A widow was in that city, and she often came to him, saying, ‘Defend me from my adversary!’
Parallel Translations
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A widow was in that city, and she often came to him, saying, ‘Defend me from my adversary!’
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And ther was a certayne wedowe in the same cite which came vnto him sayinge: avenge me of myne adversary.
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And there was a widowe in that citie, which came vnto him, saying, Doe mee iustice against mine aduersarie.
Examined in Scripture Analysis
Contradictions (1)
Questions where the Bible appears to say two different things, with the passages on each side set together.
Cross-references (9)
Passages linked to Luke 18:3 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Isaiah 1:17 Learn to do well. Seek justice. Relieve the oppressed. Defend the fatherless. Plead for the widow.”
- Deuteronomy 27:19 ‘Cursed is he who withholds justice from the foreigner, fatherless, and widow.’ All the people shall say, ‘Amen.’
- Jeremiah 5:28 They have grown fat. They shine; yes, they excel in deeds of wickedness. They don’t plead the cause, the cause of the fatherless, that they may prosper; and they don’t defend the rights of the needy.
- Job 22:9 You have sent widows away empty, and the arms of the fatherless have been broken.
- Job 29:13 the blessing of him who was ready to perish came on me, and I caused the widow’s heart to sing for joy.
- Luke 18:7-8 Won’t God avenge his chosen ones who are crying out to him day and night, and yet he exercises patience with them? I tell you that he will avenge them quickly. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?”
- Romans 13:3-4 For rulers are not a terror to the good work, but to the evil. Do you desire to have no fear of the authority? Do that which is good, and you will have praise from the authority, for he is a servant of God to you for good. But if you do that which is evil, be afraid, for he doesn’t bear the sword in vain; for he is a servant of God, an avenger for wrath to him who does evil.
- 2 Samuel 14:5-24 The king said to her, “What ails you?” She answered, “Truly I am a widow, and my husband is dead. Your servant had two sons, and they both fought together in the field, and there was no one to part them, but the one struck the other, and killed him. Behold, the whole family has risen against your servant, and they say, ‘Deliver him who struck his brother, that we may kill him for the life of his brother whom he killed, and so destroy the heir also.’ Thus they would quench my coal which is left, and would leave to my husband neither name nor remainder on the surface of the earth.” The king said to the woman, “Go to your house, and I will give a command concerning you.” The woman of Tekoa said to the king, “My lord, O king, may the iniquity be on me, and on my father’s house; and may the king and his throne be guiltless.” The king said, “Whoever says anything to you, bring him to me, and he will not bother you any more.” Then she said, “Please let the king remember Yahweh your God, that the avenger of blood destroy not any more, lest they destroy my son.” He said, “As Yahweh lives, not one hair of your son shall fall to the earth.” Then the woman said, “Please let your servant speak a word to my lord the king.” He said, “Say on.” The woman said, “Why then have you devised such a thing against the people of God? For in speaking this word the king is as one who is guilty, in that the king does not bring home again his banished one. For we must die, and are like water spilled on the ground, which can’t be gathered up again; neither does God take away life, but devises means, that he who is banished not be an outcast from him. Now therefore seeing that I have come to speak this word to my lord the king, it is because the people have made me afraid. Your servant said, ‘I will now speak to the king; it may be that the king will perform the request of his servant.’ For the king will hear, to deliver his servant out of the hand of the man who would destroy me and my son together out of the inheritance of God. Then your servant said, ‘Please let the word of my lord the king bring rest; for as an angel of God, so is my lord the king to discern good and bad. May Yahweh, your God, be with you.’ ” Then the king answered the woman, “Please don’t hide anything from me that I ask you.” The woman said, “Let my lord the king now speak.” The king said, “Is the hand of Joab with you in all this?” The woman answered, “As your soul lives, my lord the king, no one can turn to the right hand or to the left from anything that my lord the king has spoken; for your servant Joab urged me, and he put all these words in the mouth of your servant. Your servant Joab has done this thing to change the face of the matter. My lord is wise, according to the wisdom of an angel of God, to know all things that are in the earth.” The king said to Joab, “Behold now, I have done this thing. Go therefore, and bring the young man Absalom back.” Joab fell to the ground on his face, showed respect, and blessed the king. Joab said, “Today your servant knows that I have found favor in your sight, my lord, king, in that the king has performed the request of his servant.” So Joab arose and went to Geshur, and brought Absalom to Jerusalem. The king said, “Let him return to his own house, but let him not see my face.” So Absalom returned to his own house, and didn’t see the king’s face.
