1 Timothy 5:9–16, King James Version
Italic words were supplied in the English translation for clarity.
1 Timothy 5:9–16
Enrollment, Good Work, and Difficult Counsel for Younger Widows
A roster of tested care is not a verdict on younger women
Let a widow be enrolled if she is not less than sixty, a one-man woman, and well attested for good works: bringing up children, showing hospitality, washing the feet of the saints, helping the afflicted, and devoting herself to every good work. The older widow in this list is an active servant, not a passive charity case. Enrollment is a particular support or service roster. It is not salvation, belonging, or a score of female worth. Younger widows are refused that enrollment because the writer fears changed desire, a broken prior commitment, idleness, and harmful talk, and he counsels marriage, childbearing, and household management.
That counsel is strongly gendered and rhetorically broad. It is not a complete vocation map. The age threshold does not make younger widows less worthy of aid, protection, or belonging. The text does not require marriage, pregnancy, unsafe partnership, or remaining with an abuser. It does not prove that women are idle, sexual, or gossipy by nature. Household management here even gives younger women real agency inside an ancient expectation. It does not erase work, education, singleness, infertility, or other faithful lives. A believing woman with widows should help them so the church can care for those truly without support. Care is the aim, not dumping people off a list.
How this should shape us
Design help by need and safety, not by age as a moral grade. Celebrate older women's actual service. Offer younger widows support and choices without pressure to marry, parent, or keep quiet, and keep the church's net under those who have no one.
Teach it back
Explain 1 Timothy 5:9–16 in your own words. Include its place in 1 Timothy's movement, the unit's logic, one material uncertainty, and one misuse the context rules out.
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Go deeper
The explanation above is meant to stand on its own. Open these notes only if you want language, history, disagreements, or source locations.
Where careful interpreters disagreeThe strongest options and their difficulties
Where do careful interpreters disagree?
Best judgment: Interpreters differ over whether the roster was relief, ministry, vowed celibacy, or a mix; the meaning of first faith or pledge; remarriage; and the younger-widow polemic. The older widows' active good works and the resource purpose are clear.
How certain? probableResearch trail and exact locationsThe source record behind this section
Supports: Exact reader-facing KJV wording, paragraph markers, supplied-word markup, and complete verse coverage.
1 Timothy 5:9–16, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM corpus
Supports: Greek wording, clause relationships, morphology targets, and base text for original-language discussion.
Faithlife SBLGNT repository, data/sblgnt/text/1Tim.txt, 5:9–16
Supports: Verse-level syntax, KJV-era wording, textual alternatives, and interpretive notes.
NET Bible official 1 Timothy PDF, 5:9–16 translation and attached translator, study, and textual notes
Supports: Historical-critical orientation, authorship and date alternatives, opponent limits, office and widow uncertainty, gender, slavery, wealth, and whole-letter theology.
Enter the Bible 1 Timothy course, Summary, Outline, Background, Introductory Issues, Theological Themes, and Bible in the World; applied to 1 Timothy 5:9–16
Supports: Direct-Pauline alternative, rhetorical whole-letter flow, verse exposition, office, gender, care, wealth, and confessional application.
Jeon, '1 Timothy,' section covering 5:9–16, plus Authority and Audience, Purpose, outline, bibliography, and endnotes
Supports: Full-letter historical exegesis, Greek and KJV-language notes, unit boundaries, historical alternatives, and verse-level interpretation.
Lock, ICC Pastoral Epistles PDF, 1 Timothy introduction printed pp. 1–4 and commentary printed pp. 59–63
Supports: Independent morphology, form, and lexical-range cross-check for material Greek claims.
STEP Bible Data repository, Greek morphology and lexical records for 1 Timothy 5:9–16
Sources for This Section
These records identify the source, the claim it supports, and the exact location used. A source remains evidence to evaluate; it does not replace the biblical text.
Biblical text
King James (Authorized) Version — eng-kjv2006
eBible.org and CrossWire Bible Society
USFM archive eng-kjv2006_usfm.zip; source files dated 2026-08-19; downloaded 2026-08-24; archive SHA-256 aec1b3b26c622fd3d963d2bbac963016b9513246ffbfa20da00bb100372ea007; normalized corpus SHA-256 09aef51d90488aa7b9722b3fd9a93f4b25f6bf2064c5fd798fb39673c300ddf2.
Supports: Exact reader-facing KJV wording, paragraph markers, supplied-word markup, and complete verse coverage.
Exact location: 1 Timothy 5:9–16, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM corpus
Open source ↗Greek textual evidence
The Greek New Testament: SBL Edition
Michael W. Holmes, editor; Society of Biblical Literature and Logos
Society of Biblical Literature and Logos Bible Software, 2010
Supports: Greek wording, clause relationships, morphology targets, and base text for original-language discussion.
Exact location: Faithlife SBLGNT repository, data/sblgnt/text/1Tim.txt, 5:9–16
Open the 1 Timothy Greek text file ↗Translation and textual notes
NET Bible — 1 Timothy with translators' and textual notes
Biblical Studies Press
Biblical Studies Press, 2005–2026 online edition
Supports: Verse-level syntax, KJV-era wording, textual alternatives, and interpretive notes.
Exact location: NET Bible official 1 Timothy PDF, 5:9–16 translation and attached translator, study, and textual notes
Open the official NET 1 Timothy PDF ↗modern scholarly book introduction
1 Timothy course: summary, outline, background, introductory issues, theological themes, and Bible in the world
Arland J. Hultgren; revised by Mary Hinkle Shore
Enter the Bible, Luther Seminary, 2023 revision
Supports: Historical-critical orientation, authorship and date alternatives, opponent limits, office and widow uncertainty, gender, slavery, wealth, and whole-letter theology.
Exact location: Enter the Bible 1 Timothy course, Summary, Outline, Background, Introductory Issues, Theological Themes, and Bible in the World; applied to 1 Timothy 5:9–16
Open source ↗modern open commentary
1 Timothy
Paul Jeon
The Gospel Coalition Bible Commentary, 2023
Supports: Direct-Pauline alternative, rhetorical whole-letter flow, verse exposition, office, gender, care, wealth, and confessional application.
Exact location: Jeon, '1 Timothy,' section covering 5:9–16, plus Authority and Audience, Purpose, outline, bibliography, and endnotes
Open source ↗public domain critical commentary
A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Pastoral Epistles
Walter Lock
T&T Clark, International Critical Commentary, 1924
Supports: Full-letter historical exegesis, Greek and KJV-language notes, unit boundaries, historical alternatives, and verse-level interpretation.
Exact location: Lock, ICC Pastoral Epistles PDF, 1 Timothy introduction printed pp. 1–4 and commentary printed pp. 59–63
Open source ↗Lexical and grammatical evidence
STEP Bible Data
Tyndale House Cambridge
Tyndale House Cambridge, repository snapshot verified 2026
Supports: Independent morphology, form, and lexical-range cross-check for material Greek claims.
Exact location: STEP Bible Data repository, Greek morphology and lexical records for 1 Timothy 5:9–16
Open source ↗