A widow (as lacking a husband), literally or figuratively
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Chera means a widow, a woman whose husband has died. New Testament teaching treats widowhood as a concrete social condition that may involve grief, economic vulnerability, household responsibility, mature service, or some combination of these.
Reader summary
Full entry for χήρα (G5503) · Open the biblical lexicon
Chera means a widow, a woman whose husband has died. New Testament teaching treats widowhood as a concrete social condition that may involve grief, economic vulnerability, household responsibility, mature service, or some combination of these.
The BSB source-word alignment has 26 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include widows (10), widow (6), a widow (4), [dependent] widows (1), [in need] (1).
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Mark 12:40. Its strongest book concentrations include Luke (9), 1 Timothy (8), Acts (3), Mark (3).
Chera means a widow, a woman whose husband has died. New Testament teaching treats widowhood as a concrete social condition that may involve grief, economic vulnerability, household responsibility, mature service, or some combination of these. First Timothy commands honor for widows truly in need, assigns primary care to believing relatives where possible, and directs the church's limited support toward those without adequate help.
Anna shows that widowhood does not erase spiritual vocation or agency. The noun itself does not prove destitution, holiness, passivity, or eligibility for one identical program. Churches should listen to each widow, protect her dignity and property, assess actual needs fairly, involve family without enabling neglect or abuse, and provide durable fellowship rather than reducing care to financial triage.
Chera names the lived status of widowhood. Scripture joins honor, prayer, household duty, church support, and active devotion without treating every widow as identical or merely as a recipient.
Honor the widows who are truly widows.
First Timothy 5:3 commands Timothy to honor widows who are truly widows. Honor includes serious recognition and, in context, material care for those genuinely left without support.
The widow who is truly in need and left all alone puts her hope in God and continues night and day in her petitions and prayers.
First Timothy 5:5 describes the widow truly alone as one whose hope rests in God and whose life continues in petitions and prayers. The portrait is not a test that permits neglect.
If any believing woman has dependent widows, she must assist them and not allow the church to be burdened, so that it can help the widows who are truly in need.
First Timothy 5:16 requires a believing woman or household with dependent widows to assist them so the church is not burdened and can help those truly in need.
And then was a widow to the age of eighty-four. She never left the temple, but worshiped night and day, fasting and praying.
Luke 2:37 portrays Anna as a long-widowed prophetess who does not leave the temple but worships with fasting and prayer, then bears witness to the child Jesus.
BSB source-word alignment connects this entry to exact verse rows, English rendering, source form, transliteration, and parsing.
How English Renders ItA compact distribution from source-word alignment before the full evidence tables.
Greek word. Woman bereft of husband; in NT theology, object of special Christian care and protection.
Woman bereft of husband; in NT theology, object of special Christian care and protection.
a widow: Mat.23:13 (Rec., R, mg.), Mrk.12:40-43, Luk.2:37 4:25 7:12 18:3, 5 20:47 21:2-3, Act.6:1 9:39, 41, 1Co.7:8, 1Ti.5:3-5 5:11 5:16, Jas.1:27; γυνὴ χ., Luk.4:26; of one of an ordo viduarum (see CGT, in l), 1Ti.5:9; metaphorically, of a city forsaken, Rev.18:7.
Textus Receptus witness, full corpusGreek token appearances from Scrivener 1894 Textus Receptus in the full New Testament corpus.
16 of 27 Greek text appearances shown. Linked morphology labels have verse guides.
a widow
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Read verseFull New Testament corpus: 260 chapters, 7,957 verses, 140,628 tokens. Data source: honza/textus-receptus (data only), with authority check against byztxt/greektext-textus-receptus.
How this word appears across different grammatical cases and numbers.
This word appears as a noun across 6 case and number patterns. The form changes show how the word functions in a sentence; they do not change the basic lexical meaning by themselves.
Verse guides are not available for this word yet, so verse references remain plain evidence markers.
Selected passage-level study witnesses for this word. This section is not the full occurrence list.
Showing 2 selected witnesses from 26 lexical occurrence verses.
χήρα is built from this root:
Compound and idiomatic phrases that include this word. Follow a link to study the phrase and how its parts work together.
Chera calls the church to see a person before a category. First Timothy recognizes that widowhood creates varied situations: some women have responsible relatives, some are truly alone, and some may serve within a recognized pattern of prayer and good works. Paul's ordering of support aims to produce honor and sustainable care, not an adversarial benefits test.
Anna further shows a widow as worshiper, prophet, and witness to redemption. Congregations should prepare for bereavement care, legal and financial advocacy, safe housing, transportation, friendship, and meaningful service. They must protect widows from predatory relatives, donors, or leaders and never condition help on silence or access. Family duty and church duty cooperate so that no widow disappears between them.
1Tim.5.3
Chera is the ordinary noun widow. Context must establish age, resources, family network, need, and any recognized ministry status rather than importing all these into the word itself.
The law protects widows from affliction and includes them in harvest provision and festivals. Prophets judge communities that exploit them, while Ruth displays agency within vulnerable widowhood.