1 TIM 5:9 Parallel Verse View

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Text critical issues=none Clarity of original=clear Importance to us=normal (All still tentative.)

5:9 It’s not specified in the text what they were being enrolled for or into. It’s likely that it was a list of widows visited and/or helped by the assembly.

Key: khaki:verbs, light-green:nominative/subject, orange:accusative/object, pink:genitive/possessor.
Note: Automatic aligning of the OET-RV to the LV is done by some temporary software, hence the RV alignments are incomplete (and may occasionally be wrong).

ULT Let a widow be enrolled, not less than 60 years old, having been a wife of one husband,

UST When you add a woman whose husband has died to the list of women that the group of believers will take care of, here is what she must be like. She must be at least 60 years old. She must have been sexually faithful to her husband.

BLB Let a widow be enrolled, being not less than sixty years old, the wife of one man,

AICNT Let a widow be enrolled if she is not less than sixty years old, having been the wife of one husband,

OEB A widow, when her name is added to the list, should not be less than sixty years old; she should have been a faithful wife,

WEBBE Let no one be enrolled as a widow under sixty years old, having been the wife of one man,

WMBB (Same as above)

NET No widow should be put on the list unless she is at least sixty years old, was the wife of one husband,

LSV A widow—do not let her be enrolled under sixty years of age, having been a wife of one husband,

FBV Only widows over sixty who have been faithful to their husbands should be put on the list.[fn]

5:9 The list of those widows who should be helped by the church.

TCNT A widow may be put on the list to receive support if she is at least sixty years old, has been the wife of one husband,

T4T You have a list of widows who will do work for the congregation and receive money. Put women’s names on the list only if they are more than 60 years old, and if they were faithful to their husbands.

LEB Let a widow be put on the list if she[fn] is not less than sixty years old, the wife of one husband,

5:9 *Here “if” is supplied as a component of the participle (“is”) which is understood as conditional

BBE Let no woman be numbered among the widows who is under sixty years old, and only if she has been the wife of one man,

Moff No one under sixty is to be put on the church's list of widows; and she must have been only once married,

Wymth No widow is to be put on the roll who is under sixty years of age.

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

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

YLT A widow — let her not be enrolled under sixty years of age, having been a wife of one husband,

Drby Let a widow be put upon the list, being of not less than sixty years, [having been] wife of one man,

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

SLT Let not a widow be chosen less than sixty years, having been wife of one man,

Wbstr Let not a widow be taken into the number under sixty years old, having been the wife of one man.

KJB-1769 Let not a widow be taken into the number under threescore years old, having been the wife of one man,

KJB-1611 Let not a widow bee [fn]taken into the number, vnder threescore yeeres old, hauing bene the wife of one man,
(Modernised spelling is same as from KJB-1769 above, apart from punctuation and footnotes)

5:9 Or, chosen.

Bshps Let not a wydowe be chosen vnder three score yeres olde, hauyng ben the wyfe of one man.
(Let not a widow be chosen under three score years old, having been the wife of one man.)

Gnva Let not a widow be taken into the number vnder three score yeere olde, that hath beene the wife of one husband,
(Let not a widow be taken into the number under three score year old, that hath/has been the wife of one husband, )

Cvdl Let no wedowe be chosen vnder threscore yeare olde, and soch one as was ye wife of one man,
(Let no wedowe be chosen under threscore year old, and such one as was ye/you_all wife of one man,)

TNT Let no wyddowe be chosen vnder threscore yere olde and soche a one as was the wyfe of one man
(Let no widow be chosen under threscore year old and such a one as was the wife of one man )

Wycl A widewe be chosun not lesse than sixti yeer, that was wijf of oon hosebonde,
(A widow be chosen not less than sixty year, that was wife of one husband,)

Luth Laß keine Witwe erwählet werden unter sechzig Jahren, und die da gewesen sei eines Mannes Weib,
(Let no widow chosen become under sixty years, and the there been be one/a man's woman,)

ClVg Vidua eligatur non minus sexaginta annorum, quæ fuerit unius viri uxor,
(Widow eligatur not/no minus sixty of_years, which has_been of_one men uxor, )

UGNT χήρα καταλεγέσθω μὴ ἔλαττον ἐτῶν ἑξήκοντα γεγονυῖα, ἑνὸς ἀνδρὸς γυνή,
(ⱪaʸra katalegesthō maʸ elatton etōn hexaʸkonta gegonuia, henos andros gunaʸ,)

