What Does The Bible Say About Orphans And Widows? God is telling us much through the Bible Verses About Orphans And Widows. Widows are women whose husbands have died. On the other hand, orphans are children whose parents, for whatever reason, are not present in the child’s life. However, in Biblical times, the main cause of a child being orphaned was that his/her parents had died. God says much to us about how to handle orphans and widows through the Bible. Behold, God commands us to care very deeply for them and show them love. As people of God, we’ve been commanded to care, protect and love orphans and widows without exception (Psalm 82:3). Note that we are talking of unconditional care, love, and protection. We all know that husbands and fathers play an irreplaceable role in a family.
Hence, when the man is not there, the wife and child are likely to suffer in many ways. Luckily enough, the Bible tells us that God Himself steps in to fill the role of caring and protecting the orphans and widows. Psalm 68:5 says, “A father to the fatherless, a defender of widows, is God in his holy dwelling.” It is unfortunate that we live in a world where those who are helpless turn to be taken advantage of by those who think they can get away with it. However, we are certain of the fact that nothing escapes God’s notice, and He will definitely avenge the orphans and widows. Psalm 10:17–18 says, “You, LORD, hear the desire of the afflicted; you encourage them, and you listen to their cry, defending the fatherless and the oppressed, so that mere earthly mortals will never again strike terror”
What Does The Bible Say About Orphans And Widows?
What the Scripture says about Orphans
The Scriptures clearly present a command from God for us to care and protect orphans and widows. God in giving the Law to Moses and the Israelites, He did not forget to say a few words in favor of orphans and widows. Behold, God gave instructions on how to treat the orphans and widows within the people of Israel. It is also important to understand here that these instructions came with severe consequences should in case the children of Israel fail to keep them (see Exodus 22:22–23). Taking care and protecting the orphans and widows is a godly act which is also encouraged in the New Testament by the Apostles of Jesus Christ.
Apostle James points out that caring for orphans and widows is part of the Christian faith which is “pure and faultless” (James 1:27). He is trying to say here that caring for those in distress is not optional for the followers of Jesus Christ. 1 Timothy 5:1–16 comes with more details written by Apostle Paul on the subject of caring and protecting widows and orphans. Apostle Paul emphasizes on a widow’s family taking care of her, instead of living it all up to the Church as we can read from 1 Timothy 5:4 – “If a widow has children or grandchildren, these should learn first of all to put their religion into practice by caring for their own family and so repaying their parents and grandparents, for this is pleasing to God.” Whatever the case, we should always extend God’s love to orphans and widows.
Seven (7) things the Bible says about Widows and Orphans
1. Widows and Orphans need justice (Isaiah 1:17)
Brethren, let no one deceive you into oppressing the orphans and widows. They need justice and failing to render it is calling upon God’s wrath. Both an ancient orphan and a modern foster child are among the most marginalized members of the society in which we live. However, they need someone to speak on their behalf. In addition, they need someone to rule in their favor. If you as a human fail, God will step in and bring justice to everyone who oppresses them and refuses to give them a helping hand. Let’s support our message by reading from Isaiah 1:17 – “Learn to do good;seek justice,correct oppression;bring justice to the fatherless,plead the widow’s cause.”
2. God will hear the fatherless crying for justice (Exodus 22:22–23)
It is without doubt that God has promised to hear the prayers of all His people. However, there are certain groups of people like orphans and widows that turn to have a special access to God. Let’s support this fact by reading from Exodus 22:22–23 – “You shall not mistreat any widow or fatherless child. If you do mistreat them, and they cry out to me, I will surely hear their cry . . .”
3. God executes justice on their behalf (Deuteronomy 10:18)
Perhaps you were not aware that God Himself stands ready and more than willing to execute justice on the behalf of orphans and widows. He extends His shield of protection to keep them safe from those trying to bring oppression or tears on their ways.
4. God is helper to the Fatherless (Psalm 10:14)
The Psalmist understood that God is the benefactor of widows and orphans. That’s why he wrote describing God as the orphan-helper as we can read from Psalm 10:14 – “But you do see, for you note mischief and vexation,that you may take it into your hands;to you the helpless commits himself;you have been the helper of the fatherless.”
