אָמָה
maid
also: maid-servant, female slave, handmaid, concubine fuller range ↓
Full lexicon entry — Brown-Driver-Briggs (BDB)
From Brown-Driver-Briggs (BDB)
Where this word appears
See every Absolute-state word in the Hebrew Bible →
Grammar key — what these labels mean
Part of speech
- Noun
- A naming word — a person, place, thing, or idea.
Noun type
- Common
- A common noun — a general class of person, place, or thing (“king,” “city,” “water”), not a specific name.
State
- Construct
- A noun bound to a following noun in a possessive / “of” relationship (the construct chain).
- Absolute
- The independent form of a noun, not bound to a following word.
Gender
- Feminine
- Grammatically feminine.
Number
- Singular
- One.
- Plural
- More than one (in Hebrew, generally three or more).
Every verse where H519 appears in the Book of Genesis — 6 distinct verses. Click any verse to open its interlinear word-by-word view. Verse text shown in the World English Bible for context — . Each verse’s Hebrew form is shown with its reference; the English is not keyword-highlighted, since the data carries no word-level English alignment. Use “Compare translations” on any verse to read it across multiple English versions. This concordance covers the Hebrew Bible; Septuagint (Greek Old Testament) occurrences are not indexed here.
Genesis
- Genesis 20:17 וְ/אַמְהֹתָ֖י/ו conj + n c fp cs + sfx pers 3ms Abraham prayed to God. God healed Abimelech, and his wife, and his maid-servants, and they bore children.
- Genesis 21:10 הָ/אָמָ֥ה הָ/אָמָ֣ה ptcl def.art + n c fs ptcl def.art + n c fs Therefore she said to Abraham, "Cast out this handmaid and her son! For the son of this handmaid will not be heir with my son, even with Isaac."
- Genesis 21:12 אֲמָתֶ֔/ךָ n c fs cs + sfx pers 2ms God said to Abraham, "Don't let it be grievous in your sight because of the boy, and because of your handmaid. In all that Sarah says to you, listen to her voice. For from Isaac will your seed be called.
- Genesis 21:13 הָ/אָמָ֖ה ptcl def.art + n c fs Also of the son of the handmaid will I make a nation, because he is your seed."
- Genesis 30:3 אֲמָתִ֥/י n c fs cs + sfx pers 1cs She said, "Behold, my maid Bilhah. Go in to her, that she may bear on my knees, and I also may obtain children by her."
- Genesis 31:33 הָ/אֲמָהֹ֖ת ptcl def.art + n c fp Laban went into Jacob's tent, into Leah's tent, and into the tent of the two maid-servants; but he didn't find them. He went out of Leah's tent, and entered into Rachel's tent.
About this entry
At a glance — auto-summarized from this page’s data, not written by a person. Every figure links to its source below. This summary describes the numbers; it doesn’t interpret them.
אמה — transliterated ʼâmâh — is a Hebrew noun carrying the sense “maid.” Translators differ — “handmaid” in the King James Version, then “female servant” (unfoldingWord Literal Text), as the renderings breakdown shows. With 49 verses in 14 books, it is a moderately common word in the Hebrew Bible. It first appears in Genesis 20:17. It also covers “maid-servant”, “female slave”, and “handmaid”, alongside “maid” — see its full sense range. See the sense tree, 49-verse concordance, and the renderings breakdown below.
Gloss history
Strong's 1890 vs modern scholarship
About this word
Strong's H519 catalogs a Hebrew word from the Hebrew Old Testament.
These counts are not copied from any lexicon or concordance. They are computed here, from the morphology-tagged Hebrew Old Testament. What Lemma adds →
- 49
- distinct verses
- The word appears in 49 distinct verses.
- 14 / 39
- OT books
- The word appears in 14 of 39 Old Testament books.
- #678
- by frequency
- Top 1000 most frequent Hebrew words (rank 678 of 8,640 Hebrew words by occurrence).
View all 49 occurrences in the concordance →
Most concentrated in
- Exodus 9 verses 18%
- Deuteronomy 7 verses 14%
- 1 Samuel 7 verses 14%
By section of the Old Testament
By traditional corpus
Conventional, traditional groupings — biblical authorship is debated, so this is a traditional corpus grouping, not an authorship claim. Each share is this word’s portion of its verses in that division of the Hebrew canon. Each figure is a share of the word’s 49 distinct verses.
- Torah (Pentateuch) 24 verses · 49%
- Prophets (Nevi'im) 18 verses · 37%
- Writings (Ketuvim) 7 verses · 14%
How translations render this word
Counts come from each version’s own published word-to-Strong’s tagging or interlinear alignment — an approximate guide to how each version renders this word, not a word-level alignment the data otherwise carries. Because each total is that version’s own tagged count, the per-version totals vary from one another and need not match the appearance or distinct-verse counts above. These counts may also differ from a printed concordance because Lemma counts each distinctly tagged rendering and does not collapse phrase taggings into a single head-word total. This is a fixed set of word-tagged versions (KJV, ASV, BSB, ULT) and does not change with the reading translation you choose elsewhere. Each version’s license is shown beside its name below (and on Sources).
