'Widows' in the Bible
"How terrible it will be for you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You devour widows' houses and say long prayers to cover it up. Therefore, you will receive greater condemnation!
They devour widows' houses and say long prayers to cover it up. They will receive greater condemnation!"
I'm telling you the truth there were many widows in Israel in Elijah's time, when it didn't rain for three years and six months and there was a severe famine everywhere in the land.
Yet Elijah wasn't sent to a single one of those widows except to one at Zarephath in Sidon.
They devour widows' houses and say long prayers to cover it up. They will receive greater condemnation!"
In those days, as the number of the disciples was growing larger and larger, a complaint was made by the Hellenistic Jews against the Hebraic Jews that their widows were being neglected in the daily distribution of food.
So Peter got up and went with them. When he arrived, they took him upstairs. All the widows gathered around Peter, crying and showing him all the shirts and coats Dorcas had made while she was still with them.
He extended his hand and helped her get up. Then he called the saints, including the widows, and gave her back to them alive.
I say to those who are unmarried, especially to widows: It is good for them to remain like me.
Honor widows who have no other family members to care for them.
A widow may be put on the widows' list if she is at least sixty years old and has been the wife of one husband.
But do not include younger widows on your list. For whenever their natural desires cause them to lose their devotion to the Messiah, they want to remarry.
Therefore, I want younger widows to remarry, have children, manage their homes, and not give the enemy any chance to ridicule them.
For some widows have already turned away to follow Satan.
If any woman is a believer and has relatives who are widows, she should help them. The church should not be burdened, so it can help those widows who have no other family members to care for them.
A religion that is pure and stainless according to God the Father is this: to take care of orphans and widows who are suffering, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.