1 Timothy 5:3

Complete Jewish Bible

Show respect to widows who are really in need.

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
Support widows who are genuinely in need.

King James Version (1611)
Honour widowes that are widowes indeed.

King James Version
Honour widows that are widows indeed.

English Standard Version
Honor widows who are truly widows.

New American Standard Bible
Honor widows who are actually widows;

New Century Version
Take care of widows who are truly widows.

New American Standard Bible (1995)
Honor widows who are widows indeed;

Legacy Standard Bible
Honor widows who are widows indeed,

Berean Standard Bible
Honor the widows who are truly widows.

Contemporary English Version
Take care of any widow who is really in need.

Darby Translation
Honour widows who are really widows;

Easy-to-Read Version
Take care of widows who really need help.

Geneva Bible (1587)
Honour widowes, which are widowes in deede.

George Lamsa Translation
Honor widows who are widows indeed.

Good News Translation
Show respect for widows who really are all alone.

Lexham English Bible
Honor widows who are truly widows.

Literal Translation
Honor widows, the ones being true widows.

Amplified Bible
Honor and help those widows who are truly widowed [alone, and without support].

American Standard Version
Honor widows that are widows indeed.

Bible in Basic English
Give honour to widows who are truly widows.

Hebrew Names Version
Honor widows who are widows indeed.

International Standard Version
Honor widows who are really widows.[fn]1 Timothy 5:5,16;">[xr]

Etheridge Translation
The widows honour them who are widows in truth.

Murdock Translation
Honor widows, who are truly widows.

Bishop's Bible (1568)
Honour wydowes, whiche are wydowes in deede.

English Revised Version
Honour widows that are widows indeed.

World English Bible
Honor widows who are widows indeed.

Wesley's New Testament (1755)
Honour widows that are widows indeed. But if any widow have children or grand children, let these learn first to shew piety at home,

Weymouth's New Testament
Honour widows who are really in need.

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
Honoure thou widewis, that ben very widewis.

Update Bible Version
Honor widows that are widows indeed.

Webster's Bible Translation
Honor widows that are widows indeed.

New English Translation
Honor widows who are truly in need.

New King James Version
Honor widows who are really widows.

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

New Life Bible
Help women whose husbands have died.

New Revised Standard
Honor widows who are really widows.

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
Widows, honour thou - who indeed are widows: -

Douay-Rheims Bible
Honour widows that are widows indeed.

Revised Standard Version
Honor widows who are real widows.

Tyndale New Testament (1525)
Honoure widdowes which are true wyddowes.

Young's Literal Translation
honour widows who are really widows;

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
Honor wedowes, which are true wedowes.

Mace New Testament (1729)
show regard to widows that are really such.

THE MESSAGE
Take care of widows who are destitute. If a widow has family members to take care of her, let them learn that religion begins at their own doorstep and that they should pay back with gratitude some of what they have received. This pleases God immensely. You can tell a legitimate widow by the way she has put all her hope in God, praying to him constantly for the needs of others as well as her own. But a widow who exploits people's emotions and pocketbooks—well, there's nothing to her. Tell these things to the people so that they will do the right thing in their extended family. Anyone who neglects to care for family members in need repudiates the faith. That's worse than refusing to believe in the first place.

Simplified Cowboy Version
If a widow needs a hand, be the first to offer it.

Contextual Overview

³ Show respect to widows who are really in need. ⁴ But if a widow has children or grandchildren, first let them learn to do their religious duty to their own family and thus repay some of the debt they owe their forebears, for this is what is acceptable in the sight of God. ⁵ Now the widow who is really in need, the one who has been left all alone, has set her hope on God and continues in petitions and prayers night and day. ⁶ But the one who is self-indulgent is already dead, even though she lives. ⁷ And instruct them about this, so that they will not be open to blame. ⁸ Moreover, anyone who does not provide for his own people, especially for his family, has disowned the faith and is worse than an unbeliever. ⁹ Let a widow be enrolled on the list of widows only if she is more than sixty years old, was faithful to her husband, ¹⁰ and is known for her good deeds — as one who has reared her children well, showed hospitality, washed the feet of God's people, helped those in trouble, and engaged in all kinds of good work. ¹¹ But refuse to enroll younger widows, for when they begin to feel natural passions that alienate them from the Messiah, they want to get married. ¹² This brings them under condemnation for having set aside the trust they had at first.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

