achot · sister

What it means

achot (אָחוֹת) is a Hebrew word of the Bible that means “sister”.

Also a female relative, or a woman of the same people.

How to say it

Approximate pronunciation. Vowels sound as in Spanish (a as in father, e as in bed, i as in machine, o as in note, u as in rule); the syllable in bold is stressed. The voice is your device's.

Its senses in the Bible

1. A woman who has the same parents as another person, or belongs to their family.
2. Also used to pair things, one with another, like the curtains of the sanctuary.

From Brown-Driver-Briggs (1906)

Word study

Sister. It is the feminine form of אָח, “brother” (H251). BDB: a sister, literally or figuratively. Like “brother”, it can be a sister on the father's or the mother's side, and it is also used in phrases like “one to another”.

• A sister by blood; “you are my sister” Exodus 2:4Genesis 12:13Genesis 20:12
• The sister in the laws of Leviticus Leviticus 18:9
• A word of affection for the beloved Song of Songs 4:9
• Peoples or cities presented as sisters Ezekiel 23:4
• “One to another”, of things that are joined Exodus 26:3

Historical and cultural background

Abraham says of Sarah: “she really is my sister, the daughter of my father, though not the daughter of my mother” (Genesis 20:12). Leviticus 18:9 forbids union with “your sister, daughter of your father or daughter of your mother”.

How we translate it

“Sister” 95 times and “sisters” 11. When the Hebrew uses the phrase “one to her sister” for pieces that are joined, it is translated “one to another” (Exodus 26:3, 5).

How it is translated

The words this translation uses for it, most frequent first.

• sister ×95
• sisters ×11
• another ×7
• toward the other ×1

Related words

Words of the same family, by Strong’s numbering.

Where it appears

• Genesis×24
• Exodus×9
• Leviticus×10
• Numbers×3
• Deuteronomy×1
• Joshua×1
• Judges×1
• 2 Samuel×10
• 1 Kings×3
• 2 Kings×1
• 1 Chronicles×10
• 2 Chronicles×1
• Job×3
• Proverbs×1
• Song of Songs×7
• Jeremiah×4
• Ezekiel×24
• Hosea×1

• Genesis 4:22

  And Zillah, she also, gave birth to Tubal-cain, the forger of every tool of bronze and iron. And the sister of Tubal-cain was Naamah.

• Genesis 12:13

  Please say you are my sister, so that it may go well with me because of you, and I may stay alive thanks to you.”

• Genesis 12:19

  Why did you say, ‘She is my sister,’ so that I took her for myself as a wife? Now then, here is your wife; take her and go!”

• Genesis 20:2

  Abraham said of Sarah his wife, “She is my sister.” So Abimelech king of Gerar sent and took Sarah.

• Genesis 20:5

  Did he not say to me, ‘She is my sister’? And she, she too said, ‘He is my brother.’ In the integrity of my heart and in the innocence of my hands I have done this.”

• Genesis 20:12

  Besides, she really is my sister, the daughter of my father, though not the daughter of my mother; and she became my wife.

• Genesis 24:30

  When he saw the ring and the bracelets on the hands of his sister, and when he heard the words of Rebekah his sister, saying, “Thus the man spoke to me,” he went to the man; and look, he was standing by the camels at the spring.

• Genesis 24:59

  So they sent away Rebekah their sister and her nurse, and Abraham’s servant and his men.

• Genesis 24:60

  They blessed Rebekah and said to her, “Our sister, may you become thousands of ten thousands, and may your offspring possess the gate of those who hate it.”

• Genesis 25:20

  Isaac was forty years old when he took Rebekah, the daughter of Bethuel the Aramean from Paddan-aram, the sister of Laban the Aramean, as his wife.

• Genesis 26:7

  The men of the place asked about his wife, and he said, “She is my sister,” for he was afraid to say, “My wife,” thinking, “lest the men of the place kill me on account of Rebekah, for she is beautiful in appearance.”

• Genesis 26:9

  Abimelech called Isaac and said, “So she is your wife! How could you say, ‘She is my sister’?” Isaac said to him, “Because I said to myself, ‘I might die because of her.’”

