A widow ; also a desolate place
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H490 names a widow, a woman whose husband has died, and therefore a person whose social and economic circumstances may have changed through bereavement. Scripture frequently places the widow alongside the fatherless, foreigner, and poor, not to erase her identity but to show a community whose justice can be tested by how it treats people with fewer protections.
Reader summary
Full entry for אַלְמָנָה (H490) · Open the biblical lexicon
H490 names a widow, a woman whose husband has died, and therefore a person whose social and economic circumstances may have changed through bereavement. Scripture frequently places the widow alongside the fatherless, foreigner, and poor, not to erase her identity but to show a community whose justice can be tested by how it treats people with fewer.
The BSB source-word alignment has 56 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include and the widow (9), a widow (8), of the widow (3), widows (3), and the widows (2).
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Genesis 38:11. Its strongest book concentrations include Deuteronomy (11), Ezekiel (6), Isaiah (6), Job (6).
H490 names a widow, a woman whose husband has died, and therefore a person whose social and economic circumstances may have changed through bereavement. Scripture frequently places the widow alongside the fatherless, foreigner, and poor, not to erase her identity but to show a community whose justice can be tested by how it treats people with fewer protections.
The word can also describe a desolate place in Isaiah, where widowhood becomes a picture of abandoned security. That figurative use must not turn actual widows into symbols only. Deuteronomy commands protection and material provision, while the prophets condemn rulers who deny justice or exploit the vulnerable. Elijah’s encounter with the widow of Zarephath shows both need and agency: she is poor, yet she hears, responds, and participates in God’s provision.
H490 does not by itself define every widow’s character, spiritual condition, or required social role. Read the word with attention to the passage’s legal, narrative, poetic, or prophetic setting, and let the text distinguish grief, vulnerability, faith, injustice, and hope.
H490 moves through literal widowhood, covenant protection, prophetic indictment, faithful provision, and one figurative image of desolation. Its recurring theological pressure is whether people and institutions will recognize bereavement as a call to justice rather than an opening for neglect or exploitation.
“Get up and go to Zarephath of Sidon, and stay there. Behold, I have commanded a widow there to provide for you.”
The widow is named within God’s command to Elijah, showing that a person marked by need may also become an instrument of provision.
He executes justice for the fatherless and widow, and He loves the foreigner, giving him food and clothing.
God’s character joins justice for the widow to love for the foreigner and practical provision, making care a covenant concern rather than optional sentiment.
Do not deny justice to the foreigner or the fatherless, and do not take a widow’s cloak as security.
The command protects both legal standing and necessary clothing, refusing to make a widow’s vulnerability collateral for another person’s gain.
Learn to do right; seek justice and correct the oppressor. Defend the fatherless and plead the case of the widow.”
Isaiah connects repentance with defending the widow’s case, so worship cannot be separated from confronting oppression and restoring just judgment.
The Lord protects foreigners; He sustains the fatherless and the widow, but the ways of the wicked He frustrates.
The psalm presents God as protector and sustainer while placing wicked schemes under His frustration, giving care for the widow a strong doctrine-of-God foundation.
Do not oppress the widow or the fatherless, the foreigner or the poor. And do not plot evil in your hearts against one another.’
Zechariah broadens the warning from outward oppression to inward plotting, showing that protection requires both public restraint and a cleansed posture toward the vulnerable.
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.
Hebrew word. A widow embodies social vulnerability and desolation; the term extends metaphorically to abandoned, forsaken places
A widow embodies social vulnerability and desolation; the term extends metaphorically to abandoned, forsaken places
a widow; also a desolate place BDB: widow Usage: desolate house (palace), widow.
How this word appears across different grammatical cases and numbers.
Selected passage-level study witnesses for this word. This section is not the full occurrence list.
Showing 2 selected witnesses from 56 lexical occurrence verses.
אַלְמָנָה 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.
H490 teaches that bereavement is not a private detail that communities may ignore. In Deuteronomy, the widow stands within a protected group whose justice, clothing, food, and access to gleaning must not be sacrificed to convenience or profit. The prohibition against taking a widow’s cloak as security shows how ordinary transactions can become predatory when need is treated as leverage.
The prophets press the same truth into public leadership: defending the widow is part of learning to do right, while oppressing her reveals a society that has forgotten God’s justice. Yet Scripture does not portray widows only as passive recipients. The widow at Zarephath receives a command, speaks honestly about scarcity, and participates in the provision that sustains Elijah and her household.
The word therefore opens a fuller account of vulnerability, one that includes grief, agency, protection, responsibility, and hope. Teachers should explain the ancient social setting without romanticizing poverty or assuming that every widow has the same needs. H490 also has a figurative use for desolation, but metaphor must not make real bereaved women disappear from view.
Faithful application asks whether our homes, churches, courts, and economies protect dignity when loss has removed familiar security.
Deut.10.18
H490 is used in construct and plural forms and can identify a literal bereaved woman or a place described as widowed. The surrounding verb and social setting determine whether the emphasis is legal vulnerability, household loss, communal protection, or figurative desolation.
The Old Testament’s commands to defend and sustain widows prepare readers for the New Testament’s concern for widows, mercy, prayer, and accountable community care. The gospel does not turn widowhood into a spiritual stereotype; it calls the church to embodied compassion, wise support, and protection from neglect.