76 Bible Verses about Widows

A father to orphans and an advocate for widows is God in his holy dwelling place.

He executes justice for the orphan and the widows, loves the foreigner, and gives them food and clothing."

The LORD stands guard over the stranger; he supports both widows and orphans, but makes the path of the wicked slippery.

The house of the proud the LORD will demolish, but he will protect the widow's boundary line.

Leave your orphans. I'll keep them alive. Let your widows trust in me."

As Jesus sat facing the offering box, he watched how the crowd was dropping their money into it. Many rich people were dropping in large amounts. Then a destitute widow came and dropped in two small copper coins, worth about a cent. He called his disciples and told them, "I tell all of you with certainty, this destitute widow has dropped in more than everyone who is contributing to the offering box, read more.
because all of them contributed out of their surplus, but out of her poverty she has given everything she had to live on."

Now Jesus looked up and saw rich people dropping their gifts into the offering box. Then he saw a destitute widow drop in two small copper coins. He said, "I tell you with certainty, this destitute widow has dropped in more than all of them, read more.
because all the others contributed to the offering out of their surplus, but she, in her poverty, dropped in everything she had to live on."

Soon afterwards, Jesus went to a city called Nain. His disciples and a large crowd were going along with him. As he approached the entrance to the city, a man who had died was being carried out. He was his mother's only son, and she was a widow. A large crowd from the city was with her. When the Lord saw her, he felt compassion for her. He told her, "You can stop crying." read more.
Then he went up and touched the bier, and the men who were carrying it stopped. He said, "Young man, I say to you, get up!" The man who had been dead sat up and began to speak, and Jesus gave him back to his mother.

Jesus told his disciples a parable about their need to pray all the time and never give up. He said, "In a city there was a judge who didn't fear God or respect people. In that city there was also a widow who kept coming to him and saying, "Grant me justice against my adversary.' read more.
For a while the judge refused. But later, he told himself, "I don't fear God or respect people, yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will grant her justice. Otherwise, she will keep coming and wear me out.'"

""Cursed is the one who perverts justice due the foreigner, the orphan, or the widow.' "Then all the people are to respond by saying, "Amen!'

"You are not to mistreat any widow or orphan. If you do mistreat them, they'll certainly cry out to me, and I'll immediately hear their cry. And I'll be angry and will kill you with swords, and your wives will become widows and your children orphans.

"They prey on the barren woman, and do no favors for widows. God prolongs the life of the strong by his power, but they get up in the morning without purpose in life.

The wicked kill widows and foreigners; they murder orphans.

"How terrible it will be for the one who enacts unjust decrees, for those who write oppressive laws that they have prescribed to deprive the needy of justice and to rob the poor of my people of their rights, so that widows may become their spoil and so that they may plunder orphans! What will you do on the day of Judgment, in the calamity that will come from far away? To whom will you run for help, and where will you leave your wealth,read more.
so you won't have to crouch among those in chains or fall among the slain? "Yet for all this, his anger has not turned away, and his hand is still stretched out, ready to strike."

This is what the LORD says: "Uphold justice and righteousness. Deliver from their oppressor those who have been robbed. Don't mistreat or do violence to the alien, the orphan, or the widow, or shed the blood of innocent people in this place. Rather, carefully obey this message, and then kings sitting for David on his throne and riding in chariots and on horses will enter the gates of this house. The king will enter along with his officials and his people. But if you don't listen to these words, I swear," declares the LORD, "that this house will become a ruin."'"

There's a conspiracy of prophets within her, and like a roaring lion tearing its prey, they've devoured people, and confiscated treasures, and taken precious things. They've added to the population of widows within her.

"You are not to mistreat any widow or orphan.

"How terrible it will be for the one who enacts unjust decrees, for those who write oppressive laws that they have prescribed to deprive the needy of justice and to rob the poor of my people of their rights, so that widows may become their spoil and so that they may plunder orphans!

