'Woman' in the Bible

Mordecai was the legal guardian of his cousin Hadassah (that is, Esther), because she didn’t have a father or mother. The young woman had a beautiful figure and was extremely good-looking. When her father and mother died, Mordecai had adopted her as his own daughter.

The young woman pleased him and gained his favor so that he accelerated the process of the beauty treatments and the special diet that she received. He assigned seven hand-picked female servants to her from the palace and transferred her and her servants to the harem’s best quarters.

When the young woman would go to the king, she was given whatever she requested to take with her from the harem to the palace.

“All the royal officials and the people of the royal provinces know that one law applies to every man or woman who approaches the king in the inner courtyard and who has not been summoned—the death penalty. Only if the king extends the gold scepter will that person live. I have not been summoned to appear before the king for the last 30 days.”

“You speak as a foolish woman speaks,” he told her. “Should we accept only good from God and not adversity?” Throughout all this Job did not sin in what he said.

Man born of womanis short of days and full of trouble.

What is man, that he should be pure,or one born of woman, that he should be righteous?

They prey on the childless woman who is unable to conceive,and do not deal kindly with the widow.

How can a person be justified before God?How can one born of woman be pure?

I have made a covenant with my eyes.How then could I look at a young woman?

Trembling seized them there,agony like that of a woman in labor,

He gives the childless woman a household,making her the joyful mother of children.Hallelujah!

It will rescue you from a forbidden woman,from a stranger with her flattering talk,

Though the lips of the forbidden woman drip honeyand her words are smoother than oil,

Why, my son, would you be infatuatedwith a forbidden womanor embrace the breast of a stranger?

They will protect you from an evil woman,from the flattering tongue of a stranger.

She will keep you from a forbidden woman,a stranger with her flattering talk.

A woman came to meet himdressed like a prostitute,having a hidden agenda.

The woman Folly is rowdy;she is gullible and knows nothing.

A gracious woman gains honor,but violent men gain only riches.

A beautiful woman who rejects good senseis like a gold ring in a pig’s snout.

Every wise woman builds her house,but a foolish one tears it down with her own hands.

The mouth of the forbidden woman is a deep pit;a man cursed by the Lord will fall into it.

For a prostitute is a deep pit,and a stranger is a narrow well;

the way of an eagle in the sky,the way of a snake on a rock,the way of a ship at sea,and the way of a man with a young woman.

an unloved woman when she marries,and a servant girl when she ousts her queen.

Charm is deceptive and beauty is fleeting,but a woman who fears the Lord will be praised.

And I find more bitter than death the woman who is a trap, her heart a net, and her hands chains. The one who pleases God will escape her, but the sinner will be captured by her.

which my soul continually searches for but does not find: among a thousand people I have found one true man, but among all these I have not found a true woman.

Just as you don’t know the path of the wind,or how bones develop in the womb of a pregnant woman,so you don’t know the work of God who makes everything.

They will be horrified;pain and agony will seize them;they will be in anguish like a woman in labor.They will look at each other,their faces flushed with fear.

Therefore I am filled with anguish.Pain grips me, like the pain of a woman in labor.I am too perplexed to hear,too dismayed to see.

He said,“You will not rejoice anymore,ravished young woman, daughter of Sidon.Get up and cross over to Cyprus—even there you will have no rest!”

As a pregnant woman about to give birthwrithes and cries out in her pains,so we were before You, Lord.

this is the word the Lord has spoken against him:Virgin Daughter Ziondespises you and scorns you:Daughter Jerusalem shakes her headbehind your back.

“I have kept silent from ages past;I have been quiet and restrained Myself.But now, I will groan like a woman in labor,gasping breathlessly.

“Can a woman forget her nursing child,or lack compassion for the child of her womb?Even if these forget,yet I will not forget you.

“Rejoice, childless one, who did not give birth;burst into song and shout,you who have not been in labor!For the children of the forsaken one will be morethan the children of the married woman,”says the Lord.

Can a young woman forget her jewelryor a bride her wedding sash?Yet My people have forgotten Mefor countless days.

However, as a woman may betray her lover,so you have betrayed Me, house of Israel.This is the Lord’s declaration.

I hear a cry like a woman in labor,a cry of anguish like one bearing her first child.The cry of Daughter Zion gasping for breath,stretching out her hands:Woe is me, for my life is wearybecause of the murderers!

We have heard about it,and we are discouraged.Distress has seized us—pain like a woman in labor.

What will you say when He appointsclose friends as leaders over you,ones you yourself trained?Won’t labor pains seize you,as they do a woman in labor?

You residents of Lebanon,nestled among the cedars,how you will groan when labor pains come on you,agony like a woman in labor.

Ask and seewhether a male can give birth.Why then do I see every manwith his hands on his stomach like a woman in laborand every face turned pale?

“So now, this is what the Lord, the God of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: Why are you doing such great harm to yourselves? You are cutting off man and woman, child and infant from Judah, leaving yourselves without a remnant.

The towns have been captured,and the strongholds seized.In that day the heart of Moab’s warriorswill be like the heart of a woman with contractions.

Look! It will be like an eagle soaring upward, then swooping down and spreading its wings over Bozrah. In that day the hearts of Edom’s warriors will be like the heart of a woman with contractions.

Damascus has become weak;she has turned to run;panic has gripped her.Distress and labor pains have seized herlike a woman in labor.

