Explain Bible

What does the Bible say about helping widows?

Bible Topic · WEB

The Bible calls God’s people to compassionate, practical care for widows, especially those without family support, as an expression of true faith and neighbor-love. James 1:27 names care for widows among religion that is pure before God. Scripture commends generosity to the needy, teaching that kindness to the poor is lending to the Lord (Proverbs 19:17) and that the righteous consider their cause (Proverbs 29:7). Families bear a first responsibility to provide for their own relatives (1 Timothy 5:8, 16), while the church is to support widows who are truly destitute (1 Timothy 5:9). Such mercy flows from God’s grace and reflects his concern for the vulnerable.

Top passages, ranked by readers

Rankings: OpenBible.info Topical Bible (CC BY) · Scripture: World English Bible

  • James 1:27 14 votes

    Pure religion and undefiled before our God and Father is this: to visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.

  • Proverbs 19:17 9 votes

    He who has pity on the poor lends to Yahweh; he will reward him.

  • 1 Timothy 5:8 9 votes

    But if anyone doesn’t provide for his own, and especially his own household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.

  • 1 Timothy 5:16 8 votes

    If any man or woman who believes has widows, let them relieve them, and don’t let the assembly be burdened, that it might relieve those who are widows indeed.

  • Isaiah 58:10 5 votes

    and if you pour out your soul to the hungry, and satisfy the afflicted soul, then your light will rise in darkness, and your obscurity will be as the noonday;

  • Matthew 5:42 5 votes

    Give to him who asks you, and don’t turn away him who desires to borrow from you.

  • Deuteronomy 15:7-11 4 votes

    If a poor man, one of your brothers, is with you within any of your gates in your land which Yahweh your God gives you, you shall not harden your heart, nor shut your hand from your poor brother; but you shall surely open your hand to him, and shall surely lend him sufficient for his need, which he lacks. Beware that there not be a wicked thought in your heart, saying, “The seventh year, the year of release, is at hand,” and your eye be evil against your poor brother and you give him nothing; and he cry to Yahweh against you, and it be sin to you. You shall surely give, and your heart shall not be grieved when you give to him, because it is for this thing Yahweh your God will bless you in all your work and in all that you put your hand to. For the poor will never cease out of the land. Therefore I command you to surely open your hand to your brother, to your needy, and to your poor, in your land.

  • Proverbs 22:9 3 votes

    He who has a generous eye will be blessed, for he shares his food with the poor.

  • 1 Timothy 5:9 3 votes

    Let no one be enrolled as a widow under sixty years old, having been the wife of one man,

  • Proverbs 29:7 3 votes

    The righteous care about justice for the poor. The wicked aren’t concerned about knowledge.

Related topics

Go deeper

Ask Explain Bible AI about helping widows and get a fuller answer from a Reformed theological perspective.

Ask what the Bible says about helping widows