Historically, widows are amongst the most vulnerable groups of people in our societies. On top of struggling with all the loneliness and hardships of surviving the loss of their loved ones, they also often get mistreated and oppressed by people who are supposed to have their backs.
However, amidst all the challenges, the Bible reminds us that God has a plan for widows. He not only hears their cries for help, but He also helps them to get justice when they’re oppressed.
Let’s now take a look at 31 Bible verses about widows that not only teach us about how to treat widows in our communities but also provide some guidelines on how widows should conduct themselves.
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List of Bible verses about widows
Exodus 22:22-23
“Do not take advantage of the widow or the fatherless. If you do and they cry out to me, I will certainly hear their cry.”
Deuteronomy 10:18
“He defends the cause of the fatherless and the widow, and loves the foreigner residing among you, giving them food and clothing.”
Jeremiah 7:6
“If you do not oppress the foreigner, the fatherless, or the widow and do not shed innocent blood in this place, and if you do not follow other gods to your own harm,”
Deuteronomy 27:19
“Cursed is anyone who withholds justice from the foreigner, the fatherless or the widow.”
Psalm 68:5
“A father to the fatherless, a defender of widows, is God in his holy dwelling.”
Proverbs 15:25
“The Lord tears down the house of the proud, but he sets the widow’s boundary stones in place.”
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Psalm 146:9
“The Lord watches over the foreigner and sustains the fatherless and the widow, but he frustrates the ways of the wicked.”
Deuteronomy 14:29
“The Levite, because he has no portion or inheritance among you, and the stranger, and the fatherless, and the widow, who are within your gates, shall come, and shall eat and be satisfied; that the Lord your God may bless you in all the work of your hand which you do.”
Proverbs 22:22-23
“Do not exploit the poor because they are poor and do not crush the needy in court, for the Lord will take up their case and will exact life for life.”
Isaiah 1:17
“Learn to do right; seek justice. Defend the oppressed. Take up the cause of the fatherless; plead the case of the widow.”
1 Timothy 5:5
“The widow who is really in need and left all alone puts her hope in God and continues night and day to pray and to ask God for help.”
Isaiah 10:1-2
“Woe to those who make unjust laws, to those who issue oppressive decrees, to deprive the poor of their rights and withhold justice from the oppressed of my people, making widows their prey and robbing the fatherless.”
Deuteronomy 24:20
“When you beat the olives from your trees, do not go over the branches a second time. Leave what remains for the foreigner, the fatherless and the widow.”
Isaiah 54:4-5
“Do not be afraid; you will not be put to shame. Do not fear disgrace; you will not be humiliated. You will forget the shame of your youth and remember no more the reproach of your widowhood. For your Maker is your husband— the Lord Almighty is his name— the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer; he is called the God of all the earth.”
Jeremiah 49:11
“Leave your orphans; I will protect their lives. Your widows too can trust in me.”
Zechariah 7:9-10
“This is what the Lord Almighty said: ‘Administer true justice; show mercy and compassion to one another. Do not oppress the widow or the fatherless, the foreigner or the poor. Do not plot evil against each other.’”
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Malachi 3:5
“So I will come to put you on trial. I will be quick to testify against sorcerers, adulterers and perjurers, against those who defraud laborers of their wages, who oppress the widows and the fatherless, and deprive the foreigners among you of justice, but do not fear me,” says the Lord Almighty.”
Luke 20:47
“They devour widows’ houses, and for a show make lengthy prayers. These men will be punished most severely.”
Acts 20:35
“In everything I did, I showed you that by this kind of hard work we must help the weak, remembering the words the Lord Jesus himself said: ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’”
Romans 7:2-3
“For example, by law a married woman is bound to her husband as long as he is alive, but if her husband dies, she is released from the law that binds her to him. So then, if she has sexual relations with another man while her husband is still alive, she is called an adulteress. But if her husband dies, she is released from that law and is not an adulteress if she marries another man.”
Deuteronomy 24:17
“Do not deprive the foreigner or the fatherless of justice, or take the cloak of the widow as a pledge.”
1 Corinthians 7:8-9
“Now to the unmarried and the widows I say: It is good for them to stay unmarried, as I do. But if they cannot control themselves, they should marry, for it is better to marry than to burn with passion.”
1 Timothy 5:3-4
“Give proper recognition to those widows who are really in need. But if a widow has children or grandchildren, these should learn first of all to put their religion into practice by caring for their own family and so repaying their parents and grandparents, for this is pleasing to God.”
Deuteronomy 24:19
“When you are harvesting in your field and you overlook a sheaf, do not go back to get it. Leave it for the foreigner, the fatherless and the widow, so that the Lord your God may bless you in all the work of your hands.”
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1 Timothy 5:14
“So I counsel younger widows to marry, to have children, to manage their homes and to give the enemy no opportunity for slander.”
Deuteronomy 26:12
“When you have finished setting aside a tenth of all your produce in the third year, the year of the tithe, you shall give it to the Levite, the foreigner, the fatherless and the widow, so that they may eat in your towns and be satisfied.”
1 Timothy 5:16:
“If any woman who is a believer has widows in her care, she should continue to help them and not let the church be burdened with them, so that the church can help those widows who are really in need.”
Isaiah 47:8-9
“Now then, listen, you lover of pleasure, lounging in your security and saying to yourself, ‘I am, and there is none besides me. I will never be a widow or suffer the loss of children.’ Both of these will overtake you in a moment, on a single day: loss of children and widowhood. They will come upon you in full measure, in spite of your many sorceries and all your potent spells.”
Jeremiah 22:3
“This is what the Lord says: Do what is just and right. Rescue from the hand of the oppressor the one who has been robbed. Do no wrong or violence to the foreigner, the fatherless or the widow, and do not shed innocent blood in this place.”
Mark 12:38-40
“As he taught, Jesus said, ‘Watch out for the teachers of the law. They like to walk around in flowing robes and be greeted with respect in the marketplaces, and have the most important seats in the synagogues and the places of honor at banquets. They devour widows’ houses and for a show make lengthy prayers. These men will be punished most severely.'”
James 1:27
“Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.”
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A young widow,I need an inspirational Bible quote for encouragement