'Women' in the Bible

And he brought back all the goods, and also brought back his nephew Lot and his possessions, and also the women, and the people.

Now Abraham and Sarah were old, well advanced in years; she was past [the age of] childbearing.

He made the camels kneel down outside the city by the well of water at the time of the evening when women go out to draw water.

So Isaac called Jacob and blessed him and charged him, and said to him, “You shall not marry one of the women of Canaan.

Then Leah said, “I am happy! For women will call me happy.” So she named him Asher (happy).

So Rachel said to her father, “Do not be displeased, my lord, that I cannot rise before you, for the manner of women is on me and I am unwell.” He searched [further] but did not find the household idols.

Esau looked up and saw the women and the children, and said, “Who are these with you?” So Jacob replied, “They are the children whom God has graciously given your servant.”

So they gave Jacob all the [idols and images of the] foreign gods they had and the rings which were in their ears [worn as charms against evil], and Jacob buried them under the oak tree near Shechem.

Esau took his [three] wives from the daughters of Canaan: Adah the daughter of Elon the Hittite, and Oholibamah the daughter of Anah, the son of Zibeon the Hivite,

When Judah saw her, he thought she was a [temple] prostitute, for she had covered her face [as such women did].

“When you act as midwives to the Hebrew women and see them on the birthstool, if it is a son, you shall kill him; but if it is a daughter, she shall live.”

The midwives answered Pharaoh, “Because the Hebrew women are not like the Egyptian women; they are vigorous and give birth quickly and their babies are born before the midwife can get to them.”

Then his sister said to Pharaoh’s daughter, “Shall I go and call a wet-nurse from the Hebrew women to nurse the child for you?”

Now the Israelites journeyed from Rameses to Succoth, about six hundred thousand men on foot, besides [the women and] the children.

Then Miriam the prophetess, the sister of Aaron [and Moses], took a timbrel in her hand, and all the women followed her with timbrels and dancing.

Then all whose hearts moved them, both men and women, came and brought brooches, earrings or nose rings, signet rings, and necklaces, all jewels of gold; everyone bringing an offering of gold to the Lord.

All the skilled and talented women spun thread with their hands, and brought what they had spun, blue and purple and scarlet fabric and fine linen.

All the women whose heart stirred with a skill spun the goats’ hair.

The Israelites, all the men and women whose heart moved them to bring material for all the work which the Lord had commanded through Moses to be done, brought a freewill (voluntary) offering to the Lord.

Bezalel made the basin and its base of bronze from the mirrors of the attending women who served and ministered at the doorway of the Tent of Meeting.

When I break your staff of bread [that is, cut off your supply of food], ten women will bake your bread in one oven, and they will ration your bread; and you will eat and not be satisfied.

But Moses said, “The people, among whom I am, are 600,000 [fighting men] on foot [besides all the women and children]; yet You have said, ‘I will give them meat, so that they may eat it for a whole month!’

The sons of Israel captured the women of Midian and their children; and all their cattle, all their livestock, and all their property they took as spoil [of war].

And Moses said to them, “Have you let all the women live?

and 32,000 persons in all, of the [Midianite] women who were virgins.

At the same time we took all his cities and utterly destroyed every city—men, women and children. We left no survivor.

We utterly destroyed them, just as we did to Sihon king of Heshbon, utterly destroying every city—the men, women, and children.

Only the women and the children and the animals and everything that is in the city, all its spoil, you shall take as plunder for yourself; and you shall use the spoil of your enemies which the Lord your God has given you.

Assemble the people, the men and the women and children and the stranger (resident alien, foreigner) within your cities, so that they may hear and learn and fear the Lord your God [with awe-filled reverence and profound respect], and be careful to obey all the words of this law.

And all who fell that day, both men and women, were twelve thousand, all the people of Ai.

There was not a word of all that Moses had commanded which Joshua did not read before the entire assembly of Israel, including the women and the children and the foreigners who were living among them.

For if you ever turn back and cling to the rest of these nations, these that are left among you, and intermarry with them, so that you associate with them and they with you,

“Most blessed of women is Jael,The wife of Heber the Kenite;Most blessed is she of women in the tent.

So everyone of the people also cut down his branch and followed Abimelech, and they put the branches on top of the inner chamber and set it on fire over those inside, so that all the people in the Tower of Shechem also died, about a thousand men and women.

But there was a strong (fortified) tower in the center of the city, and all the men and women with all the leaders of the city fled to it and shut themselves in; and they went up on the roof of the tower.

Now the house was full of men and women; all the Philistine lords were there, and on the flat roof were about three thousand men and women who looked on while Samson was entertaining them.

And the congregation sent twelve thousand of the most courageous men there, and commanded them saying, “Go and strike the inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead with the sword, including the women and the children.

So [the survivors of] Benjamin returned at that time, and they gave them the women whom they had kept alive from the women of Jabesh-gilead; but there were not enough [to provide wives] for them.

