1 Timothy 5:3

Honour widows that are widows indeed.

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Word by word — the Greek

Word	Greek	Strong’s	Meaning
Honour	τίμα tima	G5091	to prize · verb — present active imperative, 2nd person singular
widows	χήρας chēras	G5503	a widow (as lacking a husband) · noun — accusative plural feminine
are	ὄντως ontōs	G3689	really · adverb
widows	χήρας. chēras	G5503	a widow (as lacking a husband) · noun — accusative plural feminine
indeed	ὄντως óntōs	G3689	really

Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).

Cross-references

Deuteronomy 27:19 Cursed be he that perverteth the judgment of the stranger, fatherless, and widow. And all the people shall say, Amen.
Deuteronomy 10:18 He doth execute the judgment of the fatherless and widow, and loveth the stranger, in giving him food and raiment.
Deuteronomy 14:29 And the Levite, (because he hath no part nor inheritance with thee,) and the stranger, and the fatherless, and the widow, which are within t…
Acts 6:1 And in those days, when the number of the disciples was multiplied, there arose a murmuring of the Grecians against the Hebrews, because the…
Exodus 20:12 Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee.
Deuteronomy 16:11 And thou shalt rejoice before the LORD thy God, thou, and thy son, and thy daughter, and thy manservant, and thy maidservant, and the Levite…
Deuteronomy 16:14 And thou shalt rejoice in thy feast, thou, and thy son, and thy daughter, and thy manservant, and thy maidservant, and the Levite, the stran…
Psalms 68:5 A father of the fatherless, and a judge of the widows, is God in his holy habitation.

Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).

Commentary

Matthew Henry on 1 Timothy 5:3-16

Directions are here given concerning the taking of widows into the number of those who were employed by the church and had maintenance from the church: Honour widows that are widows indeed. Honour them, that is, maintain them, admit them into office. There was in those times an office in the church in which widows were employed, and that was to tend the sick and the aged, to look to them by the direction of the deacons. We read of the care taken of widows immediately upon the first forming of the Christian church (Act 6:1), where the Grecians thought their widows were neglected in the daily ministration and provision made for poor widows. The general rule is to honour widows that are widows…

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Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on 1 Timothy 5:3

Honour--by setting on the church roll, as fit objects of charitable sustenance (Ti1 5:9, Ti1 5:17-18; Act 6:1). So "honor" is used for support with necessaries (Mat 15:4, Mat 15:6; Act 28:10). widows indeed-- (Ti1 5:16). Those really desolate; not like those (Ti1 5:4) having children or relations answerable for their support, nor like those (in Ti1 5:6) "who live in pleasure"; but such as, from their earthly desolation as to friends, are most likely to trust wholly in God, persevere in continual prayers, and carry out the religious duties assigned to Church widows (Ti1 5:5). Care for widows was transferred from the Jewish economy to the Christian (Deu 14:29; Deu 16:11; Deu 24:17, Deu 24:19…

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Adam Clarke on 1 Timothy 5:3

Honor widows that are widows indeed - One meaning of the word τιμαω, to honor, is to support, sustain, etc., Mat 15:4, Mat 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 Ti1 5:10.

John Gill

The Church Fathers

Those faithful widows who have no other support must have churchly assistance.
— Theodoret of Cyrus, INTERPRETATION OF THE FIRST LETTER TO TIMOTHY

Paul's intention is precisely not to give honor to women who have given only a promise of widowhood but rather to give honor to those who have clearly fulfilled the promise by their action.
— Theodore of Mopsuestia, COMMENTARY ON 1 TIMOTHY

Further, if we set down in order the higher and happier grades of bodily patience, (we find that)it is she who is entrusted by holiness with the care of continence of the flesh: she keeps the widow, and sets on the virgin the seal and raises the self-made eunuch to the realms of heaven.
— Tertullian, Of Patience

The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).

Dictionary and topics

Deaconess — Rom. 16:1, 3, 12; Phil. 4:2, 3; 1 Tim. 3:11; 5:9, 10; Titus 2:3, 4). In these passages it is evident that females were then engaged in various Christian ministrations. Pliny makes mention of them…
Widow — Under the Mosaic dispensation no legal provision was made for the maintenance of widows. They were left dependent partly on the affection of relations, more especially of the eldest son, whose…
Widows — To be treated with kindness (Ex. 22:22; Deut. 14:29; 16:11, 14; 24:17, 19-21; 26:12; 27:19, etc.). In the New Testament the same tender regard for them is inculcated (Acts 6:1-6; 1 Tim. 5:3-16) and…
Commandments · PRECEPTS OF PAUL. EXPLICITLY STATED OR IMPLIED IN DIDACTIC EPISTLES — PRECEPTS OF PAUL. EXPLICITLY STATED OR IMPLIED IN DIDACTIC EPISTLES
Widows · Should be: Honoured, if widows indeed — Should be: Honoured, if widows indeed

Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).

1 Timothy 5:3

Word by word — the Greek

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on 1 Timothy 5:3-16

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on 1 Timothy 5:3

Adam Clarke on 1 Timothy 5:3

John Gill

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

1 Timothy 5:3

Word by word — the Greek

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on 1 Timothy 5:3-16

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on 1 Timothy 5:3

Adam Clarke on 1 Timothy 5:3

John Gill

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

John Calvin on 1 Timothy 5:1-4

Tyndale Open Study Notes on 1 Timothy 5:3-16