5. God acts as their Father (Psalm 68:5)
Brethren did you know that one of God’s titles is “Father to the Fatherless”? This fact is supported by Psalm 68:5 – “Father of the fatherless and protector of widows is God in his holy habitation.” Behold, God does not leave the fatherless nor the widows without protection and provision. God steps into the void of lack in their lives to fill it as He wipes off their tears. One might ask how? It is important to understand that God fills this gap through His children – that is you and me. As children of God, we are responsible of protecting, providing, and caring for the orphans and widows.
6. Caring for foster kids is like caring for Jesus (Mark 9:37)
When you care, protect, train, and provide for a foster child, Jesus perceives you as doing those things for Him. Let’s support this by reading from Mark 9:37 – “Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me, and whoever receives me, receives not me but him who sent me.”
7. Caring for orphans and widows is part of a pure religion (James 1:27)
Up to some extent, we can perceive the godly act of caring and protecting orphans and widows as an act of worship that falls in the list of things making up a pure religion. Let’s support this by reading from James 1:27 – “Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.”
What The Bible Says About Widows And Orphans
Exodus 22:22-24 – “Do not take advantage of the widow or the fatherless. If you do and they cry out to me, I will certainly hear their cry. My anger will be aroused, and I will kill you with the sword; your wives will become widows and your children fatherless.”
James 1:27 – “Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.”
Psalm 68:4-5 – “Sing to God, sing in praise of his name, extol him who rides on the clouds; rejoice before him — his name is the Lord. A father to the fatherless, a defender of widows, is God in his holy dwelling.“
John 14:18 – “I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.”
Psalm 146:9 – “The Lord watches over the foreigner and sustains the fatherless and the widow, but he frustrates the ways of the wicked.”
Psalm 82:3 – “Defend the weak and the fatherless; uphold the cause of the poor and the oppressed.”
Zechariah 7:9-10 – “This is what the Lord Almighty said: ‘Administer true justice; show mercy and compassion to one another. Do not oppress the widow or the fatherless, the foreigner or the poor. Do not plot evil against each other.’”
Isaiah 1:17 – “Learn to do right; seek justice. Defend the oppressed. Take up the cause of the fatherless; plead the case of the widow.”
Group 1 – What The Bible Says About Widows And Orphans
James 1:27 – “Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.”
John 14:18 – “I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.”
Job 29:12-13 – “Because I rescued the poor who cried for help, and the fatherless who had none to assist them. The one who was dying blessed me; I made the widow’s heart sing.”
Jeremiah 7:5-7 – “If you really change your ways and your actions and deal with each other justly, if you do not oppress the foreigner, the fatherless or the widow and do not shed innocent blood in this place, and if you do not follow other gods to your own harm, then I will let you live in this place, in the land I gave your ancestors for ever and ever.”
Job 29:12 – “Because I delivered the poor who cried for help, and the fatherless who had none to help him.”
Psalm 68:5 – “Father of the fatherless and protector of widows is God in his holy habitation.”
Isaiah 1:17 – “Learn to do good; seek justice, correct oppression; bring justice to the fatherless, plead the widow’s cause.”
Psalm 27:10 – “For my father and my mother have forsaken me, but the Lord will take me in.”
Exodus 22:22-24 – “You shall not mistreat any widow or fatherless child. If you do mistreat them, and they cry out to me, I will surely hear their cry, and my wrath will burn, and I will kill you with the sword, and your wives shall become widows and your children fatherless.”
Group 2 – What The Bible Says About Widows And Orphans
Psalm 10:18 – “To do justice to the fatherless and the oppressed, so that man who is of the earth may strike terror no more.”
Exodus 22:22 – “You shall not mistreat any widow or fatherless child.”
Acts 20:35 – “In all things I have shown you that by working hard in this way we must help the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he himself said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’”
Psalm 146:9 – “The Lord watches over the sojourners; he upholds the widow and the fatherless, but the way of the wicked he brings to ruin.”
Psalm 82:3 – “Give justice to the weak and the fatherless; maintain the right of the afflicted and the destitute.”
John 14:15-21 – ““If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you. “I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. Yet a little while and the world will see me no more, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. …”
Matthew 25:40 – “And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’”
Group 3 – What The Bible Says About Widows And Orphans
Matthew 6:1-4 – ““Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven. “Thus, when you give to the needy, sound no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be praised by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.”
