Hebrew word · H491

אַלְמָנוּת

'almenut

widowhood

Widowhood: the condition of an ʾalmānâ, a woman whose husband has died and who usually has no adult son or male relative to support her. It is a legal and economic state of vulnerability, not only grief.

Appears 4 times in 4 verses of 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 54:4

Range of meaning

Widowhood: the condition of an ʾalmānâ, a woman whose husband has died and who usually has no adult son or male relative to support her. It is a legal and economic state of vulnerability, not only grief.

Against the English

English 'widowhood' simply means one's husband has died. In ancient Israel the ʾalmānâ was a social category with no protector, legal voice or secure livelihood. She appears in the law alongside the orphan and the foreigner.

How it drifted

Modern widows usually keep their property and legal standing. The ancient word carried a sense of exposure and helplessness that the English word no longer suggests.

Used elsewhere in the period

Deuteronomy 10:18; 24:17–21; Exodus 22:22[21]; Lamentations 1:1: Jerusalem 'has become like a widow'. Isaiah 47:8–9: Babylon boasts 'I shall not sit as a widow', and is told widowhood will come to her.

Where it appears

Genesis · 2

  1. Genesis 38:14 אַלְמְנוּתָ֜הּ widowhood her

    she removed her widow’s garments, covered her face with a veil to disguise herself, and sat at the entrance to Enaim, which is on the way to Timnah. For she saw that although Shelah had grown up, she had not been given to him as a wife.

  2. Genesis 38:19 אַלְמְנוּתָֽהּ׃ widowhood her

    Then Tamar got up and departed. And she removed her veil and put on her widow’s garments again.

2 Samuel · 1

  1. 2 Samuel 20:3 אַלְמְנ֥וּת widowhood of

    When David returned to his palace in Jerusalem, he took the ten concubines he had left to take care of the palace, and he placed them in a house under guard. He provided for them, but he no longer slept with them. They were confined until the day of their death, living as widows.

Isaiah · 1

  1. Isaiah 54:4 אַלְמְנוּתַ֖יִךְ widowhood your

    Do not be afraid, for you will not be put to shame; do not be intimidated, for you will not be humiliated. For you will forget the shame of your youth and will remember no more the reproach of your widowhood.

    Here: The state of a woman with no husband to protect and provide for her. Here it pictures exiled Jerusalem, apparently abandoned by her divine husband (54:5–7).

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