אַלְמָנָה
al.ma.nah (H0490)
widow
AI Word Study
# Almānāh (Widow): Hebrew Term Analysis The Hebrew word *almānāh* denotes a widow—a woman whose husband has died. With 56 occurrences across the biblical text, this term appears with sufficient frequency to warrant attention as a recognized social category in ancient Israelite society. The consistent rendering as "widow" across English translations reflects a straightforward semantic meaning with no significant ambiguity in definition. The frequency of this term's appearance suggests that widowhood represented a notable social status in biblical communities. The word's substantial presence in the biblical corpus indicates that widows were neither incidental nor marginal to the texts' concerns, appearing regularly enough to merit repeated mention and discussion across different biblical books and contexts. This prevalence suggests widows occupied a recognized—if not necessarily prominent—place in the social awareness of biblical writers and audiences. Without access to the specific contexts of all 56 occurrences, the lexical data alone demonstrates only that *almānāh* functioned as a standard Hebrew term for identifying women in this marital condition. The term's consistent definition and significant frequency indicate that widowhood was an established social reality addressed in biblical discourse, though determining the precise social implications or theological significance of this status would require examination of the actual usage contexts rather than the lexical data provided.
AI synthesis uses only provided lexicon data -- never training knowledge.
Then Judah said to Tamar, his daughter-in-law, “Remain a widow in your father’s house, until Shelah, my son, is grown up;” for he said, “Lest he also die, like his brothers.” Tamar went and lived in her father’s house.
“You shall not take advantage of any widow or fatherless child.
and my wrath will grow hot, and I will kill you with the sword; and your wives shall be widows, and your children fatherless.
He shall not marry a widow, or one divorced, or a woman who has been defiled, or a prostitute. He shall take a virgin of his own people as a wife.
But if a priest’s daughter is a widow, or divorced, and has no child, and has returned to her father’s house as in her youth, she may eat of her father’s bread; but no stranger shall eat any of it.
“But the vow of a widow, or of her who is divorced, everything with which she has bound her soul shall stand against her.
He executes justice for the fatherless and widow and loves the foreigner in giving him food and clothing.
The Levite, because he has no portion nor inheritance with you, as well as the foreigner living among you, the fatherless, and the widow who are within your gates shall come, and shall eat and be satisfied; that Yahweh your God may bless you in all the work of your hand which you do.
You shall rejoice before Yahweh your God: you, your son, your daughter, your male servant, your female servant, the Levite who is within your gates, the foreigner, the fatherless, and the widow who are among you, in the place which Yahweh your God shall choose to cause his name to dwell there.
You shall rejoice in your feast, you, your son, your daughter, your male servant, your female servant, the Levite, the foreigner, the fatherless, and the widow who are within your gates.
You shall not deprive the foreigner or the fatherless of justice, nor take a widow’s clothing in pledge;
When you reap your harvest in your field, and have forgotten a sheaf in the field, you shall not go again to get it. It shall be for the foreigner, for the fatherless, and for the widow, that Yahweh your God may bless you in all the work of your hands.
When you beat your olive tree, you shall not go over the boughs again. It shall be for the foreigner, for the fatherless, and for the widow.
When you harvest your vineyard, you shall not glean it after yourselves. It shall be for the foreigner, for the fatherless, and for the widow.
When you have finished tithing all the tithe of your increase in the third year, which is the year of tithing, then you shall give it to the Levite, to the foreigner, to the fatherless, and to the widow, that they may eat within your gates and be filled.
You shall say before Yahweh your God, “I have put away the holy things out of my house, and also have given them to the Levite, to the foreigner, to the fatherless, and to the widow, according to all your commandment which you have commanded me. I have not transgressed any of your commandments, neither have I forgotten them.
‘Cursed is he who withholds justice from the foreigner, fatherless, and widow.’ All the people shall say, ‘Amen.’
The king said to her, “What ails you?” She answered, “Truly I am a widow, and my husband is dead.
He was the son of a widow of the tribe of Naphtali, and his father was a man of Tyre, a worker in bronze; and he was filled with wisdom and understanding and skill, to work all works in bronze. He came to king Solomon, and performed all his work.
Jeroboam the son of Nebat, an Ephraimite of Zeredah, a servant of Solomon, whose mother’s name was Zeruah, a widow, also lifted up his hand against the king.
“Arise, go to Zarephath, which belongs to Sidon, and stay there. Behold, I have commanded a widow there to sustain you.”
So he arose and went to Zarephath; and when he came to the gate of the city, behold, a widow was there gathering sticks. He called to her, and said, “Please get me a little water in a jar, that I may drink.”
He cried to Yahweh, and said, “Yahweh my God, have you also brought evil on the widow with whom I am staying, by killing her son?”
You have sent widows away empty, and the arms of the fatherless have been broken.
They drive away the donkey of the fatherless, and they take the widow’s ox for a pledge.
Those who remain of him will be buried in death. His widows will make no lamentation.
the blessing of him who was ready to perish came on me, and I caused the widow’s heart to sing for joy.
“If I have withheld the poor from their desire, or have caused the eyes of the widow to fail,
A father of the fatherless, and a defender of the widows, is God in his holy habitation.
Yahweh preserves the foreigners. He upholds the fatherless and widow, but he turns the way of the wicked upside down.
Yahweh will uproot the house of the proud, but he will keep the widow’s borders intact.
Learn to do well. Seek justice. Relieve the oppressed. Defend the fatherless. Plead for the widow.”
Your princes are rebellious and companions of thieves. Everyone loves bribes and follows after rewards. They don’t defend the fatherless, neither does the cause of the widow come to them.
Therefore the Lord will not rejoice over their young men, neither will he have compassion on their fatherless and widows; for everyone is profane and an evildoer, and every mouth speaks folly. For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still.
to deprive the needy from justice, and to rob the poor among my people of their rights, that widows may be their plunder, and that they may make the fatherless their prey!
Wolves will cry in their fortresses, and jackals in the pleasant palaces. Her time is near to come, and her days will not be prolonged.
“Now therefore hear this, you who are given to pleasures, who sit securely, who say in your heart, ‘I am, and there is no one else besides me. I won’t sit as a widow, neither will I know the loss of children.’
if you don’t oppress the foreigner, the fatherless, and the widow, and don’t shed innocent blood in this place, and don’t walk after other gods to your own hurt;
Their widows are increased more than the sand of the seas. I have brought on them against the mother of the young men a destroyer at noonday. I have caused anguish and terrors to fall on her suddenly.
Therefore deliver up their children to the famine, and give them over to the power of the sword. Let their wives become childless and widows. Let their men be killed and their young men struck by the sword in battle.
Yahweh says: “Execute justice and righteousness, and deliver him who is robbed out of the hand of the oppressor. Do no wrong. Do no violence to the foreigner, the fatherless, or the widow. Don’t shed innocent blood in this place.
Leave your fatherless children. I will preserve them alive. Let your widows trust in me.”
How the city sits solitary, that was full of people! She has become as a widow, who was great among the nations! She who was a princess among the provinces has become a slave!
He knew their palaces, and laid waste their cities. The land was desolate, with its fullness, because of the noise of his roaring.
In you have they treated father and mother with contempt. Among you they have oppressed the foreigner. In you they have wronged the fatherless and the widow.
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