They've treated mothers and fathers among you with contempt. They've oppressed the foreigner among you. They've maltreated the orphan and the widow among you.

"I'll come near to you for judgment. I'll be a witness, quick to speak against sorcerers, against adulterers, against those who swear falsely, against those who defraud the laborer of his wage, against those who defraud the widow and the orphan, against those who deprive the alien of justice, and against those who don't fear me," says the LORD of the Heavenly Armies.

As he taught, he said, "Beware of the scribes! They like to walk around in long robes, to be greeted in the marketplaces, and to have the best seats in the synagogues and the places of honor at banquets. They devour widows' houses and say long prayers to cover it up. They will receive greater condemnation!"

While all the people were listening, he told his disciples, "Beware of the scribes! They like to walk around in long robes and love to be greeted in the marketplaces and to have the best seats in the synagogues and the places of honor at banquets. They devour widows' houses and say long prayers to cover it up. They will receive greater condemnation!"

"When you are reaping in the field, and you overlook a sheaf, don't return to get it. Let it remain for the foreigner, the orphan, or the widow, in order that the LORD your God may bless everything you undertake.

Every third year, bring all the tithes of your produce of that year and store it in your cities so the descendants of Levi who have no tribal allotment as you do foreigners, orphans, and widows who live in your cities may come, eat, and be satisfied. That way, the LORD your God shall bless you in everything you do."

Rejoice in the presence of the LORD your God with your son, daughter, male and female slaves, the descendants of Levi who is in your city, the stranger, the orphan, and the widow among you, at the place where the LORD your God will choose to establish his name.

"Don't deny justice to a foreigner or to an orphan, nor take a widow's garment as collateral for a loan.

"When you have finished your harvest, reserve the tithe in the third year (the year of the tithe), and give the entire tithe to the descendants of Levi, to the foreigners, to the orphans, and to the widows, so they may eat and be satisfied in your cities.

Learn to practice what is good; seek justice, alleviate oppression, defend orphans in court, and plead the widow's case.

Honor widows who have no other family members to care for them.

But if a widow has children or grandchildren, they must first learn to respect their own family by repaying their parents, for this is pleasing in God's sight. A woman who has no other family members to care for her and who is left all alone has placed her hope in God and devotes herself to petitions and prayers night and day. But the self-indulgent widow is just as good as dead.read more.
Continue to give these instructions, so that they may be blameless. If anyone does not take care of his own relatives, especially his immediate family, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever. 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. She must be well known for her good actions as a woman who has raised children, welcomed strangers, washed the saints' feet, helped the suffering, and devoted herself to doing good in every way. 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. They receive condemnation because they have set aside their prior commitment to the Messiah. At the same time, they also learn how to be lazy while going from house to house. Not only this, but they even become gossips and keep busy by interfering in other people's lives, saying things they should not say. 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.

I say to those who are unmarried, especially to widows: It is good for them to remain like me. However, if they cannot control themselves, they should get married, for it is better to marry than to burn with passion.

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.

Rejoice in your festival you, your son, your daughter, your male and female slaves, the descendants of Levi, and foreigners, orphans, and widows, who live in your cities.

But Ruth answered, "Stop urging me to abandon you and to turn back from following you. Because wherever you go, I'll go. Wherever you live, I'll live. Your people will be my people, and your God, my God. Where you die, I'll die and be buried. May the LORD do this to me and more if anything except death comes between you and me."

But Elijah told her, "You can stop being afraid. Go and do what you said, but first make me a muffin and bring it to me. Then make a meal for yourself and for your son, because this is what the LORD God of Israel says: "That jar of flour will not run out, nor will that bottle of oil become empty until the very day that the LORD sends rain on the surface of the ground.'"

They drive away the orphan's donkey; they take the ox of the widow as security for a loan;

Those who were about to die blessed me, and I made widows sing for joy.

