isha · woman, wife

What it means

isha (אִשָּׁה) is a Hebrew word of the Bible that means “woman, wife”.

Woman; with a possessive ("his woman"), wife. In Hebrew it is "ishah", which sounds like "ish", man.

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. An adult female person: single, married or widowed.
2. Literally "his woman": the one married to him.
3. The female of an animal.
4. Literally "woman": all of them, taken separately.

From Brown-Driver-Briggs (1906)

Word study

Woman; with a possessive, wife. Genesis 2:23 sets it beside אִישׁ, “man”, and plays on the likeness.

• Woman Genesis 2:22Ruth 3:11Proverbs 31:10
• Wife: “his wife” Genesis 2:24
• The female of an animal Genesis 7:2
• In reciprocal expressions: “one to another” Exodus 26:3

Historical and cultural background

Genesis 2:23: “this one will be called Woman, because from Man this one was taken” (in Hebrew, ishah and ish).

How we translate it

“Wife” 303 times, “woman” 240, “women” 109, “wives” 108. The Hebrew has one word for both; English says “wife” where the word has a possessive or the context is marriage (“clings to his wife”), and “woman” elsewhere. “Female” (2) for the animals of the ark, and “one to another” (Exodus 26:3), where the Hebrew literally says “a woman to her sister”.

How it is translated

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

• wife ×303
• woman ×240
• women ×109
• wives ×108
• one ×9
• widow ×4
• each ×3
• female ×2
• concubine ×1
• none ×1
• others ×1

Related words

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

Where it appears

• Genesis×152
• Exodus×38
• Leviticus×35
• Numbers×41
• Deuteronomy×41
• Joshua×10
• Judges×69
• Ruth×15
• 1 Samuel×54
• 2 Samuel×49
• 1 Kings×38
• 2 Kings×19
• 1 Chronicles×20
• 2 Chronicles×19
• Ezra×12
• Nehemiah×10
• Esther×21
• Job×8
• Psalms×3
• Proverbs×25
• Ecclesiastes×3
• Song of Songs×3
• Isaiah×12
• Jeremiah×36
• Lamentations×3
• Ezekiel×22
• Daniel×2
• Hosea×5
• Amos×2
• Micah×1
• Nahum×1
• Zechariah×9
• Malachi×3

• Genesis 2:22

  And YHWH Elohim built the side that he had taken from the man into a woman and brought her to the man.

• Genesis 2:23

  And the man said, “This one, at last, is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; this one will be called Woman, because from Man this one was taken.”

• Genesis 2:24

  That is why a man leaves his father and his mother and clings to his wife, and they become one flesh.

• Genesis 2:25

  And the two of them, the man and his wife, were naked, and they were not ashamed.

• Genesis 3:1

  Now the serpent was more shrewd than any animal of the field that YHWH Elohim had made. And it said to the woman, “Did Elohim really say, ‘You shall not eat from any tree of the garden’?”

• Genesis 3:2

  And the woman said to the serpent, “From the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat;

• Genesis 3:4

  And the serpent said to the woman, “You will certainly not die;

• Genesis 3:6

  And the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable for gaining insight; and she took of its fruit and ate, and she gave also to her husband with her, and he ate.

• Genesis 3:8

  And they heard the sound of YHWH Elohim walking about in the garden in the wind of the day, and the man and his wife hid from the presence of YHWH Elohim among the trees of the garden.

• Genesis 3:12

  And the man said, “The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me from the tree, and I ate.”

• Genesis 3:13

  And YHWH Elohim said to the woman, “What is this you have done?” And the woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”

• Genesis 3:15

  And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he will strike you on the head, and you will strike him on the heel.”

• Genesis 3:16

  To the woman he said, “I will greatly multiply your toil and your pregnancies; with pain you will give birth to children; and toward your husband will be your desire, and he will rule over you.”

• Genesis 3:17

  And to Adam he said, “Because you listened to the voice of your wife and ate from the tree about which I commanded you, saying, ‘You shall not eat from it,’ cursed is the ground because of you; with toil you will eat from it all the days of your life.

• Genesis 3:20

  And the man called his wife’s name Eve, because she was the mother of all living.

• Genesis 3:21

  And YHWH Elohim made for Adam and for his wife garments of skin and clothed them.

• Genesis 4:1

  Now the man knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and gave birth to Cain, and she said, “I have acquired a man with YHWH.”

• Genesis 4:17

  And Cain knew his wife, and she conceived and gave birth to Enoch. And he was building a city, and he called the name of the city after the name of his son, Enoch.

• Genesis 4:19

  And Lamech took for himself two wives; the name of the one was Adah, and the name of the second Zillah.

• Genesis 4:23

  And Lamech said to his wives, “Adah and Zillah, hear my voice; wives of Lamech, listen to my saying: for a man I have killed for wounding me, and a young man for striking me.

• Genesis 4:25

  And Adam knew his wife again, and she gave birth to a son and called his name Seth, “for Elohim has granted me another offspring in place of Abel, because Cain killed him.”

• Genesis 6:2

  that the sons of Elohim saw that the daughters of human beings were beautiful; and they took for themselves wives from all whom they chose.

• Genesis 6:18

  But I will establish my covenant with you; and you will come into the ark, you and your sons and your wife and the wives of your sons with you.

• Genesis 7:2

  Of every clean animal you shall take for yourself seven and seven, the male and its female; and of the animals that are not clean, they are two, the male and its female;

• Genesis 7:7

  And Noah went into the ark, and his sons and his wife and the wives of his sons with him, because of the waters of the flood.

• Genesis 7:13

  On that very day Noah went into the ark, and Shem and Ham and Japheth, the sons of Noah, and the wife of Noah and the three wives of his sons with them,

• Genesis 8:16

  “Go out of the ark, you and your wife and your sons and the wives of your sons with you.

• Genesis 8:18

  And Noah went out, and his sons and his wife and the wives of his sons with him.

• Genesis 11:29

  Abram and Nahor took wives for themselves. The name of Abram’s wife was Sarai, and the name of Nahor’s wife was Milcah, the daughter of Haran, the father of Milcah and the father of Iscah.

• Genesis 11:31

  Terah took Abram his son, Lot son of Haran, his grandson, and Sarai his daughter-in-law, the wife of Abram his son, and they went out with them from Ur of the Chaldeans to go to the land of Canaan; and they came as far as Haran and settled there.

• Genesis 12:5

  Abram took Sarai his wife, Lot the son of his brother, all their possessions that they had gathered, and the persons that they had acquired in Haran, and they set out to go to the land of Canaan. And they came to the land of Canaan.

• Genesis 12:11

  When he was about to enter Egypt, he said to Sarai his wife, “Look, I know that you are a woman beautiful in appearance.

• Genesis 12:12

  When the Egyptians see you, they will say, ‘This is his wife.’ And they will kill me, but you they will keep alive.

• Genesis 12:14

  When Abram entered Egypt, the Egyptians saw the woman, that she was very beautiful.

• Genesis 12:15

  Pharaoh’s princes saw her and praised her to Pharaoh, and the woman was taken into the house of Pharaoh.

• Genesis 12:17

  But YHWH struck Pharaoh and his house with great plagues because of Sarai, Abram’s wife.

• Genesis 12:18

  So Pharaoh called Abram and said, “What is this you have done to me? Why did you not tell me that she was your wife?

• 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 12:20

  Pharaoh gave orders to men concerning him, and they sent him away with his wife and all that he had.

• Genesis 13:1

  Abram went up from Egypt to the Negev, he and his wife and all that he had, and Lot with him.

And 741 more times.