• Genesis 28:9

  So Esau went to Ishmael and took Mahalath the daughter of Ishmael son of Abraham, the sister of Nebaioth, besides his wives, as his wife.

• Genesis 29:13

  When Laban heard the news of Jacob his sister’s son, he ran to meet him, embraced him, kissed him, and brought him to his house. And he told Laban all these things.

• Genesis 30:1

  Rachel saw that she had not borne children to Jacob, and Rachel envied her sister and said to Jacob, “Give me children, or else I will die.”

• Genesis 30:8

  Rachel said, “With wrestlings of Elohim I have wrestled with my sister, and I have prevailed.” So she called his name Naphtali.

• Genesis 34:13

  The sons of Jacob answered Shechem and Hamor his father with deceit and spoke, because he had made Dinah their sister unclean.

• Genesis 34:14

  They said to them, “We cannot do this thing, to give our sister to a man who is uncircumcised, for that would be a disgrace to us.

• Genesis 34:27

  The sons of Jacob came upon the slain and plundered the city, because they had made their sister unclean.

• Genesis 34:31

  But they said, “Should he treat our sister like a prostitute?”

• Genesis 36:3

  and Basemath, Ishmael’s daughter, sister of Nebaioth.

• Genesis 36:22

  The sons of Lotan were Hori and Hemam; and Lotan’s sister was Timna.

• Genesis 46:17

  The sons of Asher: Imnah, Ishvah, Ishvi, Beriah, and Serah their sister. And the sons of Beriah: Heber and Malchiel.

• Exodus 2:4

  His sister stationed herself at a distance to find out what would be done to him.

• Exodus 2:7

  His sister said to the daughter of Pharaoh, “Shall I go and call for you a nursing woman from the Hebrew women to nurse the child for you?”

• Exodus 6:23

  Aaron took Elisheba, daughter of Amminadab, sister of Nahshon, as his wife, and she bore him Nadab and Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar.

• Exodus 15:20

  Then Miriam the prophetess, the sister of Aaron, took the tambourine in her hand, and all the women went out after her with tambourines and with dances.

• Exodus 26:3

  Five curtains shall be joined one to another, and five curtains joined one to another.

• Exodus 26:5

  Fifty loops you shall make on the one curtain, and fifty loops you shall make on the edge of the curtain that is in the second set, the loops opposite one to another.

• Exodus 26:6

  You shall make fifty clasps of gold and join the curtains one to another with the clasps, so that the dwelling shall be one whole.

• Exodus 26:17

  Two tenons shall be for each board, fitted one to another; so you shall do for all the boards of the dwelling.

• Leviticus 18:9

  The nakedness of your sister, daughter of your father or daughter of your mother, born at home or born outside, you shall not uncover their nakedness.

• Leviticus 18:11

  The nakedness of the daughter of your father’s wife, born to your father, she is your sister; you shall not uncover her nakedness.

• Leviticus 18:12

  The nakedness of your father’s sister you shall not uncover; she is a close relative of your father.

• Leviticus 18:13

  The nakedness of your mother’s sister you shall not uncover, for she is a close relative of your mother.

• Leviticus 18:18

  And you shall not take a woman in addition to her sister as a rival, uncovering her nakedness besides her while she is alive.

• Leviticus 20:17

  And a man who takes his sister, the daughter of his father or the daughter of his mother, and sees her nakedness, and she sees his nakedness, it is a disgrace, and they shall be cut off before the eyes of the sons of their people. He has uncovered his sister’s nakedness; he shall bear his iniquity.

• Leviticus 20:19

  And the nakedness of your mother’s sister or of your father’s sister you shall not uncover, for that is laying bare one’s own close relative; they shall bear their iniquity.

• Leviticus 21:3

  and for his virgin sister, who is near to him, who has not belonged to a husband; for her he may make himself unclean.

• Numbers 6:7

  For his father or for his mother, for his brother or for his sister, he shall not make himself unclean for them when they die, because the consecration of his Elohim is on his head.

And 74 more times.