אִשָּׁה
woman
also: wife, female 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
- Absolute
- The independent form of a noun, not bound to a following word.
- Construct
- A noun bound to a following noun in a possessive / “of” relationship (the construct chain).
Gender
- Feminine
- Grammatically feminine.
Number
- Singular
- One.
- Plural
- More than one (in Hebrew, generally three or more).
12 verses where H802 appears in the Construct state in the Book of Proverbs. Filtered view — show all forms. 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.
Proverbs
- Proverbs 5:18 מֵ/אֵ֥שֶׁת prep + n c fs cs Let your spring be blessed. Rejoice in the wife of your youth.
- Proverbs 6:24 מֵ/אֵ֣שֶׁת prep + n c fs cs To keep you from the immoral woman, From the flattery of the wayward wife's tongue.
- Proverbs 6:26 אִשָּׁ֥ה וְ/אֵ֥שֶׁת n c fs conj + n c fs cs For a prostitute reduces you to a piece of bread. The adulteress hunts for your precious life.
- Proverbs 6:29 אֵ֣שֶׁת n c fs cs So is he who goes in to his neighbor's wife. Whoever touches her will not be unpunished.
- Proverbs 9:13 אֵ֣שֶׁת n c fs cs The foolish woman is loud, Undisciplined, and knows nothing.
- Proverbs 11:16 אֵֽשֶׁת n c fs cs A gracious woman obtains honor, But violent men obtain riches.
- Proverbs 12:4 אֵֽשֶׁת n c fs cs A worthy woman is the crown of her husband, But a disgraceful wife is as rottenness in his bones.
- Proverbs 21:9 מֵ/אֵ֥שֶׁת prep + n c fs cs It is better to dwell in the corner of the housetop, Than to share a house with a contentious woman.
- Proverbs 21:19 מֵ/אֵ֖שֶׁת prep + n c fs cs It is better to dwell in a desert land, Than with a contentious and fretful woman.
- Proverbs 25:24 מֵ/אֵ֥שֶׁת prep + n c fs cs It is better to dwell in the corner of the housetop, Than to share a house with a contentious woman.
- Proverbs 27:15 וְ/אֵ֥שֶׁת conj + n c fs cs A continual dropping on a rainy day And a contentious wife are alike:
- Proverbs 31:10 אֵֽשֶׁת n c fs cs Who can find a worthy woman? For her price is far above rubies.
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.
“woman” is the headline sense of the Hebrew noun אשה (ʼishshâh). Not a single-sense word: its full sense range also takes in “wife” and “female”. It appears 686 verses across 33 books of the Hebrew Bible, among its most common vocabulary. Scripture first uses it in Genesis 2:22. It shares a root with איש, איש and אישון. The sections below give every sense, occurrence, and version rendering.
Gloss history
Strong's 1890 vs modern scholarship
About this word
Strong's H802 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 →
- 686
- distinct verses
- The word appears in 686 distinct verses.
- 33 / 39
- OT books
- The word appears in 33 of 39 Old Testament books.
- #60
- by frequency
- Top 100 most frequent Hebrew words (rank 60 of 8,640 Hebrew words by occurrence).
View all 686 occurrences in the concordance →
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 686 distinct verses.
- Prophets (Nevi'im) 282 verses · 41%
- Torah (Pentateuch) 267 verses · 39%
- Writings (Ketuvim) 137 verses · 20%
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).
BDB lists this Strong’s number as 2 distinct words (homographs). Each count above pools all of them and is not split by sense — see the Senses section below. A low-frequency rendering may belong to a different one of those words, not the primary meaning.
- King James Version†: Wife 257×, Woman 163×, Wives 96×
- American Standard Version†: Wife 183×, Woman 152×, Women 84×
- Berean Standard Bible†: Wife 242×, Woman 151×, Wives 88×
- unfoldingWord Literal Text†: Woman 213×, Wife 209×, Women 88×
King James Version Public Domain
Renders H802 across 778† tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus other, less common renderings. Plus 94 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 2 further occurrences.
