Bible Strands
2 Samuel 14:5
“What troubles you?” the king asked her. “Indeed,” she said, “I am a widow, for my husband is dead.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The king asks the approaching woman what troubles her, and she replies after falling in homage and requesting aid.
The words — אַלְמָנָה ('al.ma.Nah) literally means widow, and אֲבָל ('a.Val) functions as an emphatic particle marking her formal declaration.
The thread — The widow’s petition mirrors the narrative pattern in 2 Samuel 12:1, where a similar royal appeal introduces a story of familial violence, and aligns with the broader scriptural record of marginalized figures seeking sovereign intervention.
Why it lands — The text places a concrete claim of loss before a ruler, requiring the reader to note how personal circumstance is presented as a matter requiring official judgment rather than private comfort.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
And the king said unto her, What aileth thee? And she answered, I am indeed a widow woman, and mine husband is dead.
Cross-references
- Judges 9:8 One day the trees set out to anoint a king for themselves. They said to the olive tree, ‘Reign over us.’
- 2 Samuel 12:1 Then the LORD sent Nathan to David, and when he arrived, he said, “There were two men in a certain city, one rich and the other poor.