Now Anna, a prophetess, was also there. She was a descendant of Phanuel from the tribe of Asher. She was very old, having lived with her husband for seven years after her marriage, and then as a widow for 84 years. She never left the Temple, but continued to worship there night and day with times of fasting and prayer. Just then she came forward and began to thank God and to speak about Jesus to everyone who was waiting for the redemption of Jerusalem.

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.

Soon afterwards, Jesus went to a city called Nain. His disciples and a large crowd were going along with him. As he approached the entrance to the city, a man who had died was being carried out. He was his mother's only son, and she was a widow. A large crowd from the city was with her. When the Lord saw her, he felt compassion for her. He told her, "You can stop crying." read more.
Then he went up and touched the bier, and the men who were carrying it stopped. He said, "Young man, I say to you, get up!" The man who had been dead sat up and began to speak, and Jesus gave him back to his mother. Fear gripped everyone, and they began to praise God. "A great prophet has appeared among us," they said, and "God has helped his people." This news about Jesus spread throughout Judea and all the surrounding countryside.

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.

In Joppa there was a disciple named Tabitha, which in Greek is Dorcas. She was known for her good actions and acts of charity that she was always doing. At that time, she got sick and died. After they had washed her, they laid her in an upstairs room. Since Lydda was near Joppa, the disciples heard that Peter was there and sent two men to him and begged him, "Come here quickly!" read more.
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. Peter made them all go outside. After kneeling down, he prayed, turned to the body, and said, "Tabitha, get up!" She opened her eyes, and when she saw Peter, she sat up. He extended his hand and helped her get up. Then he called the saints, including the widows, and gave her back to them alive.

May his children become fatherless, and his wife a widow.

Therefore the Lord does not have pity on their young men, and has no compassion on their orphans and widows, because each of them was godless and an evildoer, and every mouth spoke folly. "Yet for all this, his anger has not turned away, and his hand is still stretched out, ready to strike.

I'll make their widows more numerous than the sand of the sea. At noontime I'll send a destroyer against the mother of a young man. I'll cause terror and anguish to come to her unexpectedly.

We are now orphans without fathers and our mothers are like widows.

"When two brothers are living together and one of them dies without leaving a son, his widow must not be married outside the family to a foreigner. Instead, the brother-in-law must go to her, take her as his wife, and by doing so perform the duty of a brother-in-law. The firstborn whom she will bear will continue the name of the dead brother, so his name will not be erased from Israel. But if the man does not want to marry his brother's widow, then she must go to the elders at the city gate and declare, "My husband's brother refuses to perform the duty of a brother-in-law in order to preserve the name of his brother in Israel. He is not willing to perform the duty of a brother-in-law.' read more.
Then the elders of the city are to summon him and speak with him. If he insists on saying, "I don't want to marry her,' then she is to approach her brother-in-law in the presence of the elders, remove his sandal, spit in his face, and say in response, "May this be done to the man who does not preserve the lineage of his brother.' Then his family name in Israel will be known as "the family of the one whose sandal was removed.'"

So Judah instructed Onan, "You are to have sexual relations with your dead brother's wife, performing the duty of a brother-in-law with her, and have offspring for your brother."

It's true that I'm your related redeemer, but there is another related redeemer even closer than I.

along with Mahlon's wife Ruth the Moabite woman. I will marry her to continue the family name as an inheritance, so that the name of the deceased does not disappear from among his relatives, nor from the public record. You are all witnesses today!"

"Teacher, Moses wrote for us that if a man's brother dies and leaves a wife but no child, he should marry the widow and have children for his brother.

and asked him, "Teacher, Moses wrote for us that if a man's brother dies and leaves a wife but no child, the man should marry the widow and have children for his brother.

"Furthermore, he is to marry a true virgin. He is not to marry a widow or one who has been divorced, has been defiled, or has been a prostitute. Instead, he is to take a virgin from among his people as his wife.

