The Greek that is translated as “blameless” or “guiltless” or similar in English is translated in Huautla Mazatec as ni̱jme jìn kjoa̱ xi chꞌao tjín koansjaitꞌain or “do not find any ugly / bad matter for them.” Jean Paul Gotopo Maldonado who is participating in the work on a new translation explains: “In Huautla Mazatec there is no term to indicate the irreproachable character of a person, therefore this concept is described with a phrase.”
In the Catholic Mandarin ChineseSigao version it is translated with a historical Chinese idiom: wúkě zhǐzhāi (無可指摘 / 无可指摘) or “beyond reproach (lit. “nothing to point out”).” (Source: Toshikazu S. Foley in Hong Kong Journal of Catholic Studies, 2011, p. 45ff.)
Following are a number of back-translations of 1 Timothy 5:7:
Uma: “Deliver these commands of mine to them so that their character be above reproach [lit., not accuse-able].” (Source: Uma Back Translation)
Yakan: “Pass this teaching/preaching of mine on to the ones trusting in Isa who are there so that there is nothing people can accuse/criticize (salla’) them of.” (Source: Yakan Back Translation)
Western Bukidnon Manobo: “This which I have taught you, thoroughly command the believers there so that there may be nothing to blame them for.” (Source: Western Bukidnon Manobo Back Translation)
Kankanaey: “Command these-things to the believers there (near addressee) so that other people have no cause-for-accusing-them -of-sin.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Tagbanwa: “Therefore fully-explain well to the believers these things which have been commanded so that they won’t be negatively-criticized by otbers.” (Source: Tagbanwa Back Translation)
Tenango Otomi: “This then is the word you tell the believers to do so that no one will say that it is not right what they do.” (Source: Tenango Otomi Back Translation)
Command is to announce something that ought to be done, hence “to order.” This is literally “these things” (compare Good News Translation “these instructions”). What this refers to is not obviously clear. Does it look backward or forward? If it looks backward, then it may refer to all the instructions given from verse 1 through verse 6, or else only to the instructions regarding widows beginning at verse 3. If it looks forward, then it may refer to the rest of the instructions regarding widows and their relatives (verses 8-16), or some parts of the passage, most preferably verse 8 that immediately follows. In this case an alternative translation model is “Give them the following instructions….” On the whole the first option seems preferable. Good News Translation‘s use of “But” at the beginning of verse 8 seems to indicate that it follows this interpretation.
The purpose of giving these instructions is so that they may be without reproach. What they refers to is of course dependent on how this is interpreted. If this refers to instructions to both widows and their relatives, then they likewise would refer to widows and their relatives. If, however, this is limited to instructions directed at widows, then they would be limited to widows as well. A literal translation would include both possibilities but would also be very unclear. However, in many languages it will be necessary to make explicit what seems implicit in the Greek. If a translator feels that the instructions are aimed at only the widows, one may say “Give the widows these instructions, so that they…”; but if it is felt that both the widows and their families are in focus, one must translate, for example, “Give the widows and their families these instructions, so that they….”
Without reproach is the same word mentioned as one of the qualities of a bishop in 3.2. The meaning here is that these instructions should be given so that the rest of the congregation would not “find fault” with the widows, and possibly with the widows’ relatives.
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 .
5:7 begins with the Greek connector kai that is often translated as “and” or “also.” Here, it probably means that Timothy should give these instructions “in addition to” the other instructions that Paul wanted Timothy to give to the believers.
Give these instructions to the believers: In the Greek text Paul did not say to whom Timothy was to give the instructions. The Berean Standard Bible has used the believers as the implicit object. There are two possibilities:
(1) Timothy was to give the instructions to the believers in general.
(Berean Standard Bible, New International Version (2011 Revision), New Living Translation (2004 Revision), Contemporary English Version, New Century Version, Revised English Bible)
(2) Timothy was to give the instructions to the widows.
(New Jerusalem Bible, Good News Translation)
Most English translations follow the Greek text and do not include an object. Therefore they are ambiguous. See the Revised Standard Version, New American Standard Bible, King James Version, God’s Word, and NET Bible.
It is recommended that you follow interpretation (1), because in this context Paul was talking about the way that believers should help widows. Therefore it was more likely that he meant the instructions to be for the whole group of believers.
these instructions: The expression these instructions refers to Paul’s instructions about the widows in the preceding verses.
5:7b
so that they will be above reproach: This means, “so that other people will have no reason to criticize them.”
There are two ways to interpret the pronoun “they” in this context:
(1) It refers to the believers.
(Berean Standard Bible, New International Version (2011 Revision), New Century Version, Contemporary English Version)
(2) It refers to the widows.
(New Jerusalem Bible, Revised English Bible, God’s Word, probably also Good News Translation, Revised Standard Version, King James Version, New American Standard Bible, NET Bible, New Living Translation (2004 Revision))
It is recommended that you follow interpretation (1). In 5:7a Paul told Timothy to command the believers to care for widows. Therefore, when Paul mentioned they here he was probably referring generally to believers and saying that no believer should be open to blame.
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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.
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®).
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