Let not a widow be taken into the number under threescore years old, having been the wife of one man,
Parallel translations
- WEB Let no one be enrolled as a widow under sixty years old, having been the wife of one man,
- BSB A widow should be enrolled if she is at least sixty years old, the wife of one man,
- NKJV Do not let a widow under sixty years old be taken into the number, and not unless she has been the wife of one man,
- NASB 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,
- NLT A widow who is put on the list for support must be a woman who is at least sixty years old and was faithful to her husband.
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
Only widows over sixty who had been faithful in marriage were to be enrolled on the church's support list. The standard guarded the integrity of the church's ministry to widows.
Overview
Paul gives criteria for an official list of widows the church would fully support and who likely served the congregation in return. The age and the description faithful wife of one man point to a settled life of proven devotion. The qualifications protected limited resources and honored those whose long faithfulness commended them, while still upholding marriage and godliness.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 8
- 1 Tim 3:2A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, vigilant, sober, of good behaviour, given to hospitality, apt to teach;
- Luke 2:36–37And there was one Anna, a prophetess, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Aser: she was of a great age, and had lived with an husband seven years from her virginity;
- 1 Tim 5:11But the younger widows refuse: for when they have begun to wax wanton against Christ, they will marry;
- 1 Tim 5:14I will therefore that the younger women marry, bear children, guide the house, give none occasion to the adversary to speak reproachfully.
- 1 Cor 7:39–40The 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.
- 1 Tim 5:3–4Honour widows that are widows indeed.
- 1 Tim 3:12Let the deacons be the husbands of one wife, ruling their children and their own houses well.
- 1 Cor 7:10–11And unto the married I command, yet not I, but the Lord, Let not the wife depart from her husband:
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Original language
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