They are not to marry a widow or a divorced woman. Instead, they are to marry virgins from the descendants of the house of Israel, or a widow who is the widow of a priest."

How lonely she lies, the city that thronged with people! Like a widow she has become, this great one among nations! The princess among provinces has become a vassal.

"Don't be afraid, because you won't be ashamed; don't fear shame, for you won't be humiliated because you will forget the disgrace of your youth, and the reproach of your widowhood you will remember no more. For your Maker is your husband; the LORD of the Heavenly Armies is his name, and the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer; he is called the God of the whole earth.

Just as she glorified herself and lived in luxury, inflict on her just as much torture and misery. In her heart she says, "I am a queen on a throne, not a widow. I will never see misery.'

Then Naomi's husband Elimelech died, and she was left with her two sons.

"Get up, move to Zarephath in Sidon, and stay there. Look! I've commanded a widow to sustain you there."

Now there happened to be a certain woman who had been the wife of a member of the Guild of Prophets. She cried out to Elisha, "My husband who served you has died, and you know that your servant feared the LORD. But a creditor has come to take away my children into indentured servitude!"

Then a destitute widow came and dropped in two small copper coins, worth about a cent.

and then as a widow for 84 years. She never left the Temple, but continued to worship there night and day with times of fasting and prayer.

As he approached the entrance to the city, a man who had died was being carried out. He was his mother's only son, and she was a widow. A large crowd from the city was with her.

In that city there was also a widow who kept coming to him and saying, "Grant me justice against my adversary.'

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.

Now there came a time of famine while judges were ruling in the land of Israel. A man from Bethlehem of Judah, his wife, and his two sons left to live in the country of Moab. The man's name was Elimelech, his wife's name was Naomi, and their two sons were named Mahlon and Chilion Ephrathites from Bethlehem of Judah. They journeyed to the country of Moab and lived there for some time. Then Naomi's husband Elimelech died, and she was left with her two sons. read more.
Each of her sons married Moabite women: one named Orpah and the other named Ruth. After they lived there about ten years, both Mahlon and Chilion died, leaving Naomi alone with neither her husband nor her two sons.

When David arrived at his palace in Jerusalem, the king took the ten mistresses whom he had left behind to keep the palace in order and placed them in a separate house, providing for them under the care of a protective guard. He never visited them again, so they were under care until they died, living as if their husbands had died.

Those who do survive him disease will bury, and his widow won't even weep.

"Grieve like a virgin, who, dressed in her mourner's clothes, cries out in memory of the man she was going to marry.

Then a destitute widow came and dropped in two small copper coins, worth about a cent. He called his disciples and told them, "I tell all of you with certainty, this destitute widow has dropped in more than everyone who is contributing to the offering box, because all of them contributed out of their surplus, but out of her poverty she has given everything she had to live on."

Now Anna, a prophetess, was also there. She was a descendant of Phanuel from the tribe of Asher. She was very old, having lived with her husband for seven years after her marriage, and then as a widow for 84 years. She never left the Temple, but continued to worship there night and day with times of fasting and prayer.

Honor widows who have no other family members to care for them. But if a widow has children or grandchildren, they must first learn to respect their own family by repaying their parents, for this is pleasing in God's sight. A woman who has no other family members to care for her and who is left all alone has placed her hope in God and devotes herself to petitions and prayers night and day. read more.
But the self-indulgent widow is just as good as dead. Continue to give these instructions, so that they may be blameless. If anyone does not take care of his own relatives, especially his immediate family, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever. 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. She must be well known for her good actions as a woman who has raised children, welcomed strangers, washed the saints' feet, helped the suffering, and devoted herself to doing good in every way. 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. They receive condemnation because they have set aside their prior commitment to the Messiah. At the same time, they also learn how to be lazy while going from house to house. Not only this, but they even become gossips and keep busy by interfering in other people's lives, saying things they should not say. 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.