Passage

1 Timothy 5.18

Book: 1 Timothy · ASV / WEB / KJV / YLT

Immediate context (±2 verses)

ASV

16. If any woman that believeth hath widows, let her relieve them, and let not the church be burdened; that it may relieve them that are widows indeed. 17. Let the elders that rule well be counted worthy of double honor, especially those who labor in the word and in teaching.

18. For the scripture saith, Thou shalt not muzzle the ox when he treadeth out the corn. And, The laborer is worthy of his hire.

Against an elder receive not an accusation, except at the mouth of two or three witnesses. 20. Them that sin reprove in the sight of all, that the rest also may be in fear. (1 Timothy 5:16-20, ASV)

WEB

16. If any man or woman who believes has widows, let them relieve them, and don’t let the assembly be burdened; that it might relieve those who are widows indeed. 17. Let the elders who rule well be counted worthy of double honor, especially those who labor in the word and in teaching.

18. For the Scripture says, “You shall not muzzle the ox when it treads out the grain.” And, “The laborer is worthy of his wages.”

Don’t receive an accusation against an elder, except at the word of two or three witnesses. 20. Those who sin, reprove in the sight of all, that the rest also may be in fear. (1 Timothy 5:16-20, WEB)

KJV

16. If any man or woman that believeth have widows, let them relieve them, and let not the church be charged; that it may relieve them that are widows indeed. 17. Let the elders that rule well be counted worthy of double honour, especially they who labour in the word and doctrine.

18. For the scripture saith, Thou shalt not muzzle the ox that treadeth out the corn. And, The labourer is worthy of his reward.

Against an elder receive not an accusation, but before two or three witnesses. ^{before: or, under} 20. Them that sin rebuke before all, that others also may fear. (1 Timothy 5:16-20, KJV)

YLT

16. If any believing man or believing woman have widows, let them relieve them, and let not the assembly be burdened, that those really widows it may relieve. 17. The well-leading elders of double honour let them be counted worthy, especially those labouring in word and teaching,

18. for the Writing saith, 'An ox treading out thou shalt not muzzle,' and 'Worthy [is] the workman of his reward.'

Against an elder an accusation receive not, except upon two or three witnesses. 20. Those sinning, reprove before all, that the others also may have fear; (1 Timothy 5:16-20, 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 elders (5:17-25). Elders who rule well, "especially those who labor in the word and in teaching", are to be "counted worthy of double honor" (5:17), and verse 18 gives the scriptural ground.

Theological reading

"For the scripture saith, Thou shalt not muzzle the ox when he treadeth out the corn. And, The laborer is worthy of his hire." (1 Timothy 5:18, ASV)

Double honor. "Honor" here includes material support, as the two quotations show: the working ox is not to be denied its food, and the worker is owed his wages. Paul applies the first text the same way in 1 Corinthians 9:9, where he defends the right of ministers to be supported while choosing to waive it himself (1 Corinthians 9:12-15).

Two texts under "the scripture saith". The first quotation is Deuteronomy 25:4. The second, "The laborer is worthy of his hire", agrees word for word in Greek with the saying of Jesus in Luke 10:7; Matthew's form ends "worthy of his food" (Matthew 10:10). If both quotations stand under "the scripture saith", a saying of Jesus in the form Luke preserves is ranked beside the Law of Moses as Scripture. Readers who hold Pauline authorship see this as very early evidence that the words of Jesus, perhaps in written form, were already placed alongside the Old Testament; compare 2 Peter 3:16, which ranks Paul's letters with "the other scriptures". Others take the second line as a proverb added after the Scripture quotation, or as drawn from the oral tradition of Jesus' sayings rather than a written Gospel. See Canon, Deuteronomy 25.4 and Luke 10.7.

The principle. Those who give themselves to preaching and teaching may rightly be supported by those they serve. The same chapter guards against abuse by requiring evidence before charges are heard (5:19) and public rebuke for elders who persist in sin (5:20).

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.

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Notes

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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.