1 Timothy 5
5
Rules for Living with Others
1Do not speak angrily to an older man, but talk to him as if he were your father. Treat younger men like brothers. 2Treat older women like mothers, and younger women like sisters. Always treat them in a pure way.
3Take care of widows who are all alone. 4But if a widow has children or grandchildren, the first thing they need to learn is to do their duty to their own family. When they do this, they will be repaying their parents or grandparents. That pleases God. 5If a widow is all alone and without help, then she puts her hope in God and prays night and day for God’s help. 6But the widow who uses her life to please herself is really dead while she is still living. 7Tell the believers there to do these things so that no one can say they are doing wrong. 8A believer should take care of his own relatives, especially his own family. If he does not do that, he has turned against the faith. He is worse than a person who does not believe in God.
9To be on your list of widows, a woman must be 60 years old or older. She must have been faithful to her husband. 10She must be known as a woman who has done good works. By this, I mean good works such as raising her children, accepting visitors in her home, washing the feet of God’s people, helping those in trouble, and using her life to do all kinds of good deeds.
11But do not put younger widows on that list. After they give themselves to Christ, they are often pulled away from him by their physical desires. And then they want to marry again. 12And they will be judged for not doing what they first promised to do. 13Also, those younger widows begin to waste their time going from house to house. They begin to gossip and busy themselves with other people’s lives. They say things that they should not say. 14So I want the younger widows to marry, have children, and take care of their homes. If they do this, then no enemy will have any reason to criticize them. 15But some of the younger widows have already turned away to follow Satan.
16If any woman who is a believer has widows in her family, then she should care for them herself. The church should not have to care for them. Then the church will be able to care for the widows who have no living family.
17The elders who lead the church well should receive great honor. Those who work hard by speaking and teaching especially should receive great honor. 18For the Scripture says, “When an ox is working in the grain, do not cover its mouth to keep it from eating.”# Quotation from Deuteronomy 25:4. And the Scripture also says, “A worker should be given his pay.”# Quotation from Luke 10:7.
19Do not listen to someone who accuses an elder, unless there are two or three other persons who say he did wrong. 20Tell those who keep on sinning that they are wrong. Do this in front of the whole church so that the others will have a warning.
21Before God and Jesus Christ and the chosen angels, I command you to do these things. Be careful to do them without showing favor to anyone.
22Think carefully before you lay your hands on# A sign of giving authority or power to another person. anyone for the Lord’s service. Do not share in the sins of others. Keep yourself pure.
23Timothy, you stop drinking only water and drink a little wine. This will help your stomach, and you will not be sick so often.
24The sins of some people are easy to see even before they are judged. But the sins of others are seen only later. 25So also good deeds are easy to see. But even when they are not easy to see, they cannot stay hidden.
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Copyright © 2015 by Tommy Nelson™, a Division of Thomas Nelson, Inc. All rights reserved. Used by permission.
1 Timothy 5
5
Responsibilities towards Believers
1Do not rebuke an older man, but appeal to him as if he were your father. Treat the younger men as your brothers, 2the older women as mothers, and the younger women as sisters, with all purity.
3Show respect for widows who really are all alone. 4But if a widow has children or grandchildren, they should learn first to carry out their religious duties towards their own family and in this way repay their parents and grandparents, because that is what pleases God. 5A widow who is all alone, with no one to take care of her, has placed her hope in God and continues to pray and ask him for his help night and day. 6But a widow who gives herself to pleasure has already died, even though she lives. 7Give them these instructions, so that no one will find fault with them. 8But if anyone does not take care of his relatives, especially the members of his own family, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.
9Do 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#5.9 married only once; or faithful to her husband. 10and have a reputation for good deeds: a woman who brought up her children well, received strangers in her home, performed humble duties for fellow-Christians, helped people in trouble, and devoted herself to doing good.
11But do not include younger widows in the list; because when their desires make them want to marry, they turn away from Christ, 12and so become guilty of breaking their earlier promise to him. 13They also learn to waste their time in going round from house to house; but even worse, they learn to be gossips and busybodies, talking of things they should not. 14So I would prefer that the younger widows get married, have children, and take care of their homes, so as to give our enemies no chance of speaking evil of us. 15For some widows have already turned away to follow Satan. 16But if any Christian woman has widows in her family, she must take care of them and not put the burden on the church, so that it may take care of the widows who are all alone.
17The elders who do good work as leaders should be considered worthy of receiving double pay, especially those who work hard at preaching and teaching. 18#Deut 25.4; Mt 10.10; Lk 10.7For the scripture says, “Do not muzzle an ox when you are using it to thresh corn” and “Workers should be given their pay.” 19#Deut 17.6; 19.15Do not listen to an accusation against an elder unless it is brought by two or more witnesses. 20Rebuke publicly all those who commit sins, so that the rest may be afraid.
21In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus and of the holy angels I solemnly call upon you to obey these instructions without showing any prejudice or favour to anyone in anything you do. 22Be in no hurry to lay hands on anyone in dedication to the Lord's service. Take no part in the sins of others; keep yourself pure.
23Do not drink water only, but take a little wine to help your digestion, since you are ill so often.
24The sins of some people are plain to see, and their sins go ahead of them to judgement; but the sins of others are seen only later. 25In the same way good deeds are plainly seen, and even those that are not so plain cannot be hidden.
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Good News Bible with Deuterocanonicals/Apocrypha. Scripture taken from the Good News Bible (r) (Today's English Version Second Edition, UK/British Edition). Copyright © 1992 British & Foreign Bible Society. Used by permission.