Passage

1 Timothy 5.13

Book: 1 Timothy · NASB95

Immediate context (±2 verses)

ASV

11. But younger widows refuse: for when they have waxed wanton against Christ, they desire to marry; 12. having condemnation, because they have rejected their first pledge.

13. And withal they learn also to be idle, going about from house to house; and not only idle, but tattlers also and busybodies, speaking things which they ought not.

I desire therefore that the younger widows marry, bear children, rule the household, give no occasion to the adversary for reviling: 15. for already some are turned aside after Satan. (1 Timothy 5:11-15, ASV)

WEB

11. But refuse younger widows, for when they have grown wanton against Christ, they desire to marry; 12. having condemnation, because they have rejected their first pledge.

13. Besides, they also learn to be idle, going about from house to house. Not only idle, but also gossips and busybodies, saying things which they ought not.

I desire therefore that the younger widows marry, bear children, rule the household, and give no occasion to the adversary for insulting. 15. For already some have turned aside after Satan. (1 Timothy 5:11-15, WEB)

KJV

11. But the younger widows refuse: for when they have begun to wax wanton against Christ, they will marry; 12. Having damnation, because they have cast off their first faith.

13. And withal they learn to be idle, wandering about from house to house; and not only idle, but tattlers also and busybodies, speaking things which they ought not.

I will therefore that the younger women marry, bear children, guide the house, give none occasion to the adversary to speak reproachfully. ^{to speak: Gr. for their railing} 15. For some are already turned aside after Satan. (1 Timothy 5:11-15, KJV)

YLT

11. and younger widows be refusing, for when they may revel against the Christ, they wish to marry, 12. having judgment, because the first faith they did cast away,

13. and at the same time also, they learn [to be] idle, going about the houses; and not only idle, but also tattlers and busybodies, speaking the things they ought not;

I wish, therefore, younger ones to marry, to bear children, to be mistress of the house, to give no occasion to the opposer to reviling; 15. for already certain did turn aside after the Adversary. (1 Timothy 5:11-15, YLT)

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Setting

Speaker: Paul, who names himself in the opening line (1:1) and writes in the first person throughout. Authorship of the three Pastoral Epistles (1 and 2 Timothy, Titus) is disputed. Many critical scholars hold that a later follower wrote them in Paul's name, pointing to differences of vocabulary and style from the undisputed letters and to a more settled church order. Others defend Paul's authorship, among them Luke Timothy Johnson (Anchor Bible, 2001), William Mounce (Word Biblical Commentary, 2000) and Philip Towner (NICNT, 2006), citing the letter's personal details and its acceptance in the second-century church.
Audience: Timothy, Paul's "true child in faith" (1:2), whom Paul had urged to stay on at Ephesus to stop certain men from teaching "a different doctrine" (1:3). Timothy came from Lystra, the son of a believing Jewish mother and a Greek father, and had travelled with Paul since the second missionary journey (Acts 16:1-3). The letter is addressed to him, but its directions on prayer, worship, overseers, deacons and widows are meant to order the church at Ephesus as a whole (3:14-15).
Location: not stated. Paul says he left Timothy at Ephesus "when I was going into Macedonia" (1:3) and hopes to rejoin him soon (3:14; 4:13), so Macedonia is the usual suggestion for where the letter was written.
Time period: on Pauline authorship, usually c. AD 62-65, after Paul's release from the Roman imprisonment that ends Acts, since the journey in 1:3 is hard to fit into the Acts narrative. Scholars who regard the letter as pseudonymous usually place it late in the first century or early in the second. The reading below does not depend on the choice.
Literary context: the instructions on widows (5:3-16). Verses 11-15 give the reasons why younger widows should not be enrolled on the church's list for support.

Theological reading

"And withal they learn also to be idle, going about from house to house; and not only idle, but tattlers also and busybodies, speaking things which they ought not." (1 Timothy 5:13, ASV)

The danger of support without work. Enrolled widows were supported by the church (5:16). A younger widow on the list, with no household to run, might drift into idleness, "going about from house to house". The concern is practical and pastoral, about what that way of life does to a person and to the church.

Speaking things which they ought not. "Tattlers" spread idle talk; "busybodies" meddle in other people's affairs. The closing phrase is nearly the same as one used of the false teachers in Titus 1:11, "teaching things which they ought not", and 2 Timothy 3:6 describes false teachers who "creep into houses". In a church troubled by false teaching that travelled through households, idle visiting could become a channel for it. Verse 15 says, "already some are turned aside after Satan."

Paul's remedy. "I desire therefore that the younger widows marry, bear children, rule the household, give no occasion to the adversary for reviling" (5:14). The verse is not a judgment on women in general. The same passage honors "widows indeed" who have "hope set on God" and continue "in supplications and prayers night and day" (5:3, 5). See 1 Timothy 5.3.

Key words

Theologically-loaded Greek or Hebrew words in this verse may have entries in the lexicon. Curated to roughly 100 contested terms across the corpus, not every word.

None of the words in this verse has its own lexicon entry yet.

Quoted in

Concepts:

Misogyny in the Bible Objection, via 1 Timothy 5.3-16

Passages:

1 Timothy 5.3

Notes

Your annotations.

Why these four translations

ris3n chose ASV, WEB, KJV, and YLT for two reasons together. They are the most literal English translations available (formal-equivalence: word-for-word renderings that preserve the Hebrew and Greek grammar rather than smoothing it into modern dynamic-equivalence idiom). And they are in the public domain in the United States, which means fair-use quotation at any length requires no publisher license. Modern licensed translations (NASB95, ESV, NIV) restrict volume of quotation under their copyright terms, so they are not used at stub-level coverage here. NASB95 appears only on hand-curated rich passage hubs under Lockman Foundation's fair-use allowance.

The four:

ASV (American Standard Version, 1901). The basis of the modern critical-text English tradition.
WEB (World English Bible, contemporary). Public-domain revision in the ASV line, in current English.
KJV (King James Version, 1611). Reformation-era, Textus Receptus base.
YLT (Young's Literal Translation, Robert Young, 1862). Hyper-literal preservation of Hebrew and Greek grammar; useful for word-study work even where English reads stiff.

See Bibles for the full per-translation history, translators, textual basis, strengths, and weaknesses.