1 Timothy 5:5

THE MESSAGE

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
The widow who is truly in need and left all alone has put her hope in God and continues night and day in her petitions and prayers;

King James Version (1611)
Now she that is a widow in deed, and desolate, trusteth in God, and continueth in supplications and prayers night and day.

King James Version
Now she that is a widow indeed, and desolate, trusteth in God, and continueth in supplications and prayers night and day.

English Standard Version
She who is truly a widow, left all alone, has set her hope on God and continues in supplications and prayers night and day,

New American Standard Bible
Now she who is actually a widow and has been left alone has set her hope on God, and she continues in requests and prayers night and day.

New Century Version
The true widow, who is all alone, puts her hope in God and continues to pray night and day for God's help.

New American Standard Bible (1995)
Now she who is a widow indeed and who has been left alone, has fixed her hope on God and continues in entreaties and prayers night and day.

Legacy Standard Bible
Now she who is a widow indeed and who has been left alone, has fixed her hope on God and continues in petitions and prayers night and day.

Berean Standard Bible
The widow who is truly in need and left all alone puts her hope in God and continues night and day in her petitions and prayers.

Contemporary English Version
A widow who is really in need is one who doesn't have any relatives. She has faith in God, and she keeps praying to him night and day, asking for his help.

Complete Jewish Bible
Now the widow who is really in need, the one who has been left all alone, has set her hope on God and continues in petitions and prayers night and day.

Darby Translation
Now she who [is] a widow indeed, and is left alone, has put [her] hope in God, and continues in supplications and prayers night and day.

Easy-to-Read Version
A widow who really needs help is one who has been left all alone. She trusts God to take care of her. She prays all the time, night and day, and asks God for help.

Geneva Bible (1587)
And shee that is a widowe in deede and left alone, trusteth in God, and continueth in supplications and praiers night and day.

George Lamsa Translation
Now she who is indeed a widow and destitute, trusts in God, and is constant in prayers and supplications both night and day.

Good News Translation
A 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.

Lexham English Bible
But the widow who is one truly, and is left alone, has put her hope in God and continues in her petitions and prayers night and day.

Literal Translation
But honor the one being the true widow, even having been left alone, who has set her hope on God and continues in petitions and prayers night and day.

Amplified Bible
Now a woman who is really a widow and has been left [entirely] alone [without adequate income] trusts in God and continues in supplications and prayers night and day.

American Standard Version
Now she that is a widow indeed, and desolate, hath her hope set on God, and continueth in supplications and prayers night and day.

Bible in Basic English
Now she who is truly a widow and without family puts her hope in God, giving herself to prayer day and night.

Hebrew Names Version
Now she who is a widow indeed, and desolate, has her hope set on God, and continues in petitions and prayers night and day.

International Standard Version
A woman who is really a widow and is left all alone has placed her hope in God and devotes herself to petitions and prayers night and day.Luke 2:37; 18:1; Acts 26:7; 1 Corinthians 7:32;">[xr]

Etheridge Translation
But she who is truly a widow and solitary (is one) whose hope is in Aloha, and who persevereth in prayer and in supplication by night and by day.

Murdock Translation
Now she who is truly a widow, and solitary, her hope is in God; and she persevereth in prayers, and in supplications, by night and by day:

Bishop's Bible (1568)
And she that is a wydowe in deede, and left alone, hopeth in God, and continueth in supplications and prayers nyght and day.

English Revised Version
Now she that is a widow indeed, and desolate, hath her hope set on God, and continueth in supplications and prayers night and day.

World English Bible
Now she who is a widow indeed, and desolate, has her hope set on God, and continues in petitions and prayers night and day.

Wesley's New Testament (1755)
Now she that is a widow indeed and desolate, trusteth in God and continueth in supplications and prayers night and day.

Weymouth's New Testament
A widow who is really in need, friendless and desolate, has her hopes fixed on God, and continues at her supplications and prayers, night and day;

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
And sche that is a widewe verili, and desolate, hope in to God, and be bisy in bisechingis and preieris niyt and dai.

Update Bible Version
Now she that is a widow indeed, and desolate, has her hope set on God, and continues in supplications and prayers night and day.

Webster's Bible Translation
Now she that is a widow indeed, and desolate, trusteth in God, and continueth in supplications and prayers night and day.

New English Translation
But the widow who is truly in need, and completely on her own, has set her hope on God and continues in her pleas and prayers night and day.

New King James Version
Now she who is really a widow, and left alone, trusts in God and continues in supplications and prayers night and day.

New Living Translation
Now a true widow, a woman who is truly alone in this world, has placed her hope in God. She prays night and day, asking God for his help.

New Life Bible
Women whose husbands have died are alone in this world. Their trust is in the Lord. They pray day and night.

New Revised Standard
The real widow, left alone, has set her hope on God and continues in supplications and prayers night and day;

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
But, she who is indeed a widow, and is left alone, hath turned her hope towards God, and is giving attendance unto the supplications and the prayers, night and day, -

Douay-Rheims Bible
But she that is a widow indeed, and desolate, let her trust in God and continue in supplications and prayers night and day.

Revised Standard Version
She who is a real widow, and is left all alone, has set her hope on God and continues in supplications and prayers night and day;

Tyndale New Testament (1525)
She that is a very wyddowe and frendlesse putteth her trust in god and continueth in supplicacion and prayer nyght and daye.

