They slay the widow and the stranger, and murder the fatherless.
Parallel translations
- WEB They kill the widow and the alien, and murder the fatherless.
- BSB They kill the widow and the foreigner; they murder the fatherless.
- NKJV They slay the widow and the stranger, And murder the fatherless.
- NASB They kill the widow and the stranger And murder the orphans.
- NLT They kill widows and foreigners and murder orphans.
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.
Quick answer
The wicked kill the widow, the foreigner, and the fatherless. They prey on the most vulnerable and defenseless.
Overview
The widow, alien, and orphan are those God especially commands His people to protect, so attacking them is the height of wickedness. Such cruelty exposes hearts utterly indifferent to God's law of love. God Himself defends these vulnerable ones, and Christ's people are called to care for them as pure religion (Deuteronomy 10:18; James 1:27).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 6
- Isa 10:2To turn aside the needy from judgment, and to take away the right from the poor of my people, that widows may be their prey, and that they may rob the fatherless!
- Ezek 22:7In thee have they set light by father and mother: in the midst of thee have they dealt by oppression with the stranger: in thee have they vexed the fatherless and the widow.
- Jer 7:6If ye oppress not the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, and shed not innocent blood in this place, neither walk after other gods to your hurt:
- Mal 3:5And I will come near to you to judgment; and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, and against the adulterers, and against false swearers, and against those that oppress the hireling in his wages, the widow, and the fatherless, and that turn aside the stranger from his right, and fear not me, saith the LORD of hosts.
- Jer 22:3Thus saith the LORD; Execute ye judgment and righteousness, and deliver the spoiled out of the hand of the oppressor: and do no wrong, do no violence to the stranger, the fatherless, nor the widow, neither shed innocent blood in this place.
- Isa 13:15–18Every one that is found shall be thrust through; and every one that is joined unto them shall fall by the sword.
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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 94:6 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.