1 Timothy 5:11
New International Version
As for younger widows, do not put them on such a list. For when their sensual desires overcome their dedication to Christ, they want to marry.

New Living Translation
The younger widows should not be on the list, because their physical desires will overpower their devotion to Christ and they will want to remarry.

English Standard Version
But refuse to enroll younger widows, for when their passions draw them away from Christ, they desire to marry

Berean Standard Bible
But refuse to enroll younger widows. For when their passions draw them away from Christ, they will want to marry,

Berean Literal Bible
But refuse younger widows; for when they might grow wanton against Christ, they desire to marry,

King James Bible
But the younger widows refuse: for when they have begun to wax wanton against Christ, they will marry;

New King James Version
But refuse the younger widows; for when they have begun to grow wanton against Christ, they desire to marry,

New American Standard Bible
But refuse to register younger widows, for when they feel physical desires alienating them from Christ, they want to get married,

NASB 1995
But refuse to put younger widows on the list, for when they feel sensual desires in disregard of Christ, they want to get married,

NASB 1977
But refuse to put younger widows on the list, for when they feel sensual desires in disregard of Christ, they want to get married,

Legacy Standard Bible
But refuse to put younger widows on the list, for when they feel sensual desires in disregard of Christ, they want to get married,

Amplified Bible
But refuse [to enroll the] younger widows, for when they feel their natural desires in disregard of Christ, they wish to marry again,

Christian Standard Bible
But refuse to enroll younger widows, for when they are drawn away from Christ by desire, they want to marry

Holman Christian Standard Bible
But refuse to enroll younger widows, for when they are drawn away from Christ by desire, they want to marry

American Standard Version
But younger widows refuse: for when they have waxed wanton against Christ, they desire to marry;

Aramaic Bible in Plain English
But avoid those widows who are younger, for these separate from The Messiah and seek to have a husband;

Contemporary English Version
Don't put young widows on the list. They may later have a strong desire to get married. Then they will turn away from Christ

Douay-Rheims Bible
But the younger widows avoid. For when they have grown wanton in Christ, they will marry:

English Revised Version
But younger widows refuse: for when they have waxed wanton against Christ, they desire to marry;

GOD'S WORD® Translation
Don't include younger widows [on your list]. Whenever their natural desires become stronger than their devotion to Christ, they'll want to marry.

Good News Translation
But do not include younger widows in the list; because when their desires make them want to marry, they turn away from Christ,

International Standard Version
But do not include younger widows on your list. For whenever their natural desires cause them to lose their devotion to the Messiah, they want to remarry.

Literal Standard Version
and be refusing younger widows, for when they may revel against the Christ, they wish to marry,

Majority Standard Bible
But refuse to enroll younger widows. For when their passions draw them away from Christ, they will want to marry,

New American Bible
But exclude younger widows, for when their sensuality estranges them from Christ, they want to marry

NET Bible
But do not accept younger widows on the list, because their passions may lead them away from Christ and they will desire to marry,

New Revised Standard Version
But refuse to put younger widows on the list; for when their sensual desires alienate them from Christ, they want to marry,

New Heart English Bible
But refuse younger widows, for whenever their passions lead them away from Christ, they desire to marry;

Webster's Bible Translation
But the younger widows refuse: for when they have begun to grow wanton against Christ, they will marry;

Weymouth New Testament
But the younger widows you must not enrol; for as soon as they begin to chafe against the yoke of Christ, they want to marry,

World English Bible
But refuse younger widows, for when they have grown wanton against Christ, they desire to marry,

Young's Literal Translation
and younger widows be refusing, for when they may revel against the Christ, they wish to marry,

Additional Translations ...
Audio Bible



Context
Support for Widows
10and well known for good deeds such as bringing up children, entertaining strangers, washing the feet of the saints, imparting relief to the afflicted, and devoting herself to every good work. 11But refuse to enroll younger widows. For when their passions draw them away from Christ, they will want to marry, 12and thus will incur judgment because they are setting aside their first faith.…

Cross References
1 Timothy 5:12
and thus will incur judgment because they are setting aside their first faith.

Revelation 18:3
All the nations have drunk the wine of the passion of her immorality. The kings of the earth were immoral with her, and the merchants of the earth have grown wealthy from the extravagance of her luxury."

Revelation 18:7
As much as she has glorified herself and lived in luxury, give her the same measure of torment and grief. In her heart she says, 'I sit as queen; I am not a widow and will never see grief.'

Revelation 18:9
Then the kings of the earth who committed sexual immorality and lived in luxury with her will weep and wail at the sight of the smoke rising from the fire that consumes her.


Treasury of Scripture

But the younger widows refuse: for when they have begun to wax wanton against Christ, they will marry;

the younger.

1 Timothy 5:9,14
Let not a widow be taken into the number under threescore years old, having been the wife of one man, …

to wax.

Deuteronomy 32:15
But Jeshurun waxed fat, and kicked: thou art waxen fat, thou art grown thick, thou art covered with fatness; then he forsook God which made him, and lightly esteemed the Rock of his salvation.

Isaiah 3:16
Moreover the LORD saith, Because the daughters of Zion are haughty, and walk with stretched forth necks and wanton eyes, walking and mincing as they go, and making a tinkling with their feet:

Hosea 13:6
According to their pasture, so were they filled; they were filled, and their heart was exalted; therefore have they forgotten me.

they will.

1 Timothy 5:14
I will therefore that the younger women marry, bear children, guide the house, give none occasion to the adversary to speak reproachfully.

1 Timothy 4:3
Forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats, which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth.