Then the elders of the congregation said, “What shall we do for wives for those [men] who are left, since the women of Benjamin have been destroyed?”

They took wives from the Moabite women; the name of the one was Orpah, and the name of the other was Ruth. They lived there about ten years;

Then the women said to Naomi, “Blessed is the Lord who has not left you without a redeemer (grandson, as heir) today, and may his name become famous in Israel.

The neighbor women gave him a name, saying, “A son (grandson) has been born to Naomi.” They named him Obed (worshiper). He is the father of Jesse, the father of David [the ancestor of Jesus Christ].

Now Eli was very old; and he heard about everything that his sons were doing to all [the people of] Israel, and how they were lying with the women who served at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting (tabernacle).

And about the time of her death [following the sudden birth] the women attending her said to her, “Do not be afraid, for you have given birth to a son.” But she did not answer or pay any attention.

Samuel said, “As your sword has made women childless, so shall your mother be childless among women.” And Samuel cut Agag in pieces before the Lord in Gilgal.

As they were coming [home], when David returned from killing the Philistine, the women came out of all the cities of Israel, singing and dancing, to meet King Saul with tambourines, [songs of] joy, and musical instruments.

The women sang as they played and danced, saying,“Saul has slain his thousands,And David his ten thousands.”

The priest answered David, “There is no ordinary (unconsecrated) bread on hand, but there is consecrated bread; [you may have it] if only the young men have kept themselves from women.”

David answered the priest, “Be assured that women have been kept from us in these three days since I set out, and the bodies of the young men were consecrated (ceremonially clean), although it was an ordinary (unconsecrated) journey; so how much more will their vessels be holy today?”

And he struck Nob the city of the priests with the edge of the sword, both men and women, children and infants; also he struck oxen and donkeys and sheep with the edge of the sword.

and they had taken captive the women [and all] who were there, both small and great. They killed no one, but carried them off [to be used as slaves] and went on their way.

“I am distressed for you, my brother Jonathan;You have been a good friend to me.Your love toward me was more wonderfulThan the love of women.

and distributed to all the people, the entire multitude of Israel, both to men and women, to each a [ring-shaped] loaf of bread, a cake of dates, and a cake of raisins. Then all the people departed, each to his house.

So the king left, and all his household with him. But the king left behind ten women who were concubines to take care of the house (palace).

I am this day eighty years old. Can I [be useful to advise you to] discern between good and bad? Can your servant taste what I eat or drink? Can I still hear the voices of singing men and women? Why then should your servant be an added burden to my lord the king?

Then David came to his house (palace) at Jerusalem, and the king took the ten women, his concubines whom he had left to take care of the house, and placed them under guard and provided for them, but did not go in to them. So they were confined, and lived as widows until the day of their death.

Then two women who were prostitutes came to the king and stood before him.

Now king Solomon [defiantly] loved many foreign women along with the daughter of Pharaoh: Moabite, Ammonite, Edomite, Sidonian, and Hittite women,

Hazael said, “Why are you weeping, my lord?” He answered, “Because I know the evil that you will do to the sons (descendants) of Israel. You will set their strongholds on fire, kill their young men with the sword, smash their children to pieces, and rip up their pregnant women.”

Then Menahem struck [the town of] Tiphsah and all who were in it and its borders from Tirzah; [he attacked it] because they did not surrender to him; so he struck it and ripped up all the women there who were pregnant.

And he tore down the houses of the [male] cult prostitutes, which were at the house (temple) of the Lord, where the women were weaving [tent] hangings for the Asherah [shrines].

And the sons of Israel led away captive 200,000 of their kinsmen [of Judah]—women, sons, and daughters—and they also took a great quantity of spoil from them and brought it to Samaria.

And now you intend to subjugate the people of Judah and Jerusalem as male and female slaves for yourselves. But are you yourselves not guilty of transgressions against the Lord your God?

Then Jeremiah sung a lament (funeral song) for Josiah, and all the male and female singers have spoken about Josiah in their laments to this day. They made the songs an ordinance in Israel; behold, they are written in the Lamentations.

besides their male and female servants who numbered 7,337; and [among them] they had 200 male and female singers.

Now while Ezra was praying and confessing, weeping and laying himself face down before the house of God, a very large group from Israel, of men, women, and children, gathered to him, for the people wept bitterly.

Shecaniah the son of Jehiel, of the sons of Elam, said to Ezra, “We have been unfaithful to our God and have married foreign women from the peoples of the land; yet now there is hope for Israel in spite of this.

Then Ezra the priest stood up and said to them, “You have been unfaithful [to God] and have married foreign (pagan) women, adding to the guilt of Israel.

Now among the sons of the priests who had married foreign women were found: of the sons of Jeshua [the high priest] the son of Jozadak, and his brothers—Maaseiah, Eliezer, Jarib, and Gedaliah.

All these had married foreign women, and some of them had wives by whom they had children.

besides their male and their female servants, of whom there were 7,337; and they had 245 male and female singers.

