Verse (Click for Chapter) New International Version No widow may be put on the list of widows unless she is over sixty, has been faithful to her husband, New Living Translation 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. 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, Berean Standard Bible A widow should be enrolled if she is at least sixty years old, the wife of one man, Berean Literal Bible Let a widow be enrolled, being not less than sixty years old, 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, New King James Version 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, 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, NASB 1995 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, NASB 1977 Let a widow be put on the list only if she is not less than sixty years old, having been the wife of one man, Legacy 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, Amplified Bible A widow is to be put on the list [to receive regular assistance] only if she is over sixty years of age, [having been] the wife of one man, Christian Standard Bible No widow is to be enrolled on the list for support unless she is at least sixty years old, has been the wife of one husband, 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, American Standard Version Let none be enrolled as a widow under threescore years old, having been the wife of one man, Aramaic Bible in Plain English Therefore you shall choose a widow who is not less than sixty years old, who had one husband, Contemporary English Version For a widow to be put on the list of widows, she must be at least 60 years old, and she must have been faithful in marriage. Douay-Rheims Bible Let a widow be chosen of no less than threescore years of age, who hath been the wife of one husband. English Revised Version Let none be enrolled as a widow under threescore years old, having been the wife of one man, GOD'S WORD® Translation Any widow who had only one husband and is at least 60 years old should be put on your list [of widows]. Good News Translation Do not add any widow to the list of widows unless she is over sixty years of age. In addition, she must have been married only once 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. Literal Standard Version A widow—do not let her be enrolled under sixty years of age, having been a wife of one husband, Majority Standard Bible A widow should be enrolled if she is at least sixty years old, the wife of one man, New American Bible Let a widow be enrolled if she is not less than sixty years old, married only once, NET Bible No widow should be put on the list unless she is at least sixty years old, was the wife of one husband, New Revised Standard Version Let a widow be put on the list if she is not less than sixty years old and has been married only once; New Heart English Bible Let no one be enrolled as a widow under sixty years old, having been the wife of one man, Webster's Bible Translation Let not a widow be taken into the number under sixty years old, having been the wife of one man. Weymouth New Testament No widow is to be put on the roll who is under sixty years of age. World English Bible Let no one be enrolled as a widow under sixty years old, having been the 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, Additional Translations ... Audio Bible Context Support for Widows…8If anyone does not provide for his own, and especially his own household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever. 9A widow should be enrolled if she is at least sixty years old, the wife of one man, 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.… Cross References Luke 2:36 There was also a prophetess named Anna, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher, who was well along in years. She had been married for seven years, 1 Timothy 3:2 An overseer, then, must be above reproach, the husband of but one wife, temperate, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, 1 Timothy 5:16 If any believing woman has dependent widows, she must assist them and not allow the church to be burdened, so that it can help the widows who are truly in need. Treasury of Scripture Let not a widow be taken into the number under three score years old, having been the wife of one man. a widow. 1 Timothy 5:3,4 Honour widows that are widows indeed… taken. 1 Timothy 5:11,14 But the younger widows refuse: for when they have begun to wax wanton against Christ, they will marry; … Luke 2:36,37 And 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; … having. 1 Timothy 3:2,12 A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, vigilant, sober, of good behaviour, given to hospitality, apt to teach; … 1 Corinthians 7:10,11,39,40 And unto the married I command, yet not I, but the Lord, Let not the wife depart from her husband: … Jump to Previous Age Enrolled Husband List Numbered Roll Sixty Threescore Unless Widow Widows WifeJump to Next Age Enrolled Husband List Numbered Roll Sixty Threescore Unless Widow Widows Wife1 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. (9) Let not a widow be taken into the number under threescore years old.--The question respecting the assistance to be afforded to the poor and destitute widows of the great Asian Church reminded St. Paul of an organisation, consisting of widowed women, which had grown out of the needs of Christianity. He would lay down some special rules here to be observed by his friend and disciple. What, now, is this organisation commended to Timothy in these special directions? Here, and here only in the New Testament, do we find it alluded to; but the instructions in this passage are so definite, so precise, that it is impossible not to assume in the days of Timothy and of Paul, in some, if not in all the great churches, the existence of an official band of workers, consisting of widows, most carefully selected from the congregation of believers, of a somewhat advanced age, and specially distinguished for devotion--possessing, each of these, a high and stainless reputation--they were an official band of workers, a distinct order, so to speak; for these widows, formally entered on the Church's list, could not possibly represent those poor and desolate widows, friendless and destitute, spoken of above. The minimum age of sixty years would also exclude many; and the advice of St. Paul to the younger ones to marry again could never have been addressed to women wanting even many years of the requisite "sixty." Were these poor souls to be formally shut out from receiving the Church's alms? Again, those on the list could never be the same persons whom we hear of as deaconesses (Romans 16:1, and in the Christian literature of the second century). The active duties of the office would have been utterly incompatible with the age of sixty, the minimum age at which these were to be entered on the list. We then conclude these "widows" were a distinct and most honourable order, whose duties, presbyteral rather than diaconic, apparently consisted in the exercise of superintendence over, and in the ministry of counsel and consolation to, the younger women.