Bible Strands
Luke 4:25
But I tell you truthfully that there were many widows in Israel in the time of Elijah, when the sky was shut for three and a half years and great famine swept over all the land.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Jesus addresses a hostile congregation in Nazareth immediately after declaring that no prophet is accepted in his hometown. He speaks during a confrontational synagogue teaching that has turned against him.
The words — The phrase ἀληθείας λέγω ὑμῖν (alētheias legō hymin) literally means "I say to you truth." The noun χῆραι (chērai) specifically denotes widows, emphasizing women without male guardianship or economic support.
The thread — Jesus references the drought and famine detailed in 1 Kings 17:1 and 1 Kings 18:1, which James 5:17 later summarizes as a three-year withholding of rain.
Why it lands — The text states that numerous widows existed in Israel during Elijah’s time, yet God directed Elijah to only one in Sidon. It requires readers to accept that divine provision operates independently of human expectations regarding nationality or local priority.
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 Greek words
King James Version
But I tell you of a truth, many widows were in Israel in the days of Elias, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, when great famine was throughout all the land;
Cross-references
- 1 Kings 17:1 Now Elijah the Tishbite, who was among the settlers of Gilead, said to Ahab, “As surely as the LORD, the God of Israel, lives, before whom I stand, there will be neither dew nor rain in these years except at my word!”
- James 5:17 Elijah was a man just like us. He prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the land for three and a half years.
- 1 Kings 18:1 After a long time, in the third year of the drought, the word of the LORD came to Elijah: “Go and present yourself to Ahab, and I will send rain upon the face of the earth.”
- Matthew 20:15 Do I not have the right to do as I please with what is mine? Or are you envious because I am generous?’
- Mark 7:26 Now she was a Greek woman of Syrophoenician origin, and she kept asking Jesus to drive the demon out of her daughter.
- Isaiah 55:8 “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways,” declares the LORD.
- Luke 10:21 At that time Jesus rejoiced in the Holy Spirit and declared, “I praise You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because You have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children. Yes, Father, for this was well-pleasing in Your sight.
- Romans 9:15 For He says to Moses: “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.”
- Romans 9:20 But who are you, O man, to talk back to God? Shall what is formed say to Him who formed it, “Why did You make me like this?”
- Ephesians 1:9 And He has made known to us the mystery of His will according to His good pleasure, which He purposed in Christ