almana · widow

What it means

almana (אַלְמָנָה) is a Hebrew word of the Bible that means “widow”.

How to say it

Approximate pronunciation. Vowels sound as in Spanish (a as in father, e as in bed, i as in machine, o as in note, u as in rule); the syllable in bold is stressed. The voice is your device's.

Its senses in the Bible

1. A woman whose husband died; YHWH defends her.

From Brown-Driver-Briggs (1906)

Word study

Widow: the woman whose husband has died. In the law and the prophets she is, with the orphan and the resident alien, the person without protection whom YHWH defends. From the same root is אַלְמָן (‘widower, forsaken’).

• The resident alien, the orphan and the widow Deuteronomy 24:19Deuteronomy 14:29Deuteronomy 16:11
• Elohim, “judge of widows” Psalms 68:5Psalms 146:9
• Not exploiting the widow Zechariah 7:10Deuteronomy 24:17Isaiah 1:23
• The widow of Zarephath 1 Kings 17:91 Kings 17:10
• Tamar, a widow in her father’s house Genesis 38:11

Historical and cultural background

The law commanded leaving the forgotten sheaf in the field, and not going over the olive tree or the vineyard again: “it shall be for the resident alien, for the orphan, and for the widow” (Deuteronomy 24:19-21); and giving them the tithe of the third year (Deuteronomy 26:12).

How we translate it

“Widow” 42 times and “widows” 13. In Isaiah 13:22 the written Hebrew text can be read ‘its widows’, but it is read ‘its palaces’; it is rendered “palaces”, with a note.

How it is translated

The words this translation uses for it, most frequent first.

• widow ×42
• widows ×13
• palaces ×1

Related words

Words of the same family, by Strong’s numbering.

Where it appears

• Genesis×1
• Exodus×2
• Leviticus×2
• Numbers×1
• Deuteronomy×11
• 2 Samuel×1
• 1 Kings×5
• Job×6
• Psalms×5
• Proverbs×1
• Isaiah×6
• Jeremiah×5
• Lamentations×2
• Ezekiel×6
• Zechariah×1
• Malachi×1

• Genesis 38:11

  Then Judah said to Tamar his daughter-in-law, “Remain a widow in your father’s house until Shelah my son grows up”; for he said to himself, “Lest he too die like his brothers.” So Tamar went and remained in her father’s house.

• Exodus 22:22

  You shall not afflict any widow or orphan.

• Exodus 22:24

  and my anger will burn, and I will kill you with the sword, and your wives will become widows and your sons orphans.

• Leviticus 21:14

  A widow, or a divorced woman, or a profaned prostitute, these he shall not take; but a virgin of his own people he shall take as wife,

• Leviticus 22:13

  But if the daughter of a priest becomes a widow or divorced, and has no child, and returns to her father’s house, as in her youth, she may eat of her father’s food; but no stranger shall eat of it.

• Numbers 30:9

  But the vow of a widow or a divorced woman, everything that she has bound on her soul, shall stand against her.

• Deuteronomy 10:18

  He does justice for the orphan and the widow, and loves the resident alien, giving him bread and a cloak.

• Deuteronomy 14:29

  And the Levite shall come, because he has no portion or inheritance with you, and the resident alien, the orphan, and the widow who are within your gates, and they shall eat and be satisfied, so that YHWH your Elohim may bless you in all the work of your hand that you do.

• Deuteronomy 16:11

  And you shall rejoice before YHWH your Elohim, you and your son and your daughter, your male slave and your female slave, and the Levite who is within your gates, and the resident alien, the orphan, and the widow who are among you, in the place that YHWH your Elohim chooses to make his name dwell there.

• Deuteronomy 16:14

  And you shall rejoice in your feast, you and your son and your daughter, your male slave and your female slave, and the Levite, the resident alien, the orphan, and the widow who are within your gates.

• Deuteronomy 24:17

  You shall not pervert the justice due the resident alien or the orphan, and you shall not take in pledge the garment of a widow.

