Therefore I desire that the younger widows marry, bear children, manage the house, give no opportunity to the adversary to speak reproachfully.
Parallel translations
- WEB I desire therefore that the younger widows marry, bear children, rule the household, and give no occasion to the adversary for insulting.
- KJV I will therefore that the younger women marry, bear children, guide the house, give none occasion to the adversary to speak reproachfully.
- BSB So I advise the younger widows to marry, have children, and manage their households, denying the adversary occasion for slander.
- NASB Therefore, I want younger widows to get married, have children, manage their households, and give the enemy no opportunity for reproach;
- NLT So I advise these younger widows to marry again, have children, and take care of their own homes. Then the enemy will not be able to say anything against them.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Paul's positive counsel is that younger widows remarry, raise children, and manage their homes, giving the enemy no occasion to slander. Wholesome domestic life guards both them and the church's witness.
Overview
Rather than leaving younger widows to idleness, Paul commends remarriage and the honorable work of managing a household. This protects them from the dangers just named and shields the church's reputation from reproach by the adversary, whether human opponents or Satan. The instruction affirms the goodness of marriage and ordinary faithful living as a setting for godliness.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 18
- Titus 2:5to be sober minded, chaste, workers at home, kind, being in subjection to their own husbands, that God’s word may not be blasphemed.
- 1 Tim 6:1Let as many as are bondservants under the yoke count their own masters worthy of all honor, that the name of God and the doctrine not be blasphemed.
- Prov 31:27–29She looks well to the ways of her household, and doesn’t eat the bread of idleness.
- 1 Cor 7:8–9But I say to the unmarried and to widows, it is good for them if they remain even as I am.
- Titus 2:8and soundness of speech that can’t be condemned; that he who opposes you may be ashamed, having no evil thing to say about us.
- Heb 13:4Let marriage be held in honor among all, and let the bed be undefiled: but God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterers.
- Dan 6:4Then the presidents and the satraps sought to find occasion against Daniel as touching the kingdom; but they could find no occasion nor fault, because he was faithful, neither was there any error or fault found in him.
- Prov 14:1Every wise woman builds her house, but the foolish one tears it down with her own hands.
- 1 Tim 4:3forbidding marriage and commanding to abstain from foods which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth.
- 1 Tim 2:8I desire therefore that the men in every place pray, lifting up holy hands without anger and doubting.
- 1 Pet 4:14–15If you are insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed; because the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you. On their part he is blasphemed, but on your part he is glorified.
- 1 Tim 5:11But refuse younger widows, for when they have grown wanton against Christ, they desire to marry;
- 2 Cor 11:12But what I do, that I will do, that I may cut off occasion from them that desire an occasion, that in which they boast, they may be found even as we.
- Luke 23:35–41The people stood watching. The rulers with them also scoffed at him, saying, “He saved others. Let him save himself, if this is the Christ of God, his chosen one!”
- Gen 18:6Abraham hurried into the tent to Sarah, and said, “Quickly prepare three seahs of fine meal, knead it, and make cakes.”
- Rom 14:13Therefore let’s not judge one another any more, but judge this rather, that no man put a stumbling block in his brother’s way, or an occasion for falling.
- Gen 18:9They asked him, “Where is Sarah, your wife?” He said, “See, in the tent.”
- 2 Sam 12:14However, because by this deed you have given great occasion to Yahweh’s enemies to blaspheme, the child also who is born to you will surely die.”
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Original language
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