The word for Honor is used here to mean showing reverential respect and sympathy, but this has been interpreted to include caring and providing for material needs. While this is supported by the context (see especially verse 16), it is perhaps best to take Honor in its narrower sense, that is, as showing an attitude of respect, but which then results in caring concern; in other words, respecting the widows in a practical way. Perhaps one may translate “Do good for the widows…,” or “Pay attention to (or, Take care of) the needs of the widows…,” or even “Show respect for the widows by paying attention to their needs.”

Widows who are real widows is literally “widows who really are widows,” that is, widows who have no means of material support other than the Christian community. This is certainly the reason for the Good News Translation rendering “widows who really are all alone,” with “alone” interpreted not primarily in a physical sense (that is living alone) but in the sense that these widows have no family members or relatives to support them materially and therefore are completely dependent on the community for their material needs. Another way of expressing this sentence is “widows who have no one to support them,” “widows who have no family members alive,” or “any widow who is really needy.”

An alternative translation model for this verse is:
• Show respect to the widows who have no family members alive to support them. Do this by paying attention to their needs.

Quoted with permission from Arichea, Daniel C. and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on Paul’s First Letter to Timothy. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1995. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .