What Does 1 Timothy 5:4 Mean in the King James?
But if any widow have children or nephews, let them learn first to shew piety at home, and to requite their parents: for that is good and acceptable before God.
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
Here, reverence for God takes visible form as care returned to the family that once cared for you.
THE MEANING
Where a widow has children or descendants, the verse places their first lesson in care for their own household: devotion to God takes shape in returning care to parents. What they received is answered with practical care now, and this is good and welcome before God.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The belief that reverence for God belongs only in explicitly religious acts dissolves here: care for a parent is itself called devotion to God.
THE ROOT
εὐσεβεῖν
eusebein
GROWS FROM
σεβ
seb
Revere; show reverence.
“show piety” in this verse is eusebein. The word for showing piety belongs to a family built on reverence, and the verse places that reverence inside one’s own household. Caring for parents is presented as devotion itself, not as something separate from devotion to God.
ALSO GROWS
sebomai: Revere; worship.
σέβομαι
This related verb makes the reverence beneath household piety audible.
eusebeia: Piety; reverence.
εὐσέβεια
The noun names the same quality the verse says is practiced through care at home.
ἀποδιδόναι
apodidonai
GROWS FROM
δο
do
Give; render.
The verb rendered “requite” means to give back or render. Care moves in return: what once came toward the parent now comes back from the child.
ALSO GROWS
didōmi: Give; grant.
δίδωμι
This is the underlying verb for giving within “give back.”
antapodidōmi: Repay; give in return.
ἀνταποδίδωμι
This related verb makes the reciprocal movement explicit.
μανθανέτωσαν
manthanetōsan
GROWS FROM
μανθαν
manthan
Learn; acquire understanding through learning.
The verse says to learn this care, placing it among the practices formed at home. The same word family gives μαθητής (mathētēs, learner or disciple), so care is framed as something learned and lived, not merely felt.
ALSO GROWS
manthanō: Learn; come to understand.
μανθάνω
This is the verb’s base form and emphasizes care as a learned practice.
mathētēs: Learner; disciple.
μαθητής
Its shared word family links learning in the household with the formation of a learner.
THE PATTERN
Reverence becomes concrete through care that honors and sustains parents.
Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee.And Joseph nourished his father, and his brethren, and all his father’s household, with bread, according to their families.And ye suffer him no more to do ought for his father or his mother;THE THREAD
Render therefore to all their dues: tribute to whom tribute is due; custom to whom custom; fear to whom fear; honour to whom honour.“Render” here comes from the same Greek verb family as “requite” in 1 Timothy 5:4: both carry the sense of giving back or giving what is due. That shared root reveals the verse’s emphasis on returned care as a concrete form of honoring parents.
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