{
 "id": "john-newton/the-importunate-widow",
 "title": "The Importunate Widow.",
 "ordinal": "106",
 "subtitle": null,
 "poet": "John Newton",
 "poet_slug": "john-newton",
 "language": "en",
 "book": "Olney Hymns",
 "book_slug": "olney-hymns",
 "book_kind": "volume",
 "sequence": 106,
 "container": "Book I On Select Texts of Scripture",
 "epigraph": null,
 "first_published": {
  "year": 1779,
  "venue": "Olney Hymns (1779)",
  "note": "First located printing is this volume; an earlier periodical printing has not been established.",
  "uncertain": false,
  "sources": [
   "https://archive.org/details/bim_eighteenth-century_olney-hymns-in-three-bo_newton-john_1779",
   "https://cowperandnewtonmuseum.org.uk/bulletin/computerised-index-to-the-olney-hymns/",
   "https://archive.org/details/olneyhymnsinthre00cowpuoft"
  ]
 },
 "source": {
  "kind": "standard-ebooks",
  "repo": "standardebooks/john-newton_william-cowper_olney-hymns",
  "file": "book-1.xhtml",
  "upstream": [
   "https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Olney_Hymns_%281840%29",
   "https://archive.org/details/olneyhymnsinthre00cowpuoft"
  ],
  "rights": "public domain (SE dedication; underlying text pre-1931)"
 },
 "verification": {
  "level": "structural-only",
  "last_checked": "2026-08-15"
 },
 "stats": {
  "n_lines": 36,
  "n_stanzas": 9,
  "n_parts": 9,
  "longest_line_chars": 39,
  "max_indent": 1
 },
 "site_ready": true,
 "parts": [
  {
   "ordinal": "I",
   "title": null,
   "stanza_range": [
    0,
    1
   ]
  },
  {
   "ordinal": "II",
   "title": null,
   "stanza_range": [
    1,
    2
   ]
  },
  {
   "ordinal": "III",
   "title": null,
   "stanza_range": [
    2,
    3
   ]
  },
  {
   "ordinal": "IV",
   "title": null,
   "stanza_range": [
    3,
    4
   ]
  },
  {
   "ordinal": "V",
   "title": null,
   "stanza_range": [
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   ]
  },
  {
   "ordinal": "VI",
   "title": null,
   "stanza_range": [
    5,
    6
   ]
  },
  {
   "ordinal": "VII",
   "title": null,
   "stanza_range": [
    6,
    7
   ]
  },
  {
   "ordinal": "VIII",
   "title": null,
   "stanza_range": [
    7,
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   ]
  },
  {
   "ordinal": "IX",
   "title": null,
   "stanza_range": [
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   ]
  }
 ],
 "stanzas": [
  [
   {
    "text": "Our Lord, who knows full well",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "The heart of every saint,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Invites us, by a parable.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "To pray and never faint.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "He bows his gracious ear,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "We never plead in vain;",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Yet we must wait till he appear,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And pray, and pray again.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Though unbelief suggest,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Why should we longer wait?",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "He bids us never give him rest,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "But be importunate.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "’Twas thus a widow poor,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Without support or friend,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Beset the unjust judge’s door,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And gain’d, at last, her end.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "For her he little cared,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "As little for the laws;",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Nor god nor man did he regard,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Yet he espoused her cause.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "She urged him day and night,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Would no denial take;",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "At length he said, “I’ll do her right,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "For my own quiet’s sake.”",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "And shall not Jesus hear",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "His chosen when they cry?",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Yes, though he may a while forbear,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "He’ll help them from on high.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "His nature, truth, and love,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Engage him on their side;",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "When they are grieved, his bowels move,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And can they be denied?",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Then let us earnest be,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "And never faint in prayer;",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "He loves our importunity,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And makes our cause his care.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ]
 ]
}