Hebrew nouns have grammatical gender, either feminine or masculine. Hebrew verbs distinguish masculine and feminine plurals as well as masculine and feminine singulars. English translations generally mirror the gender of such verbs in narrative and usually, but not always, when the female metaphor is inescapably gendered—for example, childbirth. However, if the image is out of the ordinary for female roles in the translator’s cultural context, or if the metaphor seems to obscure the word it stands for, feminine verb marking, as well as feminine nouns, are often ignored. Cleansing the Bible of counter-cultural female roles not only masculinizes history, it also deprives women of a broader picture of how God has and might use women and their gifts in church, home, and society.
An Army of Women Messengers
For example, Ps 68:11 (v. 12 in Hebrew) reports that a large army of women messengers announce God’s word of victory. Literally, “the ones spreading the good news [are] a large army,” in which “the ones spreading the good news” is a feminine plural participle. The KJV, followed by many modern English language translations, ignores the participle’s feminine ending:
KJV: The Lord gave the word: great [was] the company of those that published [it].
Shortly before the KJV, Mary Sidney (1561–1621) published free translations of the Psalms as Renaissance lyric poetry. She highlights women’s roles often glossed over by men and translates Ps 68:11–12, both poetically and more accurately, as follows:1
There taught by thee in this triumphant song
A virgin army did their voices try:
“Fled are these kings, fled are these armies strong:
We share the spoils that weak in house did lie.”
Later, in v. 25, Sidney refers to them as battle maids:
In vanguard marched who did with voices sing;
The rearward loud on instruments did play
The battle maids and did with timbrels ring.
And all in sweet consort did jointly say:
Franz Delitzsch, in his Commentary on the Psalms, says: “The deliverance of Israel from the army of Pharaoh, the deliverance out of the hand of Jabin by the defeat of Sisera, the victory of Jephthah over the Ammonites, and the victorious single combat of David with Goliath were celebrated by singing women. God’s decisive word shall also go forth this time, and of the evangelists, like Miriam (Mirjam) and Deborah, there shall be a great host.”2 Verse 12 relates what the women announced:
Kings of armies they flee they flee,
she that abides at home divides the plunder.3
The NET Bible indicates women in both verses:4
NET: The Lord speaks;
many, many women spread the good news.
Kings leading armies run away—they run away!
The lovely lady of the house divides up the loot.
The NLT has “a great army,” giving the clear impression that it was a male army, although it includes a footnote, “Or a host of women”
NLT: The Lord gives the word,
and a great army* brings the good news.
Enemy kings and their armies flee,
while the women of Israel divide the plunder.
*Or a host of women
However, the NIV removes women from both verses:
The Lord announced the word,
and great was the company of those who proclaimed it:
“Kings and armies flee in haste;
in the camps men divide the plunder.
The NIV translates “men divide the plunder,” though the verb “she divides” is marked feminine. The NVI (Nueva Versión Internacional—the NIV in Spanish) departs from the English NIV and mentions women in both verses: millares de mensajeras (“thousands of female messengers”) in v. 11 and las mujeres (“the women”) in v. 12.5 La Palabra de Dios para Todos (PDT) says “many are the women” in v. 11, with mujer (“woman”) in its translation of v. 12.6
Lines of women singing and dancing with tambourines to announce victory in battle is a prominent motif in the OT, as is women proclaiming God’s word. It is important to preserve this history and convey those women’s activities through accurate translation.
Daughter Zion
Whereas Ps 68’s “great army” of women most likely is figurative, in the sense that the women were a large group proclaiming God’s word though not as actual soldiers, Daughter Zion in Mic 4:13 is indeed warrior-like. In various translations, “Daughter Zion,” whose iron horns and bronze hooves crush many peoples, translates only as “Zion” or “Jerusalem,” although she—Daughter Zion—was suffering in childbirth earlier in the chapter.
The NET Bible translates:
NET: “Get up and thresh, Daughter Zion!
For I will give you iron horns;
I will give you bronze hooves,
and you will crush many nations.”
You will devote to the Lord the spoils you take from them,
and dedicate their wealth to the sovereign Ruler of the whole earth.
Micah 4:6–5:1 describes God’s plan to redeem the Judean people from their Babylonian exile and reestablish them as a strong nation he himself will rule. In this context, God personifies his people as a woman who has been shamed, but whom he will rescue as she fights her way back to recall her rightful honor and the people’s respect. God addresses her several times as Daughter Zion (4:8, 10, 13), as well as Daughter Jerusalem (4:8), then finally, Daughter of Troops (5:1 [4:14 in the Hebrew text]). These expressions are examples of Hebrew “construct” forms, which often are translated into English as “X of Y” in which X has the characteristic of Y. “Troop” refers to a marauding or raiding band, an army division, or to the foray or raid itself.7 Thus, it seems that God is commanding her to marshal her troops like a military leader.
