A WIDOW — a woman whose husband has died, and in Israel's law the type of the person with no one to enforce her rights, named with the orphan and the stranger throughout Deuteronomy. The law gives her: her garment, which may not be taken in pledge (24:17); the forgotten sheaf, the beaten olive and the gleaned vine (24:19–21); a seat at the feasts (16:11, 16:14) and a share of the third-year tithe (14:29; 26:12, not yet on these pages); and a curse on whoever bends her justice (27:19). Exodus 22:22–24 gave her a threat instead of a gift — mistreat her, and your own wives will become widows. Two priestly laws set her beside the gerushah, the divorced woman, as women a high priest may not marry (Leviticus 21:14) and whose vows stand on their own (Numbers 30:10). Ruth is the Bible's widow, gleaning under 24:19. The prophets keep the triad — Jeremiah 22:3, Isaiah 1:17, 1:23, Malachi 3:5 — and Psalm 146:9 (not yet on these pages) gives it to God: Jehovah… upholds the orphan and the widow. → first discussed at Deut 24:17