Paragraph 5:16
In 5:16 Paul summarized what he had been teaching about widows in the earlier part of the chapter. Use a natural way in your language to indicate that this is a summary. For example, you could start the verse with a phrase like:
I say again…
5:16a
If any believing woman has dependent widows:
Some of the older translations, like the King James Version, say “man or woman,” instead of only saying “woman.” The King James Version says, “If any man or woman that believeth have widows….” However, “woman” is probably the correct text. The Editorial Committee of the UBS Handbook New Testament (4
th edition) gives the reading “believing woman” a {C} rating, indicating that the Committee had difficulty in deciding which variant to place in the text. Metzger, page 642, says, “…a majority of the Committee, observing that the shorter reading is somewhat better attested than the longer reading, regarded the latter as a natural expansion made by copyists who, in light of ver. 4, felt that a restriction of the principle of this verse to Christian women was unfair.”) Paul knew that some of the believing women in Ephesus had widows in their families. Therefore, in some languages, it will not be possible to use an “if” clause here. If that is true in your language, you could say:
Believing women who have widows in their families should…
believing woman: Paul only mentioned women believers here. However, 5:8 makes it clear that men also had this duty. See the note on 5:8a.
dependent widows: Paul used widows(plur) here because a woman might have more than one widow to care for. For example, she may need to care for her mother, her mother-in-law and her grandmother.
5:16c
not allow the church to be burdened: This phrase indicates that believers should not need to care for widows who had families of their own. A literal translation would be difficult in many languages. Some ways that may make the meaning clearer are, For example:
it is not right for her to ask the church to take care of them
-or-
she should not give the church the responsibility of providing for the widows in her family
church: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as church does not refer to a church building, but to all true believers. Together they form the assembly or community of God’s people. Avoid using a term that might suggest that Paul was referring to a building. Some ways to translate the term church are:
the assembly of God’s people
-or-
the community of God’s people
-or-
God’s family
-or-
God’s people
See also the notes on 3:5b and 3:15c.
5:16d
so that it can help the widows who are truly in need: This part of the verse tells the purpose for which Paul gave his command in the rest of 5:16. He wanted to ensure that the believers had enough resources to help the widows who had no family.
it: Here, the pronoun it refers to the church. See the note on 5:16c.
the widows who are truly in need: This is the same phrase that was used in 5:3.
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All Scripture quotations in this publication, unless otherwise indicated, are from The Holy Bible, Berean Standard Bible. BSB is produced in cooperation with Bible Hub, Discovery Bible, OpenBible.com, and the Berean Bible Translation Committee.