1 Timothy 5:5

Contextual Overview

³ Take care of widows who really need help. ³ Honor widows who are real widows. ³ Honoure widdowes which are true wyddowes. ³ Honor widows who are widows indeed. ³ Honor widows who are actually widows; ³ Take care of widows who are truly widows. ³ Honor widows that are widows indeed. ³ Honor widows that are widows indeed. ³ Honor widows who are truly widows. ³ Honor widows who are widows indeed.

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 3:19
By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return."

Genesis 3:19
in the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, until you return to the ground; for out of it were you taken: for dust you are, and to dust you shall return.

Genesis 3:19
You will sweat and work hard for your food. Later you will return to the ground, because you were taken from it. You are dust, and when you die, you will return to the dust."

Genesis 3:19
By the sweat of your brow you will eat food until you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you will return."

Genesis 3:19
In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou shalt return to the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou [art], and to dust shalt thou return.

Genesis 3:19
By the sweat of your face will you eat bread until you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken. For you are dust, and to dust you shall return."

Genesis 3:19
"By the sweat of your face You will eat bread Until you return to the ground, For from it you were taken; For you are dust, And to dust you shall return."

Genesis 3:19
in swoot of thi cheer thou schalt ete thi breed, til thou turne ayen in to the erthe of which thou art takun; for thou art dust, and thou schalt turne ayen in to dust.

Genesis 3:19
by the sweat of thy face thou dost eat bread till thy return unto the ground, for out of it hast thou been taken, for dust thou [art], and unto dust thou turnest back.'

Genesis 3:19
By the sweat of your brow you will eat your bread, until you return to the ground-because out of it were you taken. For dust you are, and to dust you shall return."

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.