• Deuteronomy 24:19

  When you reap your harvest in your field and forget a sheaf in the field, you shall not go back to take it; it shall be for the resident alien, for the orphan, and for the widow, so that YHWH your Elohim may bless you in all the work of your hands.

• Deuteronomy 24:20

  When you beat your olive tree, you shall not go over the branches after you; it shall be for the resident alien, for the orphan, and for the widow.

• Deuteronomy 24:21

  When you gather the grapes of your vineyard, you shall not glean after you; it shall be for the resident alien, for the orphan, and for the widow.

• Deuteronomy 26:12

  When you have finished tithing all the tithe of your produce in the third year, the year of the tithe, and have given it to the Levite, to the resident alien, to the orphan, and to the widow, so that they may eat within your gates and be satisfied,

• Deuteronomy 26:13

  then you shall say before YHWH your Elohim, “I have removed the holy portion from the house, and I have also given it to the Levite and to the resident alien, to the orphan, and to the widow, according to all your commandment that you commanded me. I have not transgressed any of your commandments, nor have I forgotten.

• Deuteronomy 27:19

  ‘Cursed be he who perverts the justice due the resident alien, the orphan, and the widow.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’

• 2 Samuel 14:5

  The king said to her, “What is the matter with you?” She said, “Truly I am a widow woman; my husband died.

• 1 Kings 7:14

  He was the son of a widow from 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 knowledge to do every work in bronze. And he came to King Solomon and did all his work.

• 1 Kings 11:26

  And Jeroboam son of Nebat, an Ephraimite from Zeredah — and the name of his mother was Zeruah, a widow — a servant of Solomon, lifted up his hand against the king.

• 1 Kings 17:9

  “Get up, go to Zarephath, which belongs to Sidon, and live there. Look, I have commanded a widow there to feed you.”

• 1 Kings 17:10

  So he got up and went to Zarephath, and came to the entrance of the city; and there a widow was gathering sticks. He called to her and said, “Bring, please, me a little water in a vessel, so that I may drink.”

• 1 Kings 17:20

  He cried out to YHWH and said, “YHWH my Elohim, have you also brought harm on the widow with whom I am residing as a foreigner, by putting to death her son?”

• Job 22:9

  Widows you sent away empty, and the arms of the orphans were crushed.

• Job 24:3

  The donkey of the orphans they drive away; they take in pledge the ox of the widow.

• Job 24:21

  He preys on the barren woman who does not give birth, and does no good to the widow.

• Job 27:15

  His survivors will be buried by death, and his widows will not weep.

• Job 29:13

  The blessing of the one perishing came upon me, and the heart of the widow I made shout for joy.

• Job 31:16

  If I withheld the poor from their desire, or wore out the eyes of the widow,

• Psalms 68:5

  Father of orphans and judge of widows is Elohim in his holy dwelling.

• Psalms 78:64

  His priests by the sword fell, and his widows did not weep.

• Psalms 94:6

  The widow and the resident alien they kill, and the orphans they murder.

• Psalms 109:9

  Let his sons be fatherless, and his wife a widow.

• Psalms 146:9

  YHWH keeps the resident aliens; the orphan and the widow he sustains, but the way of the wicked he makes crooked.

• Proverbs 15:25

  The house of the proud YHWH will tear down, but he will set firm the boundary of the widow.

• Isaiah 1:17

  Learn to do good; seek justice; set right the oppressor; judge the case of the orphan; plead the cause of the widow.

• Isaiah 1:23

  Your princes are stubborn and companions of thieves; every one of them loves a bribe and chases after rewards. The orphan they do not judge the case of, and the cause of the widow does not come before them.

• Isaiah 9:17

  Therefore Adonai does not rejoice over its young men, and on its orphans and its widows he has no compassion; for every one of them is godless and an evildoer, and every mouth speaks infamy. For all this his anger has not turned back, and his hand is still stretched out.

• Isaiah 10:2

  to turn aside the poor from judgment, and to rob the afflicted of my people of justice, so that widows become their spoil, and that they may plunder the orphans!

• Isaiah 13:22

  And hyenas will howl in its palaces, and jackals in the palaces of delight; and its time is near to come, and its days will not be prolonged.

And 16 more times.