The Tunics She Sewed
"In Joppa there was a disciple named Tabitha (in Greek her name is Dorcas); she was always doing good and helping the poor. About that time she became sick and died, and her body was washed and placed in an upstairs room. Lydda was near Joppa; so when the disciples heard that Peter was in Lydda, they sent two men to him and urged him, “Please come at once!” Peter went with them, and when he arrived he was taken upstairs to the room. All the widows stood around him, crying and showing him the robes and other clothing that Dorcas had made while she was still with them."
— Acts 9:36-39
Luke calls her mathetria, the feminine form of the word for a student of Jesus, and it appears nowhere else in the New Testament. Her Aramaic name stands first, translated at once, because this port town had both languages in daily use. Both versions mean one animal, a gazelle. Burial normally followed within hours in that climate, so preparing her and then stopping was a deliberate delay rather than the usual order. Lydda lay inland, hours of walking in each direction, twice over before help could arrive. Thread was spun by hand and cloth woven by hand, so one finished garment cost real money and real time. The Law even let a cloak stand as security for a loan, on condition it came back before sunset. A woman left without a husband or a grown son often lost any steady income. Small work done for other people outlasts whoever does it.