- King James Version: Handmaid 17×, Maidservant 9×, Bondwoman 4×
- American Standard Version: Handmaid 16×, Maid-servant 9×, Maid-servants 5×
- Berean Standard Bible: Maidservant 20×, Maidservants 13×, Servant 8×
- unfoldingWord Literal Text: Female servant 25×, Female servants 6×, Maidservant 6×
King James Version Public Domain
Renders H519 across 55 tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus 13 renderings that appear only once — usually multi-word phrases or single function words the recovered tagging swept in, not distinct renderings.
American Standard Version Public Domain
Renders H519 across 55 tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus 12 renderings that appear only once — usually multi-word phrases or single function words the recovered tagging swept in, not distinct renderings.
Berean Standard Bible Public Domain
Renders H519 across 53 tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus 6 renderings that appear only once — usually multi-word phrases or single function words the recovered tagging swept in, not distinct renderings. Not rendered by a distinct English word in 3 further occurrences.
unfoldingWord Literal Text CC BY-SA 4.0
Renders H519 across 57 tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus 5 renderings that appear only once — usually multi-word phrases or single function words the recovered tagging swept in, not distinct renderings.
Senses in the full BDB
What do BDB’s symbols mean?
BDB uses these scholarly abbreviations:
| Symbol | Meaning |
|---|---|
| 𝔊 | the Septuagint (the ancient Greek translation, LXX) |
| 𝔙 | the Vulgate (the Latin translation) |
| 𝔖 | the Syriac version (the Peshitta) |
| 𝔗 | the Targum (the Aramaic translation) |
| ψ | the Psalms |
| √ | root (the underlying root or stem) |
| ‖ | parallel passage (a synonymous or contrasted parallel) |
| † | the dagger: every passage where the word occurs is cited |
The 2 senses and sub-senses the full Brown-Driver-Briggs lexicon distinguishes for this word, in lexicon order (not ranked by frequency), with BDB’s own verbatim wording and sub-sense lettering. Shown in Hebrew script with BDB’s own scholarly abbreviations. The condensed entry is in the Lexicon Entry tab. See also the Forms in the corpus table below.
- 1. lit. maidservant (= שִׁפְחָה q.v., wh. however sometimes more servile; rarely P in Hex) Gn 30:3; 31:33 (‖ שִׁפְחָה 29:24, 29 P 30:4 f. J etc.) Ex 2:5 (all E); 2 S 6:20, 22 Jb 19:15 Na 2:8 (sf. refers to mistress, except Jb 19:15 cf. 2 S 6:20, 22); in legisl. (‖ עֶבֶד) Ex 20:10, 17; 21:20, 26, 27, 32 (all E) Lv 25:6, 44(×2) (H) Dt 5:14(×2), 18; 12:12, 18; 15:17 (cf. v. 12) 16:11, 14; cf. also Jb 31:13 Ezr 2:65 Ne 7:67; applied to concubine (sf. of master) Gn 20:17; 21:12 Ex 23:12 (all E) Ju 9:18; 19:19; also Gn 21:10(×2), 13 (16:1 f. P שִׁפְחָה q.v.) Ex 21:7 (all E), vid. on this StaGesch. i. p. 380. e.g. Genesis 30:3
- 2. fig. in address, אֲמָֽתְךָ etc., referring to speaker, in token of humility; Ru 3:9(×2) (‖ שׁפחה 2:13) 1 S 1:16 (‖ id. v 18) 25:24(×2), 25, 28, 31, 41 (‖ id. v 27) 2 S 14:15, 16 (‖ id. v 6, 7, 12, 15, 17, 19); 20:17; 1 K 1:13, 17; 3:20; in addressing God (never שׁפחה) 1 S 1:11(×3), cf. בֶּן־א׳ ψ 86:16; 116:16. e.g. Ruth 3:9
Senses from the full Brown-Driver-Briggs lexicon (Brown, Driver, Briggs; Oxford 1906 — public domain), digitized via Sefaria, supplemented by the OpenScriptures HebrewLexicon (CC BY 4.0). Full attribution on Sources.
Word origin
n.f. maid, handmaid (Ph. אמת, Arabic أَمَةٌ, Sab. אמת in n.pr. Sab.Denkm.20, Aramaic ܐܰܡܬܳܐ Assyrian amtu ZimBP 67)—א׳ abs. Gn 21:10 +; sf. אֲמָתִי Gn 30:3 +, etc.; pl. abs. אֲמָהֹת Gn 31:33 2 S 6:22; cstr. אַמְהוֹת 2 S 6:20; אַמְהֹתַי Jb 19:15 etc.—maid, handmaid.
