1 Do not rebuke an older man, but appeal to him as if he were your father. Treat the younger men as your brothers,
2 the older women as mothers, and the younger women as sisters, with all purity.
3 Show respect for widows who really are all alone.
4 But if a widow has children or grandchildren, they should learn first to carry out their religious duties towards their own family and in this way repay their parents and grandparents, because that is what pleases God.
5 A widow who is all alone, with no one to take care of her, has placed her hope in God and continues to pray and ask him for his help night and day.
6 But a widow who gives herself to pleasure has already died, even though she lives.
7 Give them these instructions, so that no one will find fault with them.