“Daughter Zion” refers to the city of Jerusalem. The Hebrew word “city” is grammatically feminine, which allows the personification that occurs in many of the prophetic books (e.g., Isa 10:32, 16:1, 37:22, 52:2; Zech 2:10). In some cases the phrase is expanded to Virgin Daughter of Jerusalem (Isa 37:22; Zeph 3:14).
In Isa 37:22, Zion, that is Jerusalem, is pictured as a “young, vulnerable daughter whose purity is being threatened by the would-be Assyrian rapist. The personification hints at the reality which the young girls of the city would face if the Assyrians conquered it.”8 This had in fact happened already to Judean women in Lachish, an eventuality that would be repeated in Jerusalem. Assyrian pictorial reliefs in the palace of Nineveh show Israelite women and children marched off from Lachish with bundles on their backs.9
The Bible reports examples of this common ancient Near Eastern practice of stealing women and children as war trophies: David pursued the Amalekites who had stolen his and his followers’ wives (1 Sam 30:2); a captive Israelite girl served Naaman’s wife (2 Kgs 5:2); and the Israelites obtained wives for the defeated Benjamites by raiding Jabesh Gilead (Judg 21:10–12).
The young woman of Mic 4:13 has been brutalized. As a result, she is lame (4:6–7), in grief (4:6), driven away (4:6), and hurting as though in childbirth (4:9–10). Her enemies rape her, taunting: “Let her be defiled. Let our eyes gloat over Zion” (4:11).
But Micah says that the nations do not understand God’s plan (4:11). He will gather those who took advantage of his daughter “like sheaves to the threshing floor,” and she is told to trample them underfoot. Ancient Egyptian tomb paintings show oxen and donkeys pulling a sled weighted with pieces of flint and metal over the grain; there is also evidence of metal shoes being attached to the feet of these animals to more efficiently cut the stalks of grain, bringing to mind the bronze hooves of Mic 4:13.10
Horns in the OT symbolize power, strength, and pride.11 The woman of Mic 4:13 is promised iron horns. Iron and bronze were the strongest metals available in biblical times. In Daniel’s vision of four beasts, for example, the last one terrified with its “large iron teeth; it crushed and devoured its victims and trampled underfoot whatever was left. . . . it had ten horns” (Dan 7:7 NIV). The prophet Micah does not hesitate to quote God telling a metaphorical woman to act like this.
The ancient Near East revered military women; Canaanite and Mesopotamian national goddesses often rode into battle on war horses or lions. The OT prophet Deborah, who judged Israel and led them into battle, is the prime biblical example (Judg 4–5) of one who led Israel into battle. But there are others whom God inspired to destroy Israel’s enemies during military conflicts—Jael killed Sisera with a tent peg (Judg 4:17–23); an unnamed woman saved Thebez by dropping a millstone on Abimelek from the top of a tower (Judg 9:50–54), and another wise woman negotiated the beheading of David’s enemy Sheba (2 Sam 20:14–22). Judith, a Jewish conquerer of the apocryphal/deuterocanonical book named for her, saved Israel from the attacking Assyrians by ingratiating herself to the general Holofernes in order to decapitate him. A woman with iron horns and bronze feet perhaps challenges evangelical culture and other traditional perspectives on women.
The ESV is one of the few translations that retain “Daughter of Troops” in Mic 5:1; it explains in a note, “That is, city”:
ESV: Now muster your troops, O daughter* of troops;
siege is laid against us;
with a rod they strike the judge of Israel on the cheek.
*That is, city
Some versions, such as the NIV, retain “Daughter Zion,” but avoid “Daughter of Troops” as too literal:
NIV: “Rise and thresh, Daughter Zion,
for I will give you horns of iron;
I will give you hooves of bronze
and you will break to pieces many nations.”
You will devote their ill-gotten gains to the Lord,
their wealth to the Lord of all the earth.
Marshal your troops, city of troops,
for a siege is laid against us.
They will strike Israel’s ruler
on the cheek with a rod.
Others, including the NLT, omit the metaphor of an iron-clad young woman threshing, relegating the Hebrew phrase to a footnote:
NLT: “Rise up and crush the nations, O Jerusalem!”*
says the Lord.
“For I will give you iron horns and bronze hooves,
so you can trample many nations to pieces.
You will present their stolen riches to the Lord,
their wealth to the Lord of all the earth.”
Mobilize! Marshal your troops!
The enemy is laying siege to Jerusalem.
They will strike Israel’s leader
in the face with a rod.
*Hebrew “Rise up and thresh, O Daughter of Zion.”
