A father of the fatherless, and a defender of the widows, is God in his holy habitation.
Parallel translations
- KJV A father of the fatherless, and a judge of the widows, is God in his holy habitation.
- BSB A father of the fatherless, and a defender of the widows, is God in His holy habitation.
- NKJV A father of the fatherless, a defender of widows, Is God in His holy habitation.
- NASB ¶A father of the fatherless and a judge for the widows, Is God in His holy dwelling.
- NLT Father to the fatherless, defender of widows— this is God, whose dwelling is holy.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 22
- Jer 49:11Leave your fatherless children. I will preserve them alive. Let your widows trust in me.”
- Ps 10:14But you do see trouble and grief. You consider it to take it into your hand. You help the victim and the fatherless.
- Ps 82:3–4“Defend the weak, the poor, and the fatherless. Maintain the rights of the poor and oppressed.
- Deut 10:18He does execute justice for the fatherless and widow, and loves the foreigner, in giving him food and clothing.
- Jer 5:28They 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 judge the right of the needy.
- Luke 18:2–7saying, “There was a judge in a certain city who didn’t fear God, and didn’t respect man.
- Ps 146:9Yahweh preserves the foreigners. He upholds the fatherless and widow, but the way of the wicked he turns upside down.
- Ps 72:4He will judge the poor of the people. He will save the children of the needy, and will break the oppressor in pieces.
- Isa 1:23Your princes are rebellious, and companions of thieves. Everyone loves bribes, and follows after rewards. They don’t judge the fatherless, neither does the cause of the widow come to them.
- Isa 57:15For thus says the high and lofty One who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: “I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also who is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite.
- 2 Chr 6:2But I have built you a house and home, a place for you to dwell in forever.”
- Ps 10:18to judge the fatherless and the oppressed, that man who is of the earth may terrify no more.
- Eph 5:1Be therefore imitators of God, as beloved children.
- Ps 33:14From the place of his habitation he looks out on all the inhabitants of the earth,
- Job 29:12–13Because I delivered the poor who cried, and the fatherless also, who had no one to help him,
- Isa 66:1Yahweh says, “Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool. What kind of house will you build to me? Where will I rest?
- 2 Chr 30:27Then the priests the Levites arose and blessed the people. Their voice was heard, and their prayer came up to his holy habitation, even to heaven.
- Job 31:16–17“If I have withheld the poor from their desire, or have caused the eyes of the widow to fail,
- Ps 72:2He will judge your people with righteousness, and your poor with justice.
- Hos 14:3Assyria can’t save us. We won’t ride on horses; neither will we say any more to the work of our hands, ‘Our gods!’ for in you the fatherless finds mercy.”
- Acts 7:48–49However, the Most High doesn’t dwell in temples made with hands, as the prophet says,
- Deut 26:15Look down from your holy habitation, from heaven, and bless your people Israel, and the ground which you have given us, as you swore to our fathers, a land flowing with milk and honey.”
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.
Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.
Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
Christ at the center
The Psalms are Christ's own prayer book and a gallery of his portraits — the suffering one of Psalm 22, the risen Lord of Psalm 16, the priest-king of Psalm 110, the Son to whom the nations are given.
How Psalms 68:5 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.