American Standard Version Public Domain
Renders H802 across 775† tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus other, less common renderings. Plus 122 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 H802 across 712† tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus other, less common renderings. Plus 62 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 60 further occurrences.
unfoldingWord Literal Text CC BY-SA 4.0
Renders H802 across 803† tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus other, less common renderings. Plus 44 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 4 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. woman Gn 3:1, 2; 12:11 +; opp. man 2:22, 23 Ex 35:29; 36:6; Dt 17:2, 5; 22:22; 1 S 21:5 +; א׳ emphat. a genuine (or ideal) woman Ec 7:28 (‖ אדם); sim. of men as feeble, timid Je 50:37; 51:30; note especially הַטַּף בַּנָּשִׁים the children among the women, female children Nu 31:18 (P); as conceiving Ex 2:2; Lv 12:2; 2 S 11:5 +; travailing Je 13:21; bearing children Ju 13:24; 1 K 3:18; cf. Jb 14:1; 15:14; 25:4 +, etc.; suckling Is 49:15; אֹרַח כַּנָּשִׁים Gn 18:11; דֶּרֶךְ נָשִׁים 31:35; with adj., or app., א׳מֵינֶקֶת nursing woman, nurse Ex 2:7; א׳ זוֹנָה harlot Jos 2:1; 6:22; Ju 11:1; 16:1; 1 K 3:16; Pr 6:26; Je 3:3 Ez 16:30; 23:44; so א׳ זָרָה Pr 2:16; 7:5; cf. also Ez 23:44 supr.; א׳ מְנָאָ֑פֶת adulteress Pr 30:20 (cf. אֵשֶׁת אִישׁ 6:26), אֵשֶׁת זְנוּנִים Ho 1:2; נָשִׁים נָכְרִיּוֹת foreign women 1 K 11:1, 8; Ezr 10:2, 10, 11, 14, 17, 18, 44; Ne 13:26, 27 (cf. v 23); א׳ חֲכָמָה wise woman, one known as clever, shrewd 2 S 14:2; 20:16, etc.; also א׳ פִּילֶגֶשׁ concubine Ju 19:1, 27: א׳ אַלְמָנָה widow 2 S 14:5; 1 K 11:26; 17:9, 10; א׳ נְבִיאָה prophetess Ju 4:4; also cstr. bef. noun of quality אֵשֶׁתרָ֑ע Pr 6:24; א׳ כְּסִילוּת 9:13; א׳ חֵן 11:16; א׳ חַיִל 12:4; 31:10; Ru 3:11; א׳ מִדְיָנִים Pr 21:9; 25:24; 27:15; א׳ מ׳ וָכָ֑עַס 21:19. e.g. Genesis 3:1
- 2. Wife (woman belonging to a man, usually cstr. or sf.) Gn 2:24, 25; 3:8, 17; 4:1, 17 + often; of one betrothed (ארשׂ) Dt 20:7; 28:30; בַּעַל (הָ)אִשָּׁה Ex 21:3, 22; אִישׁ הָאִשָּׁה Ju 20:4; לְאִשָּׁה to wife Gn 12:19; 16:3; 34:21 + often (after לָקַח, נָתַן husband or father subj.); for wife (after הָֽיְתָה, woman subj.) Gn 20:12; Nu 36:3, 6(×2), 11, 12; Dt 22:19, 29 +; for unfaithful wife cf. 1; cstr. in phr. אֵשֶׁת חֵיקֶ֑ךָ Dt 13:7 cf. 28:54; א׳ נְעוּרֶיךָ Pr 5:18; Mal 2:14, 15; א׳ בְּרִיתֶ֑ךָ v 14; אֵשֶׁת אָב = step-mother Lv 18:8, 11; 20:11. e.g. Genesis 2:24
- 3. Female of animals Gn 7:2(×2); v. also sub 4. e.g. Genesis 7:2
- 4. With distrib. & recipr. sense, א׳ מֵאֵת רְעוּתָהּ each woman from her neighbour Ex 11:2 (E); cf. Ru 1:8, 9; Je 9:19; each one, of birds of prey Is 34:15 cf. v 16 (del. Bi Che); of cows (fig. of heartless women of Isr.) Am 4:3; of sheep (fig. of Isr.) Zc 11:9; & of inanimate things (P, & late) א׳ אֶל אֲחֹתָהּ Ex 26:3(×2), 5, 6, 17 (P) Ez 1:9 (del. Co) v 23; 3:13. e.g. Exodus 11:2