Honour: 1 Timothy 5:2, 1 Timothy 5:17, Exodus 20:12, Matthew 15:6, 1 Thessalonians 2:6, 1 Peter 2:17, 1 Peter 3:7

widows: 1 Timothy 5:9, Deuteronomy 10:18, Deuteronomy 14:29, Deuteronomy 16:11, Deuteronomy 16:14, Deuteronomy 27:19, Job 29:13, Job 31:16, Psalms 68:5, Psalms 94:6, Psalms 146:9, Jeremiah 49:11, Matthew 23:14, Luke 7:12, Acts 6:1, Acts 9:39, James 1:27

indeed: 1 Timothy 5:4, 1 Timothy 5:5, 1 Timothy 5:9-11, 1 Timothy 5:16, Luke 2:37, John 1:47

Reciprocal: John 8:31 - my disciples Acts 28:10 - honoured

Cross-References

Genesis 4:25
Adam again had sexual relations with his wife, and she gave birth to a son whom she named Shet [granted], "For God has granted me another seed in place of Hevel, since Kayin killed him."

Genesis 5:2
he created them male and female; he blessed them and called them Adam [humankind, man] on the day they were created.

Genesis 5:3
After Adam lived 130 years he fathered a son like himself and named him Shet.

Genesis 5:14
In all, Kenan lived 910 years; then he died.

Genesis 5:16
After Yered was born, Mahalal'el lived another 830 years and had sons and daughters.

Job 14:4
Who can bring what is pure from something impure? No one!

Job 25:4
How then can humans be righteous with God? How can those born of women be clean?

Psalms 51:5
For I know my crimes, my sin confronts me all the time.

Luke 1:35
The angel answered her, "The Ruach HaKodesh will come over you, the power of Ha‘Elyon will cover you. Therefore the holy child born to you will be called the Son of God.

John 3:6
What is born from the flesh is flesh, and what is born from the Spirit is spirit.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Honour widows that are widows indeed. Who those are, see in 1 Timothy 1:5. The honour to be given them is not a putting of them into the office of a deaconess, in the church; which office, some think, is referred to in Acts 6:1, and did obtain in some of the primitive churches; and it might be that some of these widows, the apostle here and hereafter speaks of, might be preferred to the rest, and be set over them, and have the care of such, who were more infirm; but then this could only be the case of some, whereas the honour here spoken of is what is to be given to all that are really widows; and therefore rather regards some external honour and respect to be shown them, by words and actions; and especially it designs an honourable provision for them, and maintenance of them; in which sense the word is used in 1 Timothy 5:17. So, with the Jews, giving gifts to persons, and making presents to them, is called honour. When Manoah asked the angel's name, that he might do him honour, when his saying came to pass, Judges 13:17 the sense, according to them, is q,

"that I may inquire in what place I may find thee, when thy prophecy is fulfilled, and give thee דורון, "a gift"; for there is no honour but what signifies a gift, as it is said, Numbers 22:17, "honouring I will honour thee".''

So giving gifts to the poor, or providing for their maintenance, is doing them honour; and that this is the sense here, appears by what follows in the context.

q Bemidbar Rabba, sect. 10. fol. 199. 4.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Honour 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 than it is now, and that consequently there might have been a special propriety in entrusting the duty of watching over the younger among them to the more aged. This duty would be naturally entrusted to those who had not the care of families. It would also be natural to commit it, if they were qualified, to those who had not the means of support, and who, while they were maintained by the church, might be rendering a valuable service to it. It would seem, therefore, that there was a class of this description, who were entrusted with these duties, and in regard to whose qualifications it was proper that Timothy should be instructed. The change of customs in society has made this class less necessary, and probably the arrangement was never designed to be permanent, but still it may be a question whether such an arrangement would not now be wise and useful in the church. On this subject, see the notes on Romans 16:1.

That are widows indeed - Who are truly widows. We associate with the word “widow,” commonly, not only the idea of the loss of a husband, but many other things that are the usual accompaniments of widowhood - a poor and dependent condition; care and solicitude; sadness and sorrow. This idea is implied in the use of the word employed here - χήρα chēra - which means properly one who is “bereaved,” (from the adjective χήρος chēros, “bereaved”), and which, as Calvin says, conveys the idea of one in distressed circumstances. What Paul regarded as constituting true widowhood, he specifies in 1 Timothy 5:4-5, 1 Timothy 5:9-10. He connects with it the idea that she had no persons dependent on her; that she was desolate, and evinced true trust in God; that she was so aged that she would not marry again; and that by her life she had given evidence of possessing a heart of true benevolence; 1 Timothy 5:10.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse 1 Timothy 5:3. Honour widows that are widows indeed. — One meaning of the word τιμαω, to honour, is to support, sustain, c., Matthew 15:4-5; 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.