SBL-GNT Χήρα καταλεγέσθω μὴ ἔλαττον ἐτῶν ἑξήκοντα γεγονυῖα, ἑνὸς ἀνδρὸς γυνή,
(Ⱪaʸra katalegesthō maʸ elatton etōn hexaʸkonta gegonuia, henos andros gunaʸ,)

RP-GNT Χήρα καταλεγέσθω μὴ ἔλαττον ἐτῶν ἑξήκοντα, γεγονυῖα ἑνὸς ἀνδρὸς γυνή,
(Ⱪaʸra katalegesthō maʸ elatton etōn hexaʸkonta, gegonuia henos andros gunaʸ,)

TC-GNT Χήρα καταλεγέσθω μὴ ἔλαττον ἐτῶν ἑξήκοντα, γεγονυῖα ἑνὸς ἀνδρὸς γυνή,
(Ⱪaʸra katalegesthō maʸ elatton etōn hexaʸkonta, gegonuia henos andros gunaʸ, )

Key for above GNTs: yellow:punctuation differs (from our SR-GNT base).

SOTN SIL Open Translator’s Notes:

Section 5:1–6:2: Paul told Timothy how to treat different groups of believers

Paragraph 5:9–10

In this paragraph Paul told Timothy more about which widows the believers should care for.

Paul had previously stated some requirements for these widows, that is:

they had to be without a family who could support them (5:5a)
they had to be godly (5:5b and 5:5c)

But these were not the only requirements. In 5:9–10 Paul gave other requirements for widows. If they met those requirements, they could receive special care from the believers.

5:9a

A widow should be enrolled if she is at least sixty years old,

¶ Do not include a widow on the list of widows until she reaches sixty years of age.
¶ Do not write a widow’s name on the list of widows whom the believers regularly support if the widow is younger than sixty.

A widow should be enrolled: In some languages it may be better to translate this as a direct active command:

Put on the list of widows [those widows who…]

A widow: In some languages it may be better to phrase this verse part negatively rather than positively; that is, to say which widows may not be put on the list for support. If this is true in you language, you could begin:

No widows should be enrolled who…

Paul was now only talking about those widows who had no family to help them.

should be enrolled: The phrase that the BSB translates as should be enrolled translates a Greek word that occurs only here in the New Testament. It means “enrolled, enlisted.” It seems that the believers kept a list of Christian widows. This was probably a list of the widows for whom the believers regularly provided.The widows on this list probably did have a duty to spend their time serving people in special ways. Perhaps they did some of the things which Paul mentioned in 5:10a–f, such as raising children (perhaps orphans), showing hospitality, helping those in trouble, and doing other good deeds. Knight, pages 222 and 223, says, “So a church may have a list of elderly and godly widows who have no one else to care for them and who commit themselves to serving Christ. The church commits itself to assist these widows and in turn may ask them to perform certain tasks as need arises. Noting all the dimensions of this arrangement keeps one from drawing the false conclusion that the church does not help other widows who are either younger or who do not fully meet the requirements. But the passage does imply that the church enters into this permanent arrangement only with certain qualified widows and with mutually accepted commitments and possible responsibilities. Noting all the dimensions of the arrangement also guards against the erroneous conclusion that Paul is mandating a widows’ organization in the church. The teaching of the passage is, rather, that the church only provides for widows which families do not. Thus, where every widow is provided for by her family there is no need for such a list. If, however, there needs to be a list, these are the requirements.”

enrolled: In some languages, the concept of enrolling widows on a list may be difficult to translate. If this is true in your language, you could try translating using an expression like:

should be included in the group of widows whom the believers regularly help

at least sixty years old: At the time when Paul wrote, people considered those who had reached sixty years of age to be old people. Women who were over sixty years old did not usually remarry.

5:9b

the wife of one man,

She must also have been faithful to her husband.

the wife of one man: This is the second condition that a widow had to meet before being added to the list of widows. The Greek phrase that the BSB translates as the wife of one man can be understood in two ways:

She should have had sexual relations only with her husband (or husbands) and no one else. For example, the CEV says:
faithful in marriage (CEV, NIV, NLT, NCV)
She should have had only one husband her entire life, without ever remarrying. For example, the GNT says:
she must have been married only once (GNT, RSV, NET, REB, NJB, KJV, NASB, GW)See Kelly, page 116, for a defense of this second interpretation.

In 5:14a Paul recommended that younger widows remarry, so interpretation (2) is less likely. Also, Paul used the same Greek expression here that he used in 3:2b (except that here he said “woman” instead of “man”). It is therefore recommended that you follow interpretation (1).

UTN uW Translation Notes:

Note 1 topic: figures-of-speech / imperative3p

χήρα καταλεγέσθω