Hebrew word · H489

אַלְמֹן

ve'almon

widowhood

Widowhood, the state of a woman whose husband is dead. In Israelite society this meant losing a protector, legal standing and income. The noun occurs only here. The related ʾalmānāh ('widow') is common, and ʾalmānût ('widowhood') appears in Isa 54:4.

Appears once in the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

widowhood

Abridged from Brown, Driver and Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament (1906), via STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0).

In depth

From the study of Isaiah 47:9

Range of meaning

Widowhood, the state of a woman whose husband is dead. In Israelite society this meant losing a protector, legal standing and income. The noun occurs only here. The related ʾalmānāh ('widow') is common, and ʾalmānût ('widowhood') appears in Isa 54:4. Jer 51:5 uses the adjective ʾalmān: 'Israel… is not widowed.'

Against the English

'Widowhood' is a correct translation. What a modern reader may miss is that for an ancient city-woman it was a political image as well as a personal grief.

How it drifted

Today 'widowhood' is mostly heard as private grief. In the prophets, a widowed city has lost her king or divine husband and so her protection and sovereignty. Compare Lam 1:1: 'How she has become like a widow, she who was great among the nations… a princess has become a slave.'

Used elsewhere in the period

Lam 1:1 (Jerusalem as widow); Isa 54:4–5 ('the reproach of your widowhood you will remember no more, for your Maker is your husband'); Jer 51:5. Rev 18:7 quotes the boast of v. 8: 'I sit as queen; I am no widow.'

Where it appears

Isaiah · 1

  1. Isaiah 47:9 וְאַלְמֹ֑ן and widowhood

    These two things will overtake you in a moment, in a single day: loss of children, and widowhood. They will come upon you in full measure, in spite of your many sorceries and the potency of your spells.

    Here: The state of having lost a husband. This noun form occurs only here in the Hebrew Bible. It echoes v. 8, 'I will not sit as a widow (ʾalmānāh)'. For a queen-city it means losing her king, her protector and her standing.

Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.