1 Timothy 5

1 Do not rebuke an older man harshly, but exhort him as a father, younger men as brothers,

2 older women as mothers, younger women as sisters, with all purity.

3 Give financial support to widows who are really ‘widows’.

4 But if any widow has children or grandchildren, let them learn first to demonstrate piety in their own household by repaying their parents, for this is pleasing to God.

5 Now she who is really a widow and desolate has set her hope on God, and continues in supplications and prayers night and day.

6 But she who indulges in pleasure is dead while she lives.

7 You should even command these things, so that they may be blameless.

8 But if anyone does not provide for his own, and especially for those of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.

9 No widow should be enrolled unless she is at least sixty, a one man wife,

10 known for good works—she brought up children, she lodged strangers, she washed saints' feet, she relieved the afflicted, she devoted herself to every good work.

11 As for younger widows, do not enroll them; because whenever they are controlled by sensual desires rather than by Christ, they want to marry,

12 coming under judgment because they have broken their first commitment.

13 Not only that, they learn to be idle, going around from house to house; and not only idle, but also gossips and busybodies, saying things they ought not to.

14 So I want the younger widows to marry, to bear children, to manage the home, to give the adversary no occasion for caustic comments.

15 (In fact, some have already turned aside after Satan.)

16 If any man or woman who is a believer has widows, let them relieve them and not burden the congregation, so that it may relieve those who are widows indeed.

17 Let the elders who lead well be counted worthy of a double honorarium, especially those who labor in word and teaching.

18 For the Scripture says: “You shall not muzzle an ox while it treads out grain,” and “The worker is worthy of his wages.”

19 Do not entertain an accusation against an elder except on the basis of two or three witnesses.

20 Those who are sinning rebuke publicly, so that the rest also may be in fear.

21 I charge you in the presence of God and Sovereign Jesus Christ and the elect angels that you observe these things without prejudgment, doing nothing by partiality.

22 Do not lay hands [in ordination] hastily on anyone, do not thereby participate in the sins of others. Keep yourself pure.

23 Stop drinking only water; use a little wine because of your stomach and your frequent infirmities.

24 The sins of some men are obvious, leading the way into judgment, while those of others trail behind.

25 So also the good works are obvious; even the ones that are not, cannot be hidden.