1 Timothy 5:13

13 And reject also the idle, who have learned to wander about from house to house, and not only idle, but tattlers also and busybodies, speaking things which they ought not.

1 Timothy 5:13 Meaning and Commentary

1 Timothy 5:13

And withal they learn to be idle
Being at ease, and without labour, living at the expense of the church: "wandering about from house to house"; having nothing else to do: such an one is what the Jews ^F26 call (tybbwv hnmla) , "the gadding widow"; who, as the gloss says,

``goes about and visits her neighbours continually; and these are they that corrupt the world.''

Of this sort of women must the Jews be understood, when they say {a}, it is one of the properties of them to be (twynauwy) "going out", or gadding abroad, as Dinah did; and that it is another to be (twyrbd) , "talkative", which agrees with what follows:

and not only idle, but tattlers also;
full of talk, who have always some news to tell, or report to make of the affairs of this, or the other person, or family:

and busy bodies;
in the matters of other persons, which do not concern them:

speaking things which they ought not;
which either are not true, and, if they are, are not to be spoken of, and carried from place to place: this is a very great inconvenience, the apostle observes, arising from the admission of such young widows to be relieved and maintained at the church's charge.

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FOOTNOTES:

F26 T. Bab. Sota, fol. 22. 1.
F1 Bereshit Rabba, sect. 45. fol. 40. 3.

1 Timothy 5:13 In-Context

11 But the younger widows refuse, for when they have begun to wax wanton against Christ, they desire to marry,

12 having condemnation, because they have cast off their first faith.

13 And reject also the idle, who have learned to wander about from house to house, and not only idle, but tattlers also and busybodies, speaking things which they ought not.

14 I desire therefore that the younger women marry, bear children, govern the house, giving no occasion to the adversary to speak reproachfully.

15 For some are already turned back after Satan.