The Hebrew and Greek that is translated as “widow” in English is translated in West Kewa as ona wasa or “woman shadow” (source: Karl J. Franklin in Notes on Translation 70/1978, pp. 13ff.) and in Newari as “husband already died ones” or “ones who have no husband” (source: Newari Back Translation).
In Cherokee the term is gender neutral and translates to “one who has lost someone.” (Source: Bender / Belt 2025, p. 100)
The etymological meaning of the Hebrewalmanah (אַלְמָנָה) is likely “pain, ache,” the Greekchéra (χήρα) is likely “to leave behind,” “abandon,” and the Englishwidow (as well as related terms in languages such as Dutch, German, Sanskrit, Welsh, or Persian) is “to separate,” “divide” (source: Wiktionary).
Following are a number of back-translations of 1 Timothy 5:11:
Uma: “As for young widows, don’t right away write their names in the book of widows. For if they still have a desire to get married, they will get married again. In the end they will be guilty for they will have transgressed their promise to Kristus that said they would do only the Lord’s work.” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “But if the widows are still young, don’t (sing.) include them in your (sing.) list because their thinking easily changes. If their desire/want to have a husband arrives, they turn their backs on their working for Isa Almasi.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “Do not list the young widow women, for there will be a time when by means of the desires of their bodies they will want to get married again.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “As for the widows who are not overly old, don’t you (pl.) add them to the list, because if what their bodies wants becomes-stronger than their intention to serve Cristo, they will again want to get-married.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tagbanwa: “But those widow women who are still young, don’t include them. Because probably the time will come when they want to be married again. They no longer want to face/attend-to this responsibility/job of theirs which they promised to Cristo.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
Tenango Otomi: “But concerning the widows who are younger, do not appoint them to help at the church. Because perhaps they will find someone to marry again. Then they will separate from the work of Christ they are doing.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)
The Greek Christos (Χρηστός) is typically transliterated when it appears together with Iésous (Ἰησοῦς) (Jesus). In English the transliteration is the Anglicized “Christ,” whereas in many other languages it is based on the Greek or Latin as “Kristus,” “Cristo,” or similar.
When used as a descriptive term in the New Testament — as it’s typically done in the gospels (with the possible exceptions of for instance John 1:17 and 17:3) — Christos is seen as the Greek translation of the Hebrew mashiaḥ (המשיח) (“anointed”). Accordingly, a transliteration of mashiaḥ is used, either as “Messiah” or based on the Greek or Latin as a form of “Messias.”
This transliteration is also used in the two instances where the Greek term Μεσσίας (Messias) is used in John 1:41 and 4:25.
In some languages and some translations, the term “Messiah” is supplemented with an explanation. Such as in the GermanGute Nachricht with “the Messiah, the promised savior” (Wir haben den Messias gefunden, den versprochenen Retter) or in Muna with “Messiah, the Saving King” (Mesias, Omputo Fosalamatino) (source: René van den Berg).
In predominantly Muslim areas or for Bible translations for a Muslim target group, Christos is usually transliterated from the Arabic al-Masih (ٱلْمَسِيحِ) — “Messiah.” In most cases, this practice corresponds with languages that also use a form of the Arabic Isa (عيسى) for Jesus (see Jesus). There are some exceptions, though, including modern translations in Arabic which use Yasua (يَسُوعَ) (coming from the Aramaic Yēšūa’) alongside a transliteration of al-Masih, Hausa which uses Yesu but Almahisu, and some Fula languages (Adamawa Fulfulde, Nigerian Fulfulde, and Central-Eastern Niger Fulfulde) which also use a form of Iésous (Yeesu) but Almasiihu (or Almasiifu) for Christos.
In Indonesian, while most Bible translations had already used Yesus Kristus rather than Isa al Masih, three public holidays used to be described using the term Isa Al Masih. From 2024 on, the government is using Yesus Kristus in those holiday names instead (see this article in Christianity Today ).
Other solutions that are used by a number of languages include these:
Dobel: “The important one that God had appointed to come” (source: Jock Hughes)
Noongar: Keny Mammarap or “The One Man” (source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang)
Mairasi: “King of not dying for life all mashed out infinitely” (for “mashed out,” see salvation; source: Lloyd Peckham)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “One chosen by God to rule mankind” (source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Bacama: Ma Pwa a Ngɨltən: “The one God has chosen” (source: David Frank in this blog post )
Binumarien: Anutuna: originally a term that was used for a man that was blessed by elders for a task by the laying on of hands (source: Desmond Oatridges, Holzhausen 1991, p. 49f.)
