page_title: Luke 18
section_title: Parable of the Persistent Widow
hierarchical_section_title: Luke 18 / Parable of the Persistent Widow
caption_attribution_description: English: Illustration of the Parable of the Unjust Judge from the New Testament Gospel of Luke (Luke 18:1-9) by John Everett Millais for The Parables of Our Lord (1863)
context_page_description: Luke 18 is the eighteenth chapter of the Gospel of Luke in the New Testament of the Christian Bible. It records the teachings and a miracle of Jesus Christ. The book containing this chapter is anonymous, but early Christian tradition uniformly affirmed that Luke composed this Gospel as well as the Acts of the Apostles.
context_section_description: This parable is also known as the Parable of the Unjust Judge or the Parable of the Importunate Widow appears only in one of the Canonical gospels of the New Testament, namely the Gospel of Luke. It tells about a judge who "did not fear God and did not respect man", who is repeatedly approached by a poor widow, seeking justice. Initially rejecting her demands, he eventually honors her request to avoid being worn out by her persistence. The writer of the gospel explains that the purpose of the parable is to exemplify the importance of persistence in prayer, never losing heart. Methodist commentator Joseph Benson notes that the separation of chapter 18 from chapter 17 "improperly interrupts" Jesus' discourse regarding the "coming of the kingdom", arguing that the forthcoming persecution "would render the duties of prayer, patience, and perseverance peculiarly seasonable". This parable is found immediately prior to the parable of the Pharisee and the Publican (also on prayer) and is similar to the parable of the Friend at Night.
  In modern translations the widow's prayer is for justice. Traditionally her plea for εκδικησον με (endikeson me) has been translated as "avenge me", Benson states that "the word properly signifies 'to judge a cause', and defend the injured judicially from the injurious person. The English word avenge, therefore, does not exactly hit the sense here intended, although, as Dr. Campbell observes, in the application of the parable, Luke 18:7: And shall not God avenge his own elect?, it answers better than any other term."
caption: Parable of the Unjust Judge by John Everett Millais (1863)
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