Skip to content

shebanq

אָמָה ʾāmāh – female servant

Semantic Fields: Servitude   
Author(s): Haposan Cornelius Sinaga
First published: 2026-01-06
Citation: Haposan Cornelius Sinaga, אָמָה ʾāmāh – female servant,
               Semantics of Ancient Hebrew Database (sahd-online.com), 2026 (WORK IN PROGRESS)

Introduction

Grammatical type: noun fem.
Occurrences: 56 HB (27/21/8); 0x Sir. (Total: 56)

  • Torah: Gen 20:17; 21:10 (2x), 12, 13; 30:3; 31:33; Exod 2:5; 20:10, 17; 21:7, 20, 26, 27, 32; 23:12; Lev 25:6, 44 (2x); Deut 5:14 (2x), 21; 12:12, 18; 15:17; 16:11, 14;

  • Nebiim: Judg 9:18; 19:19; 1 Sam 1:11 (3x), 16; 25:24 (2x), 25, 28, 31, 41; 2 Sam 6:20, 22; 14:15, 16; 20:17; 1 Kgs 1:13, 17; 3:20; Nah 2:8;

  • Ketubim: Pss 86:16; 116:16; Job 19:15; 31:13; Ruth 3:9 (2x); Ezra 2:65; Neh 7:67.

4. Ancient Versions

Septuagint (LXX) and other Greek versions11

  • ἅβρα, ‘female personal servant’ (1x): Exod 2:5;
  • δούλη, ‘female slave, bondswoman’, or ‘submissive and respectful woman: in honorific, self-effacing discourse vis-à-vis a king, as a substitute for the first personal pronoun’ (17-20x): Lev 25:44 (2nd); Judg 19:19 (LXXA); 1 Sam 1:11 (1st, 3rd, in LXXAnt also 2nd), 16; 25:24 (2x), 25, 28, 31, 41; 2 Sam 14:15 (LXXAnt: παιδίσκη), 16; 20:17; 1 Kgs 1:13, 17;

Nah 2:8; Ruth 3:9 (2x);
θεράπαινα, ‘female slave’ (4x): Exod 21:26, 27; Job 19:15; 31:13;
οἰκέτις, ‘female domestic employee’ (1x): Exod 21:7; * παιδίσκη, ‘female servant’, ‘female counterpart of παῖς’, ‘self-effacing appelation’ (29-31x): Gen 20:17; 21:10 (2x), 12, 13; 30:3; 31:33; Exod 20:10, 17; 21:20, 32; 23:12; Lev 25:6, 44 (1st); Deut 5:14 (2x), 21; 12:12, 18; 15:17; 16:11, 14; Judg 9:18; 19:19 (LXXB); 2 Sam 14:15 (only LXXAnt); 2 Sam 6:20, 22; Pss 86:16; 116:16; Ezra 2:65; Neh 7:67;
* no translation (2x): 1 Sam 1:11 (2nd, but δούλη in LXXAnt); 1 Kgs 3:20 (also no translation in LXXAnt).

Bibliography

For the abbreviations see the List of Abbreviations.

Fernández Marcos & Busto Saiz 1989
Natalio Fernández Marcos, José Ramón Busto Saiz, El texto antioqueno de la Biblia griega, I: 1-2 Samuel (TECC 50), Madrid: Instituto de Filología, C.S.I.C.
Fernández Marcos & Busto Saiz 1992
Natalio Fernández Marcos, José Ramón Busto Saiz, El texto antioqueno de la Biblia griega, II: 1-2 Reyes (TECC 53), Madrid: Instituto de Filología, C.S.I.C.

Notes

  1. The translations of the Greek are based on GELS. For LXXAnt, see Fernández Marcos & Busto Saiz 1989; Fernández Marcos & Busto Saiz 1992. ↩

Semantics of Ancient Hebrew Database