- Isaiah 1:21-23 How the faithful city has become a prostitute! She was full of justice. Righteousness lodged in her, but now there are murderers. Your silver has become dross, your wine mixed with water. Your princes are rebellious and companions of thieves. Everyone loves bribes and follows after rewards. They don’t defend the fatherless, neither does the cause of the widow come to them.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (12 sources)
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John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain 3 And there was a widow in that city;…
3 And there was a widow in that city; and she came unto him, saying, Avenge me of mine adversary.
Ver. 3. Avenge me of mine adversary] A downright request, without either logic or rhetoric to set it forth or enforce it; to teach us that though our prayers be but blunt or broken language, if importunate, they shall prevail nevertheless.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain And there was a widow in that city,.... Poor…
And there was a widow in that city,.... Poor and helpless, and none among men to counsel, direct, and assist her, and take her part: now as in the accommodation of this parable, the elect of God answer to this widow; such an one is rather pitched upon to represent the helpless, desolate, and forlorn condition they are in among men in this world, though they are espoused to one husband, Christ; and especially to signify the state and condition of God's elect among the Jews in those sad times, before the destruction of Jerusalem, this parable has respect unto. Christ is the bridegroom of his church and people; he is their husband, the Lord of hosts is his name; and they are espoused as a chaste virgin to him; and whilst he was here on earth, his disciples, who were the children of the bridegroom, could not fast and mourn, for which they had no reason; but upon the death of Christ, when he was removed from them, they had great sorrow of heart; they were left like widows and orphans; hence those words of Christ, Joh 14:18 and were persecuted by the Jews in their own land; and wherever they went, they stirred up the Gentiles against them; and so things continued till near the destruction of Jerusalem; during which time many a request was made to God, the judge of the widows and fatherless, to the following purport:
and she came unto him, saying, avenge me of my adversary; or do me justice in the cause depending between me, and him that has wronged me; hear the cause, and do right; vindicate, and deliver me. Many are the adversaries of God's people, as the sins and corruptions of their own hearts, Satan, and his angels, wicked oppressors, and persecutors; the last seem, in the mystical sense, to be designed here: it is lawful to pray for vengeance on them; it is right to apply to God, and leave it with him, to whom it belongs; and it has been the suit and cry of the best of men; see Rev 6:9. It does not become the people of God to avenge themselves, even when it is in the power of their hands; nor should they desire it for their own sakes, so much as for the glory of God; they should ask it, not to gratify a revengeful spirit in them, but for the honour or divine justice; and this should be always with submission to the will of God, leaving it to his own time and way, to whom vengeance belongs, and who has said it is mine, and I will repay it; as he certainly will sooner or later: the purity of his nature, his abhorrence of sin, and sinful men, and his love to his own people engage him to it.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 3. Avenge me of mine adversary.] The original,…
Verse 3. Avenge me of mine adversary.] The original, εκδικησον με απο του αντιδικου μου, had better be translated, Do me justice against, or vindicate me from, my adversary. If the woman had come to get revenge, as our common translation intimates, I think our blessed Lord would never have permitted her to have the honour of a place in the sacred records. She desired to have justice, and that only; and by her importunity she got that which the unrighteous judge had no inclination to give, but merely for his own ease.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain A widow - This is a circumstance that gives…
A widow - This is a circumstance that gives increasing interest to the parable. Judges were bound to show special attention to widows, Isa 1:17; Jer 22:3. The reason of this was that they were defenseless, were commonly poor, and were liable to be oppressed by those in power.
Avenge me - This would have been better translated, “Do me justice against my adversary, or vindicate me from him.” It does not denote vengeance or revenge, but simply that she wished to have “justice” done her - a thing which this judge was “bound” to do, but which it seems he had no disposition to do.
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Adversary - One opposed in law. In this case it seems that the judge was unwilling to do justice, and probably took advantage of her condition to oppress her.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain Avenge me; i.e. do me justice. It is a…
Avenge me; i.e. do me justice. It is a Hebraism. (Witham)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain came--kept coming. See Luk 18:5, "her continual coming."
came--kept coming. See Luk 18:5, "her continual coming."
Avenge me--that is, rid me of the oppression of.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 3. A widow—This widow, we find by Luk_18:7, is…
3. A widow—This widow, we find by Luk_18:7, is God’s own elect. It is the Church of the truly justified from Christ’s First Coming to his Second. The Church is the bride of Christ; and to indicate our deprivation during his absence on high she is held
a widow. Avenge me of mine adversary—The Church’s word avenge, according to the Greek, properly signifies justice, not revenge. It is the cry of the oppressed and martyr Church against her persecuter. It is represented by St. John in the Apocalypse with wonderful grandeur as coming up to God from the souls of the martyrs under the altar. “How long, O Lord, dost thou not avenge our blood?”
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Rev_6:9-10. But the Church is thus guilty of no unholy passion. This cry is but the utterance of divine justice in her behalf to the divine Ruler.
Mine adversary—The plaintiff or accuser. Here is perhaps an allusion to the name Satan, which signifies accuser, and as the name of him who is called the accuser of the brethren.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 3. she came unto him] Rather, she kept coming…
3. she came unto him] Rather, she kept coming to him. The widow woman is a representative alike of the Christian Church and of the Christian soul.