Jeremiah 22:3 – “Thus says the Lord: Do justice and righteousness, and deliver from the hand of the oppressor him who has been robbed. And do no wrong or violence to the resident alien, the fatherless, and the widow, nor shed innocent blood in this place.”
Malachi 3:5 – “Then I will draw near to you for judgment. I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, against the adulterers, against those who swear falsely, against those who oppress the hired worker in his wages, the widow and the fatherless, against those who thrust aside the sojourner, and do not fear me, says the Lord of hosts.”
Group 4 – What The Bible Says About Orphans And Widows?
Deuteronomy 24:17-21 – ““You shall not pervert the justice due to the sojourner or to the fatherless, or take a widow’s garment in pledge, but you shall remember that you were a slave in Egypt and the Lord your God redeemed you from there; therefore I command you to do this. “When you reap your harvest in your field and forget a sheaf in the field, you shall not go back to get it. It shall be for the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow, that the Lord your God may bless you in all the work of your hands. When you beat your olive trees, you shall not go over them again. It shall be for the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow. When you gather the grapes of your vineyard, you shall not strip it afterward. It shall be for the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow.”
Deuteronomy 14:28-29 – “At the end of every three years you shall bring out all the tithe of your produce in the same year and lay it up within your towns. And the Levite, because he has no portion or inheritance with you, and the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow, who are within your towns, shall come and eat and be filled, that the Lord your God may bless you in all the work of your hands that you do.”
Psalm 10:14 – “But you do see, for you note mischief and vexation, that you may take it into your hands; to you the helpless commits himself; you have been the helper of the fatherless.”
Group 5 – What The Bible Says About Orphans And Widows?
Psalm 82:3-4 – “Give justice to the weak and the fatherless; maintain the right of the afflicted and the destitute. Rescue the weak and the needy; deliver them from the hand of the wicked.”
Psalm 10:17 – “O Lord, you hear the desire of the afflicted; you will strengthen their heart; you will incline your ear.“
Isaiah 1:23 – “Your princes are rebels and companions of thieves. Everyone loves a bribe and runs after gifts. They do not bring justice to the fatherless, and the widow’s cause does not come to them.”
Jeremiah 49:11 – “Leave your fatherless children; I will keep them alive; and let your widows trust in me.”
Jeremiah 5:28 – “They have grown fat and sleek. They know no bounds in deeds of evil; they judge not with justice the cause of the fatherless, to make it prosper, and they do not defend the rights of the needy.”
Psalm 41:1-3 – “To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David. Blessed is the one who considers the poor! In the day of trouble the Lord delivers him; the Lord protects him and keeps him alive; he is called blessed in the land; you do not give him up to the will of his enemies. The Lord sustains him on his sickbed; in his illness you restore him to full health.”
Esther 2:7 – “He was bringing up Hadassah, that is Esther, the daughter of his uncle, for she had neither father nor mother. The young woman had a beautiful figure and was lovely to look at, and when her father and her mother died, Mordecai took her as his own daughter.”
Group 6 – What Does The Bible Say About Widows And Orphans?
Psalm 82:4 – “Rescue the weak and the needy; deliver them from the hand of the wicked.”
Job 31:16-18 – “If I have withheld anything that the poor desired, or have caused the eyes of the widow to fail, or have eaten my morsel alone, and the fatherless has not eaten of it (for from my youth the fatherless grew up with me as with a father, and from my mother’s womb I guided the widow),”
Proverbs 23:10 – “Do not move an ancient landmark or enter the fields of the fatherless,”
Hosea 14:3 – “Assyria shall not save us; we will not ride on horses; and we will say no more, ‘Our God,’ to the work of our hands. In you the orphan finds mercy.”
Isaiah 58:7 – “Is it not to share your bread with the hungry and bring the homeless poor into your house; when you see the naked, to cover him, and not to hide yourself from your own flesh?”
John 3:16-17 – “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.”
Job 24:3 – “They drive away the donkey of the fatherless; they take the widow’s ox for a pledge.”
Job 22:9 – “You have sent widows away empty, and the arms of the fatherless were crushed.”
Group 7 – What Does The Bible Say About Widows And Orphans?
Ezekiel 16:49 – “Behold, this was the guilt of your sister Sodom: she and her daughters had pride, excess of food, and prosperous ease, but did not aid the poor and needy.”