So Ezra the priest brought the Law before the assembly of men, women and all who could listen with understanding, on the first day of the seventh month.

Then he read from it, in front of the open square which was in front of the Water Gate, from early morning until midday, in the presence of the men and women, those who could understand; and all the people listened carefully to the Book of the Law.

Also on that day they offered great sacrifices and rejoiced because God had given them great joy; the women and children also rejoiced, so that the joy of Jerusalem was heard from far away.

Did not Solomon king of Israel sin [greatly against God] regarding these things? Yet among the many nations there was no king like him. He was loved by his God, and God made him king over all Israel; nevertheless the foreign women caused even him to sin [by turning to other gods and so, judged by God, he lost his kingdom].

Do we then hear about you that you have done all this great evil, acting unfaithfully against our God by marrying foreign (pagan) women?”

Queen Vashti also held a [separate] banquet for the women in the palace of King Ahasuerus.

For the queen’s conduct will become known to all women, causing them to look on their husbands with contempt (disrespect), since they will say, ‘King Ahasuerus commanded Queen Vashti to be brought before him, but she did not come.’

Let the king appoint administrators in all the provinces of his kingdom, and have them gather all the beautiful young virgins to the citadel in Susa, into the harem, under the custody of Hegai, the king’s eunuch, who is in charge of the women; and let their beauty preparations be given to them.

So it came about when the king’s command and his decree were proclaimed and when many young women were gathered together in the citadel of Susa into the custody of Hegai, that Esther was taken to the king’s palace [and placed] in the custody of Hegai, who was in charge of the women.

Now when it was each young woman’s turn to go before King Ahasuerus, after the end of her twelve months under the regulations for the women—for the days of their beautification were completed as follows: six months with oil of myrrh and six months with [sweet] spices and perfumes and the beauty preparations for women—

Now as for Esther, the daughter of Abihail the uncle of Mordecai who had taken her in as his [own] daughter, when her turn came to go in to the king, she requested nothing except what Hegai the king’s eunuch [and attendant] who was in charge of the women, advised. And Esther found favor in the sight of all who saw her.

Now the king loved Esther more than all the other women, and she found favor and kindness with him more than all the [other] virgins, so that he set the royal crown on her head and made her queen in the place of Vashti.

Letters were sent by couriers to all the king’s provinces to destroy, to kill and to annihilate all the Jews, both young and old, women and children, in one day, the thirteenth [day] of the twelfth month, which is the month of Adar (March 7, 473 b.c.), and to seize their belongings as plunder.

In it the king granted the Jews who were in every city the right to assemble and to defend their lives; to destroy, to kill, and to annihilate any armed force that might attack them, their little children, and women; and to take the enemies’ goods as plunder,

But he said to her, “You speak as one of the [spiritually] foolish women speaks [ignorant and oblivious to God’s will]. Shall we indeed accept [only] good from God and not [also] accept adversity and disaster?” In [spite of] all this Job did not sin with [words from] his lips.

In all the land there were found no women so fair as the daughters of Job; and their father gave them an inheritance among their brothers.

Kings’ daughters are among Your noble ladies;At Your right hand stands the queen in gold from Ophir.

The Lord gives the command [to take Canaan];The women who proclaim the good news are a great host (army);

Your [drunken] eyes will see strange thingsAnd your mind will utter perverse things [untrue things, twisted things].

Do not give your [generative] strength to women [neither foreign wives in marriages of alliances, nor concubines],Nor your ways to that which destroys kings.

Also, I collected for myself silver and gold and the treasure of kings and provinces. I provided for myself male singers and female singers, and the delights and pleasures of men—many concubines.

And I discovered that [of all irrational sins none has been so destructive in beguiling one away from God as immoral women for] more bitter than death is the woman whose heart is [composed of] snares and nets, and whose hands are chains. Whoever pleases God will escape from her, but the sinner will be taken captive by her [evil].

Behold, I have found only this [as a reason]: God made man upright and uncorrupted, but they [both men and women] have sought out many devices [for evil].”

(The Bridegroom)“If you do not know [where your lover is],O you fairest among women,Run along, follow the tracks of the flock,And pasture your young goatsBy the tents of the shepherds.

(The Chorus)“What is your beloved more than another beloved,O most beautiful among women?What is your beloved more than another beloved,That you should so command us to take an oath?”

(The Chorus)“Where has your beloved gone,O most beautiful among women?Where is your beloved hiding himself,That we may seek him with you?”

O My people! Children are their oppressors,And women rule over them.O My people! Your leaders lead you astrayAnd confuse (destroy, swallow up) the direction of your paths.

And in that day seven women will take hold of one man, saying, “We will eat our own food and wear [and provide] our own clothes; only let us be called by your name; take away our shame [of being unmarried].”

Rejoice and shout for joy, O inhabitant of Zion,For great in your midst is the Holy One of Israel.