--That they sat unveiled in the assemblies in a separate place by the presbyters; that they received a special ordination by laying on of hands; that they wore a peculiar dress--were distinctions probably belonging to a later age. Having been the wife of one man.--Of the conditions of enrolment in this "order," the first--that of age--has been alluded to; the second--"having been the wife of one man"--must not be understood in the strictly literal sense of the words. It is inconceivable that the hope of forming one of the highly honoured band of presbyteral women depended on the chance of the husband living until the wife had reached the age of sixty years. Had he died in her youth, or comparative youth, the Apostle's will was that the widow should marry again. (See 1Timothy 5:14, where St. Paul writes, "I will that the younger women marry," &c.) The right interpretation of the words is found in some such paraphrase as, "If in her married life she had been found faithful and true." The fatal facility of divorce and the lax state of morality in Pagan society, especially in the Greek and Asiac cities, must be taken into account when we seek to illustrate and explain these directions respecting early Christian foundations. While unhesitatingly adopting the above interpretation of the words "wife of one man," as faithfully representing the mind of St. Paul, who was legislating here, it must be remembered, for the masses of believers whose lot was cast in the busy world (see his direct command in 1Timothy 5:14 of this chapter, where the family life is pressed on the younger widow, and not the higher life of solitude and self-denial), still those expositors who adopt the stricter and sterner interpretation of "wife of one man"--viz., "a woman that has had only one husband"--have, it must be granted, a strong argument in their favour from the known honour the univircae obtained in the Roman world. So Dido, in 'n. iv. 28, says-- "Ille meos, primus qui me sibi junxit, amores Abstulit, ille habeat secum, servetque sepulcher." . . . Verse 9. - Let none be enrolled as a widow for let not a widow be taken into the number, A.V. Let none be enrolled, etc. The proper translation seems certainly to be (Ellicott, Alford, Huther, etc.), let a woman be enrolled as a widow not under sixty years old; i.e. χήρα a is the predicate, not the subject. It follows that the word "widow" here is used in a slightly different sense from that in the preceding verses, viz. in the technical sense of one belonging to the order of widows, of which it appears from the word καταλεγέσθω there was a regular roll kept in the Church. We do not know enough of the Church institutions of the apostolic age to enable us to say positively what their status or their functions were, but doubtless they were the germ from which the later development (of which see Bingham, bk. 7. 1 Timothy 4.) took its rise. We may gather, however, from the passage before us that their lives were specially consecrated to the service of God and the Church; that they were expected to be instant and con-slant in prayer, and to devote themselves to works of charity; that the apostle did not approve of their marrying again after their having embraced this life of widowhood, and therefore would have none enrolled under sixty years of age; and generally that, once on the roll, they would continue there for their life. Enrolled (καταλεγέσθω); only here in the New Testament or (in this sense) in the LXX.; but it is the regular classical word for enrolling, enlisting, soldiers, etc. Hence our word "catalogue." In like manner, in the times of the Empress Helena, the virgins of the Church are described as ἀναγεγραμμένας ἐν τῷ τῆς ἐκκλησίας κανόνι (Socr., 1:17), "registered in the Church's register," or list of virgins. Under three score years old. A similar rule was laid down in several early canons, which forbade the veiling of virgins before the age of forty. This care to prevent women from being entangled by vows or engagements which they had not well considered, or of which they did not know the full force, is in striking contrast with the system which allows young girls to make irrevocable vows. The participle γεγονυῖα, "being," belongs to this clause (not as in the A.V. to the following one), as Alford clearly shows, and as the R.V. also indicates, by putting having been in italics; though it does not translate γεγονυῖα in this clause, unless possibly the word "old" is considered as representing γεγονυῖα. It should be, Let none be enrolled as widows, being under sixty years of age. The wife of one man; see above, 1 Timothy 3:2, the similar phrase, "the husband of one wife" (which likewise stands without any participle), and the note there. To which may be added that it is hardly conceivable that St. Paul should within the compass of a few verses (see ver. 14) recommend the marriage of young widows, and yet make the fact of a second marriage an absolute bar to a woman being enrolled among the Church widows.Parallel Commentaries ... Greek A widowΧήρα (Chēra) Noun - Nominative Feminine Singular Strong's 5503: Feminine of a presumed derivative apparently from the base of chasma through the idea of deficiency; a widow, literally or figuratively. should be enrolled καταλεγέσθω (katalegesthō) Verb - Present Imperative Middle or Passive - 3rd Person Singular Strong's 2639: To enter in a list, register, enroll. From kata and lego; to lay down, i.e. to enrol. if she is γεγονυῖα (gegonuia) Verb - Perfect Participle Active - Nominative Feminine Singular Strong's 1096: A prolongation and middle voice form of a primary verb; to cause to be, i.e. to become, used with great latitude. [at least] ἔλαττον (elatton) Adjective - Accusative Neuter Singular - Comparative Strong's 1640: Less, smaller; poorer, inferior. Or elatton el-at-tone'; comparative of the same as elachistos; smaller. sixty ἑξήκοντα (hexēkonta) Adjective - Genitive Neuter Plural Strong's 1835: Sixty. The tenth multiple of hex; sixty. years [old], ἐτῶν (etōn) Noun - Genitive Neuter Plural Strong's 2094: A year. Apparently a primary word; a year. [the] wife γυνή (gynē) Noun - Nominative Feminine Singular Strong's 1135: A woman, wife, my lady. Probably from the base of ginomai; a woman; specially, a wife. of one ἑνὸς (henos) Adjective - Genitive Masculine Singular Strong's 1520: One. (including the neuter Hen); a primary numeral; one. man, ἀνδρὸς (andros) Noun - Genitive Masculine Singular Strong's 435: A male human being; a man, husband. A primary word; a man. 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