1 Timothy 5:5

5 The widow who is really in need and left all alone puts her hope in God and continues night and day to pray and to ask God for help.

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1 Timothy 5:5 in Other Translations

KJV

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

ESV

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

NLT

5 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.

MSG

5 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.

CSB

5 The real widow, left all alone, has put her hope in God and continues night and day in her petitions and prayers;

1 Timothy 5:5 Meaning and Commentary

1 Timothy 5:5

Now she that is a widow indeed
A real widow, whom the Jews ^F18 call (hrwmg) , "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 Luke 2:37 ) . 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.

FOOTNOTES:

F18 Jarchi in Exek. xliv. 22.

Taken from John Gill's Exposition of the Bible

1 Timothy 5:5 In-Context

3 Give proper recognition to those widows who are really in need.

4 But if a widow has children or grandchildren, these should learn first of all to put their religion into practice by caring for their own family and so repaying their parents and grandparents, for this is pleasing to God.

5 The widow who is really in need and left all alone puts her hope in God and continues night and day to pray and to ask God for help.

6 But the widow who lives for pleasure is dead even while she lives.

7 Give the people these instructions, so that no one may be open to blame.