'Widow' in the Bible

Then Judah said to Tamar, his daughter-in-law, "Stay a widow in your father's house until Shelah my son grows up," for {he feared he would also die} like his brother. So Tamar went and stayed in the house of her father.

" 'You will not afflict any widow or orphan.

A widow or a divorced woman or a defiled [woman], a prostitute--these he must not take; he shall take only a virgin from his people [as] wife.

But a priest's daughter, when she becomes a widow or divorced or there is no offspring for her, and she returns to her father's house as [in] her childhood, she may eat from her father's food, but {no layman may eat it}.

"But the vow of a widow or a woman who is divorced, all that she binds on herself will stand on her.

[And he] executes justice for the orphan and widow, and [he is] one who loves [the] alien, to give to them food and clothing.

And [so] the Levite may come, because there is no plot of ground for him or an inheritance with you, and the alien [also may come] and the orphan and the widow that [are] in your {towns}, and {they may eat their fill}, so that Yahweh your God may bless you in all [of] the work of your hand that you undertake."

And you shall rejoice before Yahweh your God, you and your son and your daughter and your slave and your slave woman and the Levite that [is] in your {towns} and the alien and the orphan and the widow who are in your midst in the place that Yahweh your God will choose to let his name dwell there.

and you shall rejoice at your feast, you and your son and your daughter and your slave and your slave woman and the Levite and the orphan and the widow that [are] in your {towns}.

You shall not subvert the rights of an alien [or] an orphan, and you shall not take as pledge [the] garment of a widow.

"When you reap your harvest in your field and you forget a sheaf in the field, you shall not return to get it, for it shall be for the alien, for the orphan, and for the widow, so that Yahweh your God may bless you in all the work of your hands.

When you beat off the fruit of your olive trees you shall not search through the branches afterward, for it shall be for the alien, for the orphan, and for the widow.

When you harvest [grapes], you shall not glean your vineyards {again}; it shall be for the alien, for the orphan, and for the widow.

"When you are finished {giving a tithe}, all of the tithe of your produce in the third year, the year of the tithe, then you shall give to the Levite, to the alien, to the orphan, and to the widow, so that they may eat in your towns and they may be satisfied.

And you shall say {before} Yahweh your God, 'I have removed the sacred portion from the house and, moreover, I have given it to the Levite and to the alien and to the orphan and to the widow according to all your commandment that you commanded me; I have not transgressed any of your commandments, and I have not forgotten [any of them].

'Cursed be the one who deprives [the] alien, [the] orphan, and [the] widow of justice.' And all the people shall say, 'Amen.'

Then the king asked her, "{What do you want}?" And she said, "Truly I [am] a widow, and my husband [is] dead.

He [was] the son of a widow woman from the tribe of Naphtali, and his father [was] a man of Tyre, an artisan of bronze. He was filled with wisdom and with ability and with the knowledge to do all the work with the bronze. And he came to King Solomon, and he did all of his work.

Now Jeroboam the son of Nebat, an Ephraimite from Zeredah (now the name of his mother [was] Zeruah, a widow woman), a servant of Solomon {rebelled against the king}.

"Get up and go to Zarephath which belongs to Sidon and stay there. Look, I have commanded a woman there, a widow, to sustain you."

So he arose and went to Zarephath and came to the gate of the city. There [was] a widow woman gathering wood, so he called to her, and he said, "Please bring a little water for me in a vessel so that I can drink."

Then he called to Yahweh and said, "O Yahweh my God, are you also causing evil to come upon the widow with whom I [am] dwelling as an alien by causing her son to die?"

[He] feeds on [the] barren, [who] does not have a child, and does no good to [the] widow.

They kill widow and stranger, and they murder orphans,

Let his children be orphans, and his wife a widow,

Yahweh protects [the] strangers. He helps up [the] orphan and [the] widow, but [the] way of [the] wicked he {thwarts}.

The house of the proud, Yahweh will tear [it] down, but he will maintain the {property line} of the widow.

Learn to do good! Seek justice! Rescue [the] oppressed! Defend [the] orphan! Plead for [the] widow!

Your princes [are] rebels and companions of thieves. Every one loves a bribe and runs after gifts. They do not defend [the] orphan and [the] legal dispute of [the] widow does not come before them.

Therefore now hear this, luxuriant [one] who sits in security, who says in her heart, "I [am], and besides me [there is] no one. I shall not sit [as] a widow, and I shall not know [the] loss of children."

you do not oppress [the] alien, [the] orphan, and [the] widow, you do not shed innocent blood in this place, and you do not go after other gods {to your harm},

Thus says Yahweh, "Act [with] justice and righteousness, and deliver [the] one who has been seized from the hand of [the] oppressor. And you must not oppress [the] immigrant, [the] orphan, and [the] widow. And you must not shed innocent blood in this place.

How desolate the city sits [that] was full of people! She has become like a widow, [once] great among the nations! Like a woman of nobility in the provinces, she has become a forced laborer.

They have treated father and mother with contempt in you; {they violated} the alien with extortion; in the midst of you they mistreated [the] orphan and widow.

And a widow or divorced [woman] they shall not take for themselves as wives, {but only} a virgin from the offspring of the house of Israel, or the widow who is a widow for a priest they may take.

You must not oppress [the] widow, [the] orphan, [the] foreigner, and [the] needy. You must not devise evil in your heart {against one another}.'

"Then I will approach you for judgment, and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers and against the adulterers, and against those who swear {falsely}, and against the oppressors of [the] hired worker [with his] wages, [the] widow and [the] orphan, and {the abusers of} [the] alien, and [yet] do not fear me," says Yahweh of hosts.

And one poor widow came [and] put in two small copper coins (that is, a penny).

And summoning his disciples, he said to them, "Truly I say to you that this poor widow put in more than all those who put [offerings] into the contribution box.

and herself [as] a widow up to eighty-four years) who did not depart from the temple with fastings and prayers, serving night and day.

And Elijah was sent to none of them, but only to Zarephath [in the region] of Sidon, to a woman [who was] a widow.

And as he approached the gate of the town, behold, a man who had died was being carried out, his mother's only son, and she was a widow. And a large crowd from the town was with her.

And there was a widow in that town, and she kept coming to him, saying, 'Grant me justice against my adversary!'

yet because this widow is causing trouble for me, I will grant her justice, so that she does not wear me down in the end [by her] coming back!'"

and he saw a certain poor widow putting in there two small copper coins.

And he said, "Truly I say to you that this poor widow put in more than all [of them].

But if any widow has children or grandchildren, they must learn to show profound respect for their own household first, and to pay back recompense to their parents, for this is pleasing in the sight of God.

But the widow [who is one] truly, and is left alone, has put her hope in God and continues in her petitions and prayers night and day.

Let a widow be put on the list [if she] is not less than sixty years [old], the wife of one husband,

As much as she glorified herself and lived in luxury, give to her so much torment and mourning, because in her heart she said, 'I sit as a queen, and am not a widow, and I will never see mourning!'