Avenge me of mine adversary] Rather, Do me justice. The word ‘avenge’ is a little too strong. The technical term ekdikeson implies ‘settle my case (so as to free me) from my adversary.’ The same word is found in Rom_12:19; Rev_6:10. There is again a curious parallel in Sir_35:14-17, “He will not despise ... the widow when she poureth out her complaint. Do not the tears run down the widow’s cheeks? and is not her cry against him that causeth them to fall?...The prayer of the humble pierceth the clouds, and ... he will not depart till the Most High shall behold to judge righteously and execute judgment.”
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (3) There was a widow in that city.—The neglect…
(3) There was a widow in that city.—The neglect of the cause of the widow had always been noted by Lawgiver and Prophet—and it was one of the notes of a high ethical standard in both—as the extremest form of oppressive tyranny (Exo_22:22; Deu_10:18; Deu_27:19; Isa_1:17; Isa_1:23; Eze_22:7). Comp. also the speech of the widow of Tekoah (2Sa_14:2; 2Sa_14:5).
She came unto him.—The tense implies continual coming.
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Avenge me of mine adversary.—The term is used in its legal sense. She was plaintiff, and he defendant, or, it may be, vice versâ. The judge put off his decision, and the “law’s delay” was worse to her than the original wrong had been.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain And there was a widow in that city; and…
And there was a widow in that city; and she came unto him, saying, Avenge me of mine adversary. The petitioner was a woman and a widow, the latter being in the East a synonym for helplessness. With no one to defend her or plead her cause, this widow was ever a prey to the covetous. Not once nor twice in the noble generous words of the chivalrous Hebrew prophets we find this readiness on the part of those in power to neglect, if not to oppress these helpless widow-women, sternly commented upon. So in Isaiah we read, (Isa_1:23) "They judge not the fatherless, neither doth the cause of the widow come unto them." While Jesus (Mat_23:14) includes this cowardly sin among the evil deeds of the rulers of the Israel of his day: "Ye devour widows" houses, and for a pretence make long prayer." A more desperate situation, as regards any hope of obtaining the object of her earnest prayer, could not well be pictured a careless, corrupt judge of the lawless Herod period for the tribunal in Israel, and a poor helpless widow for the suppliant. The forlorn woman of the parable represents the Church or people of God in dire straits, overborne by an unbelieving world and seemingly forgotten even of their God. The story is a reminder that there is hope even in that extreme situation sketched in the parable, if the petitioner only continues persistent in her prayer. The argument which lies on the surface of the parable, teaching is obvious: if such a judge will in the end listen to the prayer of a suppliant for whom he cares nothing, will not God surely listen to the repeated prayer of a suppliant whom he loves with a deep, enduring love? Such is the argument of the story. Importunity, it seems to say, must inevitably triumph. But underlying this there is much deep teaching, of which, perhaps, the most important item is that it insists upon the urgent necessity for us all to continue in prayer, never fainting in this exercise though no answer seems to come. "The whole limb of the faithful," as Origen once grandly said, "should be one great connected prayer." That is the real moral of the story; but there are a number of minor bits of Divine teaching contained in this curious parable setting, as we shall see. Avenge me of mine adversary. We must not suppose that mere vengeance in the vulgar sense is what the widow prayed for; that would be of no use to her; all she wanted was that the judge should deliver her from the oppression which her adversary exercised over her, no doubt in keeping from her the heritage to which she was lawfully entitled. Of course, the granting her prayer would revolve loss and possibly punishment to her fraudulent oppressor.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 Now there was a widow
Now there was a widow
Jesus uses this phrase to introduce a new character to the story. (See: Introduction of New and Old Participants)
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widow
A widow is a woman whose husband has died and who has not remarried. Jesus' hearers would have thought of her as a person who had no one to protect her from those who wanted to harm her.
she came often to him
The word "him" refers to the judge.
Help me get justice against
"Give me a just ruling against"
my opponent
"my enemy" or "the person who is trying to harm me." This is an opponent in a lawsuit. It is not clear whether the widow is suing the man or the man is suing the widow.
man
This refers here to "people" in general. (See: When Masculine Words Include Women)
causes me trouble
"bothers me"
wear me out
"exhaust me"
by her constant coming
"by continually coming to me"
translationWords
just
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 18:3 A widow: God is concerned for widows, orphans,…
18:3 A widow: God is concerned for widows, orphans, and foreigners—the most vulnerable members of ancient society—and has promised judgment against those who oppress them (Exod 22:22; Deut 10:18; 24:17; 27:19; Ps 68:5; Isa 1:23; 10:2; Jer 22:3; Ezek 22:7; Amos 5:10-13; Zech 7:10; Mal 3:5). • Give me justice: The woman was in the right in this dispute—she was not asking for special favors.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.