Young's Literal Translation
And she who is really a widow and desolate, hath hoped upon God, and doth remain in the supplications and in the prayers night and day,

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
But she that is a right wedowe, & desolate, putteth hir trust in God, & cotynueth in prayer and supplicacion nighte and daye.

Mace New Testament (1729)
as for the widow, who is really such, and without any assistance, let her place all her hopes in God, and be assiduous in supplication and prayer.

Simplified Cowboy Version
If a widow truly is all by herself, I guarantee you she's relying on God to give her a hand. She's been praying every single day and every single night for help.

Contextual Overview

³Take care of widows who are destitute. If a widow has family members to take care of her, let them learn that religion begins at their own doorstep and that they should pay back with gratitude some of what they have received. This pleases God immensely. You can tell a legitimate widow by the way she has put all her hope in God, praying to him constantly for the needs of others as well as her own. But a widow who exploits people's emotions and pocketbooks—well, there's nothing to her. Tell these things to the people so that they will do the right thing in their extended family. Anyone who neglects to care for family members in need repudiates the faith. That's worse than refusing to believe in the first place. ⁹Sign some widows up for the special ministry of offering assistance. They will in turn receive support from the church. They must be over sixty, married only once, and have a reputation for helping out with children, strangers, tired Christians, the hurt and troubled. ¹¹Don't put young widows on this list. No sooner will they get on than they'll want to get off, obsessed with wanting to get a husband rather than serving Christ in this way. By breaking their word, they're liable to go from bad to worse, frittering away their days on empty talk, gossip, and trivialities. No, I'd rather the young widows go ahead and get married in the first place, have children, manage their homes, and not give critics any foothold for finding fault. Some of them have already left and gone after Satan. ¹⁶ Any Christian woman who has widows in her family is responsible for them. They shouldn't be dumped on the church. The church has its hands full already with widows who need help.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

a widow: 1 Timothy 5:3, Romans 1:5, Romans 1:12, Romans 1:20, Romans 1:21, 1 Corinthians 7:32

and desolate: Isaiah 3:26, Isaiah 49:21, Isaiah 54:1, Lamentations 1:13

trusteth: Ruth 2:12, Psalms 91:4, Isaiah 12:2, Isaiah 50:10, 1 Corinthians 7:32, 1 Peter 3:5

continueth: Luke 2:37, Luke 18:1, Luke 18:7, Acts 26:7, Ephesians 6:18

Reciprocal: Exodus 38:8 - assembling Nehemiah 1:6 - day and night Psalms 27:4 - dwell Jeremiah 49:11 - let thy Luke 7:12 - a widow Acts 6:1 - their Galatians 4:27 - desolate 1 Thessalonians 2:9 - night 1 Timothy 2:1 - supplications 1 Timothy 5:16 - widows indeed Titus 2:3 - as

Cross-References

Genesis 5:12
When Kenan was seventy years old, he had Mahalalel. After he had Mahalalel, he lived another 840 years, having more sons and daughters. Kenan lived a total of 910 years. And he died.

Genesis 5:21
When Enoch was sixty-five years old, he had Methuselah. Enoch walked steadily with God. After he had Methuselah, he lived another 300 years, having more sons and daughters. Enoch lived a total of 365 years.

Genesis 5:32
When Noah was 500 years old, he had Shem, Ham, and Japheth.

Hebrews 9:27
Everyone has to die once, then face the consequences. Christ's death was also a one-time event, but it was a sacrifice that took care of sins forever. And so, when he next appears, the outcome for those eager to greet him is, precisely, salvation.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Now she that is a widow indeed,.... A real widow, whom the Jews r call גמורה, "a perfect one", in opposition to one that is divorced, or a brother's widow, that has had the shoe plucked off for her: and such an one as the apostle means, is one that is

desolate, or "alone": who has neither husband to take care of her, nor children or nephews to show kindness to her, nor any worldly substance to subsist upon:

but trusteth in God: not in man, nor in an arm of flesh, but in the living God, the giver of all good things, the Judge of widows; who vindicates their cause, avenges the injuries done them, protects and defends them, and relieves their wants, and gives all encouragement to them, to trust in him; see Jeremiah 49:11.

and continueth in supplications and prayers night and day; as the widow Anna did, Luke 2:36. A Widow indeed is one that has no outward dependence, betakes herself to the Lord, puts her confidence in him, and cries to him continually for a daily supply; and such an one, amidst all her poverty and meanness, is a living believer, one that lives by faith on the Lord; and is profitable, and useful to the church by her prayers and supplications made for them, as well as for herself; whereas she that is in the next verse described is just the reverse.

r Jarchi in Exek. xliv. 22.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

A widow indeed, and desolate - The word rendered “desolate” means “solitary, alone.” It does not necessarily imply the idea of discomfort which we attach to the word desolate. The sense is, that she had no children or other descendants; none on whom she could depend for support.

Trusteth in God - She has no one else to look to but God. She has no earthly reliance, and, destitute of husband, children, and property, she feels her dependence, and steadily looks to God for consolation and support.

And continueth in supplications and prayers night and day - Continually; compare notes on 1 Timothy 2:1; see also the description of Anna in Luke 2:36-37. The apostle regards this as one of the characteristics of those who were “widows indeed,” whom he would have received into the class to be maintained by the church, and to whom the charge of younger members of the church might be entrusted.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse 1 Timothy 5:5. And desolate — και μεμονωμενη. Left entirely alone-having neither children nor relatives to take care of her.

Trusteth in God — Finding she has no other helper, she continues in prayer and supplication, that she may derive that from God which, in the course of his providence, he has deprived her of among men.