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11 But do not put the names of younger widows on the list. They may decide to marry again, because they strongly want to have sex. Then they will no longer choose to serve Christ. 12 As a result, they will stop doing what they had earlier promised to do for the church. That will make them guilty.[a]

13 Young widows may learn to be lazy. They may go around from house to house. Not only do they become lazy, but they talk too much about silly things. They talk wrongly about other people and what they are doing. They say things that they ought not to say.

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Footnotes

  1. 5:12 The church had a list of widows who needed help. These were widows who could serve God's people in a good way. The church would help them with food or money. Probably those widows had to promise to serve the church in some way. They may have promised to serve Christ and not to marry again.