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Widow of Zarephath
The widow of Zarephath is a widow from Zarephath in the region of Sidon who appears in 1 Kings 17. During a drought she fed the prophet Elijah, and her dead son was restored to life. Scripture does not record her name.
Zarephath
Zarephath was a Phoenician town on the Mediterranean coast between Tyre and Sidon. The prophet Elijah stayed there during a drought and was provided for by a widow. In the New Testament the name appears as "Sarepta."
Man of God
"Man of God" is a biblical title for a person who belongs to God, proclaims His word, and is entrusted with His work. In the Old Testament it is applied to Moses and to prophets such as Elijah and Elisha; in the New Testament it is applied to Timothy.
1 Kings 17
1 Kings 17 is the chapter in which Elijah proclaims a drought to Ahab, is sustained at the brook Cherith by food brought by ravens, and then stays in the house of the widow of Zarephath, where the meal and oil do not run out and her dead son is restored to life.
Raising of the Widow's Son at Nain
A miracle in which Jesus met a funeral procession near the gate of the town of Nain in Galilee, raised a widow's only son from the dead, and restored him to his mother. It is recorded only in Luke 7:11-17.
The Widow's Jar of Oil
The widow's jar of oil is a miracle recorded in 2 Kings 4:1-7, in which the prophet Elisha helped a widow who was about to lose her two sons to slavery because of a debt. The single jar of oil left in her house filled every empty vessel she had borrowed.
Parable of the Unjust Judge
A parable of Jesus in Luke 18:1–8. Even an unjust judge grants the plea of a persistent widow, and God will all the more avenge his elect. The parable teaches that believers ought always to pray and not lose heart.
The Widow's Two Mites
The widow's two mites refers to the incident in which Jesus, watching at the treasury of the Temple in Jerusalem, saw a poor widow put in two mites, all that she had, and declared that she had put in more than anyone else. It is recorded in the Gospels of Mark and Luke.
Orphans and Widows
"Orphans and widows" is a biblical word pair referring to people whose livelihood and legal protection were weakened by the loss of a husband or father. Often grouped with the sojourner, they represent the socially vulnerable for whom God shows special care.
Book of Judith
The Book of Judith is a sixteen-chapter book that tells how the widow Judith saved Israel by killing the enemy general Holofernes. The Catholic and Orthodox churches include it in the Old Testament, while Protestants classify it among the Apocrypha, outside the canon.
Luke 21
Luke 21 contains the account of the poor widow's offering of two mites and Jesus' eschatological discourse (an extended teaching on the end times), which opens with a prediction of the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem.
Luke 18:1
A verse in which Luke states the purpose of the parable of the unjust judge and the widow before Jesus tells it. Because of its exhortation that "men ought always to pray, and not to faint," it is frequently cited in teaching on persistent prayer.
Exodus 22
Exodus 22 is part of the Book of the Covenant, the collection of laws given at Mount Sinai. It contains regulations on restitution for theft and property damage, liability for goods held in trust, the protection of the stranger, the widow, the fatherless, and the poor, and laws concerning offerings to God and holiness.
2 Kings 4
2 Kings 4 records five miracles performed by Elisha in succession: the widow's oil, the birth of the Shunammite woman's son and his restoration to life, the neutralizing of a poisoned stew, and the feeding of a hundred men with twenty loaves of barley.
Deuteronomy 24
Deuteronomy 24 contains laws protecting households and neighbors, including the prohibition against remarrying a former wife after divorce, the exemption of newly married men from military service, rules on pledges and wages, the principle of individual responsibility, and the leaving of gleanings for the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow.
Holofernes
Holofernes is a character in the apocryphal Book of Judith who serves as commander in chief of King Nebuchadnezzar's army. He besieged Bethulia and was beheaded by the widow Judith.
Levirate Marriage
Levirate marriage was an ancient Israelite institution in which, when a husband died without a son, his brother married the widow so that the firstborn son would carry on the name and line of the deceased. It is prescribed in Deuteronomy 25.
Orphan
In the Bible, an orphan is a child who has lost his or her father and has no one to provide protection. Together with the widow and the stranger, the orphan is repeatedly named as one of the vulnerable whom God cares for in a special way and whom the community is obligated to protect.
Deuteronomy 15
Deuteronomy 15 is a chapter of law containing the ordinance for releasing debts owed by fellow Israelites every seventh year, the command to open one's hand to a poor brother, the law for freeing in the seventh year a Hebrew servant who has served six years, and the law for consecrating the firstborn males of cattle and sheep.
Matthew 22:30
In this verse Jesus answers a question from the Sadducees, who did not believe in the resurrection, by saying that "in the resurrection" people neither marry nor are given in marriage but are like the angels in heaven. It is frequently cited in discussions of life after the resurrection, marital relationships in heaven, and the nature of angels.