The king of Babylon has heard reports about them,and his hands fall helpless.Distress has seized him—pain, like a woman in labor.

With you I will smash man and woman;with you I will smash the old man and the youth;with you I will smash the young man and the young woman.

He does not eat at the mountain shrines or raise his eyes to the idols of the house of Israel. He does not defile his neighbor’s wife or come near a woman during her menstrual impurity.

Then I said concerning this woman worn out by adultery: Will they now have illicit sex with her, even her?

He is not to marry a widow or a divorced woman, but must marry a virgin from the offspring of the house of Israel, or a widow who is the widow of a priest.

Then the Lord said to me, “Go again; show love to a woman who is loved by another man and is an adulteress, just as the Lord loves the Israelites though they turn to other gods and love raisin cakes.”

Grieve like a young woman dressed in sackcloth,mourning for the husband of her youth.

Now, why are you shouting loudly?Is there no king with you?Has your counselor perishedso that anguish grips you like a woman in labor?

Writhe and cry out, Daughter Zion,like a woman in labor,for now you will leave the cityand camp in the open fields.You will go to Babylon;there you will be rescued;there the Lord will redeem youfrom the power of your enemies!

Do not rely on a friend;don’t trust in a close companion.Seal your mouthfrom the woman who lies in your arms.

Then a lead cover was lifted, and there was a woman sitting inside the basket.

But I tell you, everyone who looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.

But I tell you, everyone who divorces his wife, except in a case of sexual immorality, causes her to commit adultery. And whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery.

Just then, a woman who had suffered from bleeding for 12 years approached from behind and touched the tassel on His robe,

But Jesus turned and saw her. “Have courage, daughter,” He said. “Your faith has made you well.” And the woman was made well from that moment.

He told them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed into 50 pounds of flour until it spread through all of it.”

Just then a Canaanite woman from that region came and kept crying out, “Have mercy on me, Lord, Son of David! My daughter is cruelly tormented by a demon.”

Then Jesus replied to her, “Woman, your faith is great. Let it be done for you as you want.” And from that moment her daughter was cured.

Then last of all the woman died.

a woman approached Him with an alabaster jar of very expensive fragrant oil. She poured it on His head as He was reclining at the table.

But Jesus, aware of this, said to them, “Why are you bothering this woman? She has done a noble thing for Me.

I assure you: Wherever this gospel is proclaimed in the whole world, what this woman has done will also be told in memory of her.”

When he had gone out to the gateway, another woman saw him and told those who were there, “This man was with Jesus the Nazarene!”

A woman suffering from bleeding for 12 years

Then the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came with fear and trembling, fell down before Him, and told Him the whole truth.

Instead, immediately after hearing about Him, a woman whose little daughter had an unclean spirit came and fell at His feet.

Now the woman was Greek, a Syrophoenician by birth, and she kept asking Him to drive the demon out of her daughter.

So the seven left no offspring. Last of all, the woman died too.

While He was in Bethany at the house of Simon who had a serious skin disease, as He was reclining at the table, a woman came with an alabaster jar of pure and expensive fragrant oil of nard. She broke the jar and poured it on His head.

I assure you: Wherever the gospel is proclaimed in the whole world, what this woman has done will also be told in memory of her.”

And the angel came to her and said, “Rejoice, favored woman! The Lord is with you.”

And a woman in the town who was a sinner found out that Jesus was reclining at the table in the Pharisee’s house. She brought an alabaster jar of fragrant oil

When the Pharisee who had invited Him saw this, he said to himself, “This man, if He were a prophet, would know who and what kind of woman this is who is touching Him—she’s a sinner!”

Turning to the woman, He said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I entered your house; you gave Me no water for My feet, but she, with her tears, has washed My feet and wiped them with her hair.

And He said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you. Go in peace.”

A woman suffering from bleeding for 12 years, who had spent all she had on doctors yet could not be healed by any,

When the woman saw that she was discovered, she came trembling and fell down before Him. In the presence of all the people, she declared the reason she had touched Him and how she was instantly cured.

While they were traveling, He entered a village, and a woman named Martha welcomed Him into her home.

As He was saying these things, a woman from the crowd raised her voice and said to Him, “The womb that bore You and the one who nursed You are blessed!”

a woman was there who had been disabled by a spirit for over 18 years. She was bent over and could not straighten up at all.

When Jesus saw her, He called out to her, “Woman, you are free of your disability.”

Satan has bound this woman, a daughter of Abraham, for 18 years—shouldn’t she be untied from this bondage on the Sabbath day?”

It’s like yeast that a woman took and mixed into 50 pounds of flour until it spread through the entire mixture.”

“Or what woman who has 10 silver coins, if she loses one coin, does not light a lamp, sweep the house, and search carefully until she finds it?

“Everyone who divorces his wife and marries another woman commits adultery, and everyone who marries a woman divorced from her husband commits adultery.

Finally, the woman died too.

In the resurrection, therefore, whose wife will the woman be? For all seven had married her.”

But he denied it: “Woman, I don’t know Him!”

“What has this concern of yours to do with Me, woman?” Jesus asked. “My hour has not yet come.”

A woman of Samaria came to draw water.“Give Me a drink,” Jesus said to her,

“How is it that You, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a Samaritan woman?” she asked Him. For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.