1 Timothy 5:1-9

Instructions about Specific Groups

5:1 Do not address an older man harshly but appeal to him as a father. Speak to younger men as brothers, 5:2 older women as mothers, and younger women as sisters – with complete purity.

5:3 Honor widows who are truly in need. 5:4 But if a widow has children or grandchildren, they should first learn to fulfill their duty toward their own household and so repay their parents what is owed them. For this is what pleases God. 5:5 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. 5:6 But the one who lives for pleasure is dead even while she lives. 5:7 Reinforce these commands, so that they will be beyond reproach. 5:8 But if someone does not provide for his own, especially his own family, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.

5:9 No widow should be put on the list unless she is at least sixty years old, was the wife of one husband,