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
I. n.f. woman, wife, female (Arabic أُنْثَى, Sab. אנתֿת etc. DHMZK 1884, 360, Aramaic אִתְּתָא, אִנְתְּתָא, אִתָּא, ܐܰܢ̱ܬܬܴܐ, Palm. Nab. אנתתא, Ethiopic አንስት Ph. אשת, Assyrian aššatu COTGloss)—א׳ abs. Gn 2:23 +; cstr. אֵשֶׁת Gn 11:29 + (appar. abs. Dt 21:11; 1 S 28:7 ψ 58:9 but cf. Bö§ 728 Ges§ 130, 5); sf. אִשְׁתִּי Gn 20:11 +; אִשְׁתְּךָ Gn 12:18 + (אֶשְׁתְּךָ ψ 128:3), etc.; Pl. †אִשֹּׁת Ez 23:44 (Co לעשׂות); נָשִׁים Gn 4:19 +; cstr. נְשֵׁי Gn 4:23 +; sf. נָשַׁי Gn 30:26; 1 K 20:7; נְשֵׁיכֶם Ex 22:23 +, etc.;—
II. v. sub III. אנשׁ. אִשֶּׁה v. sub אֵשׁ.
— Brown-Driver-Briggs (Oxford 1906, public domain), digitized via Sefaria, supplemented by the OpenScriptures HebrewLexicon (CC BY 4.0). See Sources.
Derived from איש (ʼîysh) (H376) — man.
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.
אִשָּׁה
- v. איש,, const. אֵשֶׁת, woman, wife. Pes. VIII, 1. Ab. Zar. 25ᵇ א׳ כלי זיינה עליה woman carries her weapon with her, is protected against murder by gentiles (who would rather assault her innocence). Ib. א׳ חשובה a woman of high rank (influential). Ib. אִשְתּוֹ משמרתו his wife’s presence guards him from wrong-doing; a. fr.—Pl. (נָשׁוֹת) נָשִׁים q. v.
אִשֶּׁה
- burnt-offering, v. אִישֶּׁה.
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 238 distinct written forms H802 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.
The 60 most common forms are shown; 178 rarer forms follow in the full concordance.
Same root — word family
Other BDB entries built from the same root as H802, grouped by Strong’s listed origin. These share a root / origin per the lexicon — not necessarily a shared meaning. Each links to that word’s own entry.
Derives from
Shares the same root
- איש ʼîysh H377 to be a man
- אישון ʼîyshôwn H380 pupil
- אישחיל ʼÎysh-Chayil H381 a mighty man, valiant man
Proper names from this root
People and places named from this root — a name, not an additional meaning of the word.
- אישבשת ʼÎysh-Bôsheth H378 Ishbosheth
- אישהוד ʼÎyshᵉhôwd H379 Ishod
- אישטוב ʼÎysh-Ṭôwb H382 Ish-tob
- אשבעל ʼEshbaʻal H792 Eshbaal
- בןימיני Ben-yᵉmîynîy H1145 Benjamite
Compare all same-root words → Showing 4 of 10 — not the complete family. 5 of the same-root words are proper names (people or places). They share a root, not necessarily a meaning.
Septuagint verse parallels
This word appears in 662 verses that also exist in the Greek Old Testament (Septuagint), out of the 686 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 2:22
- Exodus 1:19
- Leviticus 12:2
- Numbers 5:6
- Deuteronomy 2:34
- Joshua 1:14
- Judges 1:12
- Ruth 1:1
- 1 Samuel 1:2
- 2 Samuel 1:26
- 1 Kings 2:17
- 2 Kings 4:1
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.