The Palabra de Dios para Todos is a good example for Spanish. It begins 4:13 with Hija de Sion (“Daughter of Zion”) and has hija de guerreros (“daughter of warriors”) in 5:1.12
The United Bible Societies’ translator’s handbook on Isaiah recommends that it might be more useful to give the meaning explicitly and refer to either Zion or Jerusalem directly as “The town of Zion/Jerusalem” without the “daughter of” idiom.13 On the other hand, the NET Bible notes: “Daughter” may seem extraneous in English but consciously joins the various epithets and metaphors of Israel and Jerusalem as a woman, a device used to evoke sympathy from the reader. This individualizing of Zion as a daughter draws attention to the corporate nature of the covenant community and also to the tenderness with which the Lord regards his chosen people.14 There may be alternate phrasing in the receptor language to indicate endearment. For example, in Zech 2:10, NET translates “Zion my daughter” and NLT “O beautiful Jerusalem.” Spanish mi hija (“my daughter”) would be appropriate.
“Daughter Zion” is a more direct as well as a more understandable translation, because God is addressing the whole community as his daughter, whereas “Daughter of Jerusalem” may sound as though God is speaking to one particular young woman who lives in the city. Note these two NIV translations of Zeph 3:14:
NIV 1984: Sing, O daughter of Zion; shout aloud, O Israel!
Be glad and rejoice with all your heart, O daughter of Jerusalem!NIV 2011: Sing, Daughter Zion; shout aloud, Israel!
Be glad and rejoice with all your heart, Daughter Jerusalem!
There are good reasons to maintain the daughter imagery: it reflects the historical context, allowing the listener to picture how women felt, acted, and were acted upon in war-time and by extension, what the entire populace experienced, as well as God’s fatherly passion for their well-being. The poetry evokes sympathy in general that one would feel toward a young woman in trouble, but even more so, it provides empathy and hope for abused women who identify with the need to trust God’s power for deliverance. The imagery empowers women to act, to be used by God, rather than simply waiting to be rescued.
Woman Wisdom
Proverbs presents two contrasting portraits of women. The “Woman Wisdom” is positive, a metaphorical wise teacher, but the “Strange Woman” is negative, a foolish, seductive stranger. Both are illustrated elsewhere in the lives of other biblical women. Wise women appear in the stories of Judges, Samuel, and Kings, as do strange foreign women like Delilah and Jezebel. Proverbs 8 personifies wisdom as a woman linked with God as a source of truth, righteousness, instruction, and knowledge. The grammatically feminine Hebrew word for “wisdom” may have inspired the metaphor, but it does not explain its development. Both the “strange woman” and the “wise woman” are most likely symbolic personifications based in Israelite sociological history.
Proverbs reflects the household struggle for survival in the difficult hill country of the family-clan period as well as concerns with Jewish identity that climaxed in post-exilic times. Israelite households were independent cultural and economic centers which formed the basis for a tribally-organized society. Lemuel’s mother, who gave advice to her royal son in Prov 31:1–9, exemplifies a wise teacher and illustrates the woman’s primary role in socialization and literacy. The acrostic poem that follows in Prov 31:10–31 values the successful matriarch, not in terms of her sexuality but on the basis of her business acumen and industriousness for the benefit of her household. This sociological function of women as educators and household managers explains the use of the Woman Wisdom metaphor in Proverbs.
In Proverbs, Woman Wisdom and her alter ego the Strange/Foreign/Foolish Woman together outline the boundaries of acceptable and unacceptable social connections for Israelite young men. Although opposite figures, they are both embraced by the men they meet and invite home for food (e.g., Prov 9:5, 17). Even women who were indeed Israelite but “belonged to” another man were “other” and off limits. Both women speak persuasively, demonstrating the crucial importance of rhetorical language in society, especially in the wisdom tradition, and also the dangers of its abuse. The Strange Woman’s words reflect a moral ambiguity that is harmful but often part of human experience.