Noongar: Keny Boolanga-Yira Waangki-Koorliny: “One God is Sending” (source: Warda-Kwabba Luke-Ang)
Uab Meto: Neno Anan: “Son of heaven” P. Middelkoop explains: “The idea of heavenly power bestowed on a Timorese king is rendered in the title Neno Anan. It is based on the historical fact that chiefs in general came from overseas and they who come thence are believed to have come down from heaven, from the land beyond the sea, that means the sphere of God and the ghosts of the dead. The symbolical act of anointing has been made subservient to the revelation of an eternal truth and when the term Neno Anan is used as a translation thereof, it also is made subservient to a new revelation of God in Jesus Christ. The very fact that Jesus came from heaven makes this translation hit the mark.” (Source: P. Middelkoop in The Bible Translator 1953, p. 183ff. )
In Finnish Sign Language both “Christ” and “Messiah” are translated with a sign signifying “king.” (Source: Tarja Sandholm)
“Christ / Messiah” in Finnish Sign Language (source )
Law (2013, p. 97) writes about how the Ancient GreekSeptuagint‘s translation of the Hebrew mashiah was used by the New Testament writers as a bridge between the Old and New Testaments (click or tap here to read more):
“Another important word in the New Testament that comes from the Septuagint is christos, ‘Christ.’ Christ is not part of the name of the man from Nazareth, as if ‘the Christs’ were written above the door of his family home. Rather, ‘Christ’ is an explicitly messianic title used by the writers of the New Testament who have learned this word from the Septuagint’s translation of the Hebrew mashiach, ‘anointed,’ which itself is often rendered in English as ‘Messiah.’ To be sure, one detects a messianic intent on the part of the Septuagint translator in some places. Amos 4:13 may have been one of these. In the Hebrew Bible, God ‘reveals his thoughts to mortals,’ but the Septuagint has ‘announcing his anointed to humans.’ A fine distinction must be made, however, between theology that was intended by the Septuagint translators and that developed by later Christian writers. In Amos 4:13 it is merely possible we have a messianic reading, but it is unquestionably the case that the New Testament writers exploit the Septuagint’s use of christos, in Amos and elsewhere, to messianic ends.”
The next five verses (11-14) deal with younger widows, that is, widows who are less than 60 years of age. Because of the change of topic, it is probably best to start a new paragraph at this point, as Good News Translation and many other translations have done.
Timothy is exhorted not to enroll these younger widows. Refuse to enroll is the imperative form of a verb that literally means “to reject.” The problem of a literal rendering is that it could give rise to the misunderstanding that these younger widows should not be accepted as members of the church, when in fact the intention surely is not to include these widows in the list of real widows who are eligible to receive material support from the church and who in return are expected to perform certain functions within the Christian community. Accordingly most modern translations make this intention explicit. For comments on enroll see 1 Tim. 5.9. Younger may also be expressed as “under (or, less than) sixty years of age.”
The main reason for not including such younger widows in the list is that their desires may take control of them, and they would then want to get married. Revised Standard Version is difficult to understand. What does grow wanton against Christ mean, and how is this related to the next clause (they desire to marry)? The verb translated grow wanton appears only here in the New Testament and means “to experience strong physical desires,” particularly of a sexual nature. It is when these younger widows experience this kind of sensuality that they want to marry again, and this desire to remarry results in or is interpreted as a turning away from Christ, since, as verse 12 makes clear, widows who are included in the list are obligated to make a vow to serve Christ on a full-time basis and therefore should not remarry. It is very important for the translator to make these relationships clear. Another way to express this sentence is “because, when they experience strong sexual desires, they want to marry.”
Condemnation is literally “judgment.” Good News Translation‘s “and so become guilty of” gives the meaning more clearly than Revised Standard Version‘s translation. One may also say “and in this way God condemns her for….” Violated translates a verb that means “set aside,” “disregard as invalid,” “refuse to recognize the validity of something.” The first pledge refers to the widow’s vow not to remarry, which she made in order to fulfill her functions within the Christian community. What all this means is that, when a young widow wants to remarry, she invalidates her vow not to remarry. And as a result she incurs the judgment and condemnation of God.
These two verses tend to support the position held by many scholars that widows in fact occupied a particular position in the early church, with clearly defined functions; this office of the widow was just as clearly defined as that of the deacon, elder, and overseer.
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 .
But refuse to enroll younger widows: The order of the words in the Greek text indicate that Paul was now focusing on the younger widows as his topic. The New International Version (2011 Revision) shows this by saying, “As for younger widows,” but you should use a natural way in your language to show this focus.
But refuse to enroll: That is, they should not be put on the list mentioned in 5:9a.
younger widows: This Greek phrase refers to widows who were younger than sixty.
5:11b
For: This introduces the first reason that Paul gives for excluding younger widows from the list.
when their passions draw them away from Christ: The Berean Standard Bible phrase their passions draw them away translates a single Greek word. This word only occurs here in the New Testament. It implies that Paul did not expect these young women to be able to discipline or restrain their physical (sexual) desires. He expected these desires to grow and to become stronger than the women’s desire to serve Christ.
Christ: Notice that in this verse Paul refers to Jesus only using the name Christ. It is recommended that you do the same thing.
The word Christ is used two ways in the New Testament. In the Gospels, Christ is a title for Jesus. It means “the anointed one.” But later, by the time that Paul and others wrote letters to individuals and churches, the word Christ was used as another name for Jesus. It was no longer used as a title. So here and in other New Testament letters you should spell Christ according to the rules of your language.
5:11c
they will want to marry: It seems that these younger widows promised in some way that they would serve Christ as widows for the rest of their lives without remarrying. However later on, they change their mind. Paul was saying that it was not realistic for young widows to promise this because most young widows would want to remarry.
Made available under the terms of a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License (CC BY-SA) creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0
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.
Living Water is produced for the Bible translation movement in association with Lutheran Bible Translators. Lyrics derived from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®).
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.