1 Timothy 5:9 No widow may be put on the list of widows unless she is over sixty, has been faithful to her husband,

◄ 1 Timothy 5:9 ►

Parallel Verses

New International Version
No widow may be put on the list of widows unless she is over sixty, has been faithful to her husband,

English Standard Version
Let a widow be enrolled if she is not less than sixty years of age, having been the wife of one husband,

New American Standard Bible
A widow is to be put on the list only if she is not less than sixty years old, having been the wife of one man,

King James Bible
Let not a widow be taken into the number under threescore years old, having been the wife of one man,

Holman Christian Standard Bible
No widow should be placed on the official support list unless she is at least 60 years old, has been the wife of one husband,

International Standard Version
A widow may be put on the widows' list if she is at least sixty years old and has been the wife of one husband.

American Standard Version
Let none be enrolled as a widow under threescore years old, having been the wife of one man,

Douay-Rheims Bible
Let a widow be chosen of no less than threescore years of age, who hath been the wife of one husband.

Darby Bible Translation
Let a widow be put upon the list, being of not less than sixty years, having been wife of one man,

Young's Literal Translation
A widow -- let her not be enrolled under sixty years of age, having been a wife of one husband,

Commentaries

Matthew Henry's Commentary

5:9-16 Every one brought into any office in the church, should be free from just censure; and many are proper objects of charity, yet ought not to be employed in public services. Those who would find mercy when they are in distress, must show mercy when they are in prosperity; and those who show most readiness for every good work, are most likely to be faithful in whatever is trusted to them. Those who are idle, very seldom are only idle, they make mischief among neighbours, and sow discord among brethren. All believers are required to relieve those belonging to their families who are destitute, that the church may not be prevented from relieving such as are entirely destitute and friendless.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown

9. Translate, "As a widow (that is, of the ecclesiastical order of widowhood; a kind of female presbytery), let none be enrolled (in the catalogue) who is less than sixty years old." These were not deaconesses, who were chosen at a younger age (forty was the age fixed at the Council of Chalcedon), and who had virgins (in a later age called widows) as well as widows among them, but a band of widows set apart, though not yet formally and finally, to the service of God and the Church. Traces of such a class appear in Ac 9:41. Dorcas herself was such a one. As it was expedient (see on [2478]1Ti 3:2; Tit 1:6) that the presbyter or bishop should have been but once married, so also in her case. There is a transition here to a new subject. The reference here cannot be, as in 1Ti 5:3, to providing Church sustenance for them. For the restriction to widows above sixty would then be needless and harsh, since many widows might be in need of help at a much earlier age; as also the rule that the widow must not have been twice married, especially since he himself, below (1Ti 5:14) enjoins the younger widows to marry again; as also that she must have brought up children. Moreover, 1Ti 5:10 presupposes some competence, at least in past times, and so poor widows would be excluded, the very class requiring charity. Also, 1Ti 5:11 would then be senseless, for then their remarrying would be a benefit, not an injury, to the Church, as relieving it of the burden of their sustenance. Tertullian [On the Veiling of Virgins, 9], Hermas [Shepherd, 1.2], and Chrysostom [Homily, 31], mention such an order of ecclesiastical widowhood, each one not less than sixty years old, and resembling the presbyters in the respect paid to them, and in some of their duties; they ministered with sympathizing counsel to other widows and to orphans, a ministry to which their own experimental knowledge of the feelings and sufferings of the bereaved adapted them, and had a general supervision of their sex. Age was doubtless a requisite in presbyters, as it is here stated to have been in presbyteresses, with a view to their influence on the younger persons of their sex They were supported by the Church, but not the only widows so supported (1Ti 5:3, 4).

wife of one man—in order not to throw a stumbling-block in the way of Jews and heathen, who regarded with disfavor second marriages (see on [2479]1Ti 3:2; Tit 1:6). This is the force of "blameless," giving no offense, even in matters indifferent.