1 Timothy 5:3-4 – “Honor widows who are truly widows. But if a widow has children or grandchildren, let them first learn to show godliness to their own household and to make some return to their parents, for this is pleasing in the sight of God.”
Job 6:27 – “You would even cast lots over the fatherless, and bargain over your friend.”
Jeremiah 7:6 – “If you do not oppress the sojourner, the fatherless, or the widow, or shed innocent blood in this place, and if you do not go after other gods to your own harm,”
Job 24:9 – “(There are those who snatch the fatherless child from the breast, and they take a pledge against the poor.)”
Job 29:13 – “The blessing of him who was about to perish came upon me, and I caused the widow’s heart to sing for joy.”
Psalm 94:6 – “They kill the widow and the sojourner, and murder the fatherless;“
Isaiah 10:2 – “To turn aside the needy from justice and to rob the poor of my people of their right, that widows may be their spoil, and that they may make the fatherless their prey!”
Ephesians 1:5 – “He predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will,”
Group 8 – What Does The Bible Say About Orphans And Widows?
Numbers 27:1-23 – “Then drew near the daughters of Zelophehad the son of Hepher, son of Gilead, son of Machir, son of Manasseh, from the clans of Manasseh the son of Joseph. The names of his daughters were: Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Tirzah. And they stood before Moses and before Eleazar the priest and before the chiefs and all the congregation, at the entrance of the tent of meeting, saying, “Our father died in the wilderness. He was not among the company of those who gathered themselves together against the Lord in the company of Korah, but died for his own sin. And he had no sons. Why should the name of our father be taken away from his clan because he had no son? Give to us a possession among our father’s brothers.” Moses brought their case before the Lord. …”
Psalm 68:6 – “God settles the solitary in a home; he leads out the prisoners to prosperity, but the rebellious dwell in a parched land.“
Lamentations 5:3 – “We have become orphans, fatherless; our mothers are like widows.”
Isaiah 9:6-7 – “For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.”
Group 9 – What Does The Bible Say About Orphans And Widows?
Isaiah 49:15-16 – “Can a woman forget her nursing child, that she should have no compassion on the son of her womb? Even these may forget, yet I will not forget you. Behold, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands; your walls are continually before me.”
Psalm 35:1-28 – “Of David. Contend, O Lord, with those who contend with me; fight against those who fight against me! Take hold of shield and buckler and rise for my help! Draw the spear and javelin against my pursuers! Say to my soul, “I am your salvation!” Let them be put to shame and dishonor who seek after my life, Let them be turned back and disappointed who devise evil against me! Let them be like chaff before the wind, with the angel of the Lord driving them away! …”
Isaiah 1:1-31 – “The vision of Isaiah the son of Amoz, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah. Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth; for the Lord has spoken: “Children have I reared and brought up, but they have rebelled against me. The ox knows its owner, and the donkey its master’s crib, but Israel does not know, my people do not understand.” Ah, sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, offspring of evildoers, children who deal corruptly! They have forsaken the Lord, they have despised the Holy One of Israel, they are utterly estranged. Why will you still be struck down? Why will you continue to rebel? The whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint. …”
Group 10 – What Does The Bible Say About Orphans And Widows?
Micah 6:8 – “He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?”
Proverbs 21:3 – “To do righteousness and justice is more acceptable to the Lord than sacrifice.”
Hebrews 7:1-3 – “For this Melchizedek, king of Salem, priest of the Most High God, met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings and blessed him, and to him Abraham apportioned a tenth part of everything. He is first, by translation of his name, king of righteousness, and then he is also king of Salem, that is, king of peace. He is without father or mother or genealogy, having neither beginning of days nor end of life, but resembling the Son of God he continues a priest forever.”
Romans 3:23 – “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,”
Genesis 14:1-24 – “In the days of Amraphel king of Shinar, Arioch king of Ellasar, Chedorlaomer king of Elam, and Tidal king of Goiim, these kings made war with Bera king of Sodom, Birsha king of Gomorrah, Shinab king of Admah, Shemeber king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela (that is, Zoar). And all these joined forces in the Valley of Siddim (that is, the Salt Sea). Twelve years they had served Chedorlaomer, but in the thirteenth year they rebelled. In the fourteenth year Chedorlaomer and the kings who were with him came and defeated the Rephaim in Ashteroth-karnaim, the Zuzim in Ham, the Emim in Shaveh-kiriathaim, …”
