1 Timothy 5:16

Plain English Version

And, you know, some widows have relatives that can look after them. If a Christian woman has a relative that is a widow, she has to do that for her. She can’t ask the church to do it. Then the church can look after those other widows that haven’t got any family. They are the widows that really need help.

Cross References

1 Timothy 5:10

She has to be the sort of woman that everybody respects because she always did good things for people. She has to be a woman that brought her kids up properly. She has to be a woman that always gave strangers food and a place to sleep. She has to be a woman that did all sorts of things to help God’s people. She has to be a woman that always helped people in trouble and was always ready to do good things.

1 Timothy 5:9

So you can make up a list. Write down the names of all the widows that the church has to help. But only put a widow on the list if she is over 60 years old, and only if she always stayed with her husband and never went off with another man.