: but the way of the wicked he turneth 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