1 Timothy 5:13

they learnto be idle Insert -also"; R.V. they learn also to be idle. The position of -idle" and the stress in the next clause -not only idlers but" point to this construction, making -idle" predicate, though no infinitive -to be," -to become," is inserted. The rendering of Bp Wordsworth, Grimm and others, -Being idle they are learners running about from house to house," gives indeed -an oxymoron a common figure of speech with St Paul." But the authority for -learn" in so absolute a sense is very doubtful, since everywhere, e.g. in 1 Timothy 2:11. -let a woman learn in silence," and 2 Timothy 3:7, -always learning and never able to come to the full knowledge," there is much more in the context of connected phraseand subject.

wandering about from house to house Lit. -the houses" that made up the Christian settlement: so 2 Timothy 3:6, -they that creep into our houses." Compare 3 John 1:14, -our friends salute thee."

tattlers also and busybodies The first word occurs again only as participle in 3 John 1:10, -tattling of us with evil words." -Its derivation (connected with fluere) points to a babbling profluentway of talking." Bp Ellicott. -Busybodies," prying round into other people's business; so 2 Thessalonians 3:11, -not busy, but busybodies." Hence its use for -magical arts," Acts 19:19. Contrast the epithet of the younger women, Titus 2:5 (best mss.) -busy at home," which is not found elsewhere.