— Brown-Driver-Briggs (Oxford 1906, public domain), digitized via Sefaria, supplemented by the OpenScriptures HebrewLexicon (CC BY 4.0). See Sources.
Origin: apparently a primitive word
Jastrow Dictionary
A second Hebrew/Aramaic lexicon for comparison, covering Aramaic and post-biblical (Talmudic, Targumic, Midrashic) usage that the biblical-Hebrew BDB does not. Matched by lemma rather than by Strong’s number, so a lemma may carry more than one Jastrow headword (shown separately below), and the entries cover usage well beyond the Bible.
אַמָּה
- , v. אֵם)
- 1. fore-arm, arm. Sot. 12ᵇ; Ex. R. s. 1 אמתה חד אמר ידה the word אמתה (Ex. II, 5)—one says it means אַמָּתָהּ, her arm, the other says it means אֲמָתָהּ, her maid-servant (v. אָמָה).—Lam. R. introd. (R. Josh. 2) א׳ דבצלי׳ an arm (direction-post) &c.; v. בְּצַל; Koh. R. to XII, 7 אם.—אַמַּת (בית) השחי the arm up to the axilla, arm-pit, name of an opening in a Temple door; v. however, infra. 4).—2) cubit, a measure equal to the distance from the elbow to the tip of the middle-finger. Keth. 5ᵇ; Men. 11ᵃ זו א׳ this one (the middle-finger) is used for defining the cubit measure. Kel. XVII, 10 אַמַּת הבנין וכ׳ the standard cubit of the Temple proportions was six, that of the vessels five hand-breadths. Sabb. 31ᵃ א׳ הבנין the builder’s cubit (instrument).—א׳ על א׳ square-cubit. Yoma 31ᵃ; a. e.—Zeb. 62ᵇ (גרומה) א׳ גדומה; Y. Yoma IV, 41ᶜ bot. גמודה a reduced cubit; v. גָּדַם; also called א׳ בת ששה עצבות a cubit of six hand-breadths pressed together (sorrowing), opp. to א׳ (בת ששה) שוחקות a cubit of six wide-spread (laughing) hand-breadths. Erub. 3ᵇ. Y. Shek. VI, end, 50ᵇ.—Gen. R. s. 31 (א׳) תביקין Theban (Egypt.) cubit(?). B. Bath. 99ᵇ אמה בית השלחין land for digging a dyke of one cubit’s width; א׳ בית הקילון (Var. קלון, סילון) land for a creek or pond for watering cattle and washing clothes, of one cubit’s width. e.g. Exodus 2:5
- 3. (= אצבע) membrum virile. Sabb. 108ᵇ. Nidd. 13ᵃ sq. B. Kam. 19ᵇ
- 4. prop. river-arm, hence canal, dyke, sewer. Peah II, 2 אַמַּת המים.—Yoma V, 6 אלו ואלו מתערבין בא׳ the blood of both was mixed in the sewer; Tam. III, 6; B. Mets. 33ᵃ; Y. Hor. III, 48ᵇ top אמת (בית) השחי a sewer in the Temple called the duct of the arm-pit (from its shape; v. Grætz Monatsschr. 1880, p. 289; [emendation שית unnecessary]; v. supra.—Pl. אַמֹּות cubits. Kel. XVII, 10; a. fr.
אָמָה
- v. אֵם; cmp. preced.) hand-maid. Sot. 12ᵇ, v. preced.; a. e.—Pl. אֲמָהוֹת. Y. Snh. II, 20ᵇ bot.; v. אֵם; a. e.
A Dictionary of the Targumim, the Talmud Babli and Yerushalmi, and the Midrashic Literature (Marcus Jastrow; London, Luzac, 1903) — Public Domain. Digitized via Sefaria. Digitized via Sefaria. Full attribution on Sources.
Forms in the corpus
The 38 distinct written forms H519 takes in the Hebrew Bible, most frequent first — each parse links to that state’s occurrences in the concordance. Hebrew forms include their vowel points and cantillation, so a single lemma takes many written forms.
Septuagint verse parallels
This word appears in 46 verses that also exist in the Greek Old Testament (Septuagint), out of the 49 Hebrew verses it occurs in. You can read those verses in Greek by switching the Old Testament edition to the Septuagint.
Read these verses in the Septuagint
- Genesis 20:17
- Exodus 2:5
- Leviticus 25:6
- Deuteronomy 5:14
- Judges 9:18
- Ruth 3:9
- 1 Samuel 1:11
- 2 Samuel 6:20
- 1 Kings 1:13
- Ezra 2:65
- Job 19:15
- Nahum 2:7
This is a verse-level parallel only — the same verses exist in both the Hebrew and Greek Old Testaments. No word-level Hebrew↔Greek correspondence is claimed: the data carries no such alignment, so no Greek word is shown as this Hebrew word’s translation. Coverage is not total — the Septuagint omits the deuterocanon and renumbers the Psalms, so some Hebrew verses have no direct Greek parallel.