1 Corinthians 7:39,40
The wife is bound by the law as long as her husband liveth; but if her husband be dead, she is at liberty to be married to whom she will; only in the Lord…

Jump to Previous
Begin Begun Christ Desire Desires Disregard Enrol Feel Grow Grown List Married Marry Overcome Refuse Refusing Revel Sensual Soon Turned Want Wanton Wax Waxed Widows Wish Yoke Younger
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Begin Begun Christ Desire Desires Disregard Enrol Feel Grow Grown List Married Marry Overcome Refuse Refusing Revel Sensual Soon Turned Want Wanton Wax Waxed Widows Wish Yoke Younger
1 Timothy 5
1. Rules to be observed in reproving.
3. Of widows.
17. Of elders.
23. A precept for Timothy's health.
24. Some men's sins go before unto judgment, and some men's follow after.














(11) But the younger widows refuse.--The younger women--younger used in a general sense--must positively be excluded from, and held ineligible for, this presbyteral order.

This direction by no means shuts them out from participation in the alms of the Church, if they were in need and destitute; but it wisely excluded the younger women from a position and from duties which they might in their first days of grief and desolation covet, but of which, as time passed on--as experience had shown St. Paul--they not unfrequently wearied. Those who had put their hands to the plough and afterwards looked back, he proceeds to tell us, would be a hindrance to the Church's work, and in some cases might prove a subject of scandal and reproach.

For when they have begun to wax wanton against Christ.--The Apostle was looking on to the time when, the first fervour excited by grief and sorrow being past, these younger sisters in many instances would begin again to long after their old pursuits and pleasures. The Greek word rendered "wax wanton" suggests especially the idea of restiveness. They will lose--to use Jerome's well-known expression--their love for their own proper Bridegroom--Christ.

They will marry.--The sight of domestic happiness enjoyed by other women will affect them. They, too, will long in their poor hearts for home joys; they will weary for the prattle of their own little children.

How much untold misery would have been avoided--how many wasted lives would have been saved for good and useful service, had Churchmen in later times only obeyed the words and carried out the thoughts of Paul, and persistently refused, as did St. Paul and Timothy, to receive the proffered services of women still too young in years for such devoted work, but who, through a temporary pressure of sorrow, dreamed for a moment they would be able to carry out their purpose of a life-long renunciation of the world, its excitement and its joys.

St. Paul, writing under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, saw how too often such renunciation, made under peculiar pressure of circumstances, undertaken with the hot fervour of youth, in later days would become weary and distasteful.

Verse 11. - Younger for the younger, A.V.; waxed for began to wax, A.V.; desire to for will, A.V. Refuse. Note the wisdom of Paul, who will not have the young widows admitted into the roll of Church widows, lest, after the first grief for the loss of their husbands has subsided, they should change their minds, and wish to return to the world and its pleasures, and so incur the guilt of drawing back their hands from the plough. Would that the Church had always imitated this wisdom and this consideration for the young, whether young priests or young monks and nuns! Waxed wanton against (καταστρηνιάσωσι). This word only occurs here, but the simple στρηνιάω is found in Revelation 18:7, 9, and is used by the Greek poets of the new comedy in the sense of τρυφᾶν, to be luxurious (Schleusner, 'Lex.'). Trench ('Synonyms of New Testament'), comparing this word with τρυφᾶν and σπαταλᾶν, ascribes to it the sense of "petulance" from fullness, like the state of Jeshurun, who waxed fat and kicked (Deuteronomy 32:15); and so Liddell and Scott give the sense of "to be over-strong." The sense, therefore, is that these young widows, in the wantonness and unsubdued worldliness of their hearts, reject the yoke of Christ, and kick against the widow's life of prayer and supplication day and night. And so they return to the world and its pleasures, which they had renounced.

Parallel Commentaries ...


Greek
But
δὲ (de)
Conjunction
Strong's 1161: A primary particle; but, and, etc.

refuse [to enroll]
παραιτοῦ (paraitou)
Verb - Present Imperative Middle or Passive - 2nd Person Singular
Strong's 3868: From para and the middle voice of aiteo; to beg off, i.e. Deprecate, decline, shun.

younger
Νεωτέρας (Neōteras)
Adjective - Accusative Feminine Plural - Comparative
Strong's 3501: (a) young, youthful, (b) new, fresh.

widows.
χήρας (chēras)
Noun - Accusative Feminine Plural
Strong's 5503: Feminine of a presumed derivative apparently from the base of chasma through the idea of deficiency; a widow, literally or figuratively.

For
γὰρ (gar)
Conjunction
Strong's 1063: For. A primary particle; properly, assigning a reason.

when
ὅταν (hotan)
Conjunction
Strong's 3752: When, whenever. From hote and an; whenever; also causatively inasmuch as.

their passions draw them away
καταστρηνιάσωσιν (katastrēniasōsin)
Verb - Aorist Subjunctive Active - 3rd Person Plural
Strong's 2691: To grow wanton towards. From kata and streniao; to become voluptuous against.

from Christ,
Χριστοῦ (Christou)
Noun - Genitive Masculine Singular
Strong's 5547: Anointed One; the Messiah, the Christ. From chrio; Anointed One, i.e. The Messiah, an epithet of Jesus.

they will want
θέλουσιν (thelousin)
Verb - Present Indicative Active - 3rd Person Plural
Strong's 2309: To will, wish, desire, be willing, intend, design.

to marry,
γαμεῖν (gamein)
Verb - Present Infinitive Active
Strong's 1060: To marry, used of either sex. From gamos; to wed.


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NT Letters: 1 Timothy 5:11 But refuse younger widows for when they (1 Tim. 1Ti iTi 1tim i Tm)
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