Even if these personified feminine images were removed from Proverbs, there would still remain direct warnings to young men about the kinds of women they should not associate with coupled with direction regarding what they should value in women, but much of the impact would be lost. Further, emphasis on women’s power implicit in the feminine language of the text would be lost as well. The woman represented as a source of power contrasts with the traditional impression of patriarchal social and theological order in the Bible. In Proverbs, the Wise Woman is the source of life to her community, not as childbearer, but as an important participant in various aspects of Israelite society and religion. Some English versions make this clear by translating feminine pronouns as “she” and “her”:
NET: Wisdom calls out in the street,
she shouts loudly in the plazas;
at the head of the noisy streets she calls,
in the entrances of the gates in the city she utters her words:NIV: Wisdom calls aloud in the street,
she raises her voice in the public squares;
at the head of the noisy streets she cries out,
in the gateways of the city she makes her speech:
TEV, however, omits feminine references in Prov 1:20ff:
TEV: Listen! Wisdom is calling out in the streets and marketplaces,
calling loudly at the city gates and wherever people come together:
In Spanish, as in Hebrew, “wisdom” (Spanish sabiduría) is a feminine noun. The possessive pronoun su, however, is the same for both “his” and “her,” and there is no distinguishing masculine or feminine third person verb marking, so it is not certain that Spanish-speaking readers or listeners would picture a woman speaking in Prov 1:20ff. or in chs. 8 or 9. In addition, Spanish versions other than the Reina-Valera 1995 do not capitalize sabiduría as a person’s name. But, in 9:13 when the figure shifts to the foolish woman, Spanish versions emphasize the female imagery by adding the word mujer (“woman”), giving an unbalanced view of woman’s nature, even suggesting that men are wise and women foolish.15
In Huichol, an indigenous language of Mexico, “Woman Wisdom” is translated “A wise person,” perhaps partly due to the lack of clarity of the Spanish base translation, but mostly because a wise woman in their community would not stand and speak in public. However, after consultation, the translators found a natural way to include women. At first, Prov 1:20a, when translated back from Huichol to English, read: “In the streets they shout so that people would be wise.” After the consultant-check it reads: “Wisdom shouts in the streets like a woman.” Proverbs 8:1, after consultant-check, says: “Wisdom is like a woman who speaks to us.” The Prov 9:1 draft read: “The wise man built the house,” but after consultant-check it now says: “Wisdom like a woman built her house.”
It is important for minority-language speakers of indigenous cultures to know that in biblical cultures, women appeared and spoke publicly not only in harmful ways, but in wise, powerful, and helpful ways and that God and the biblical writers approved and encouraged that.
An Ammonite Woman and A Moabite Woman
Not all foreign women in the Hebrew Bible were blameworthy. Women like Tamar, Rahab, and Ruth are remembered in Matthew’s genealogy of Jesus as people of faith. Certainly, the women mentioned in 2 Chr 24:26 were also people of faith since their sons conspired against King Joash to avenge the stoning of Zechariah—the High Priest Jehoiada’s son. The text names the conspirators’ mothers, specifying that one was Ammonite and the other was Moabite. The Hebrew descriptions “the Ammonite” and “the Moabite” are feminine forms, clearly indicating that Shimeath and Shimrith were the names of their mothers, not their fathers. A translation like “Shimeath the Ammonite . . . Shimrith the Moabite,” as in NRSV, ESV, and NJB, leads readers to assume that these two women were in fact men.16 A more accurate rendering would be “Shimeath an Ammonite woman . . . Shimrith a Moabite woman” (REB, NET, NIV), or “an Ammonite woman named Shimeath . . . a Moabite woman named Shomer” (NLT), or “Shimeath, a woman from the land of Ammon . . . Shimrith, a woman from the land of Moab,” as in the Brazilian common language version, Nova Tradução na Linguagem de Hoje (NTLH).17
While many English translations preserve these references to the non-Israelite mothers, most Spanish versions translate them with the masculine: “Simat, un amonita [Shimeath, an Ammonite] . . . Simrit, un moabita [Shimrith, a Moabite]” (VP) or “Simat el amonita [Shimeath the Ammonite] . . . Simrit el moabita [Shimrith the Moabite]” (Reina-Valera, NVI, PDT). Happily, some retain the feminine: “Simeat la amonita . . . Simrit la moabita” (La Bíblia de las Américas) and “una mujer amonita llamada Simeat . . . una mujer moabita llamada Somer” (NTV).
Preserving even minor feminine references like these is important. This particular verse (2 Chr 24:26) shows that these women, though outside Israel, exerted a positive influence on their families and on Israel as a whole. Further, more accurate translation would challenge the impression that the Bible is a male creation that deprecates women.
Prophetess
On the other hand, preserving grammatical feminine marking on nouns can have the opposite effect, leading readers to believe, for example, that a female prophet had a different, lesser function than a prophet, as has become true for “deacon” and “deaconess” in some fellowships. Five Israelite women are called nebiah, the feminine form of the Hebrew word for “prophet” (nabi): Miriam (Exod 15:20), Deborah (Judg 4:4), Huldah (2 Kgs 22:14; 2 Chr 34:22), Noadiah (Neh 6:14), and Isaiah’s wife (Isa 8:3). Prophets, both male and female, held respected spiritual leadership positions. Under the monarchy, they had free access to the kings, whom they frequently reprimanded. Women prophets had the same back-and-forth communication with military and political leaders, and they exercised the same public ministry as their male counterparts. Miriam led the Israelite women in a victory chorus, and many commentators believe she actually composed and led the entirety of Exod 15. Micah 6:4 identifies her, along with Moses and Aaron, as a leader God sent to the Israelite people. Deborah led the Israelites publicly as both a religious and a civil authority.
When King Josiah sent his cabinet officials to speak to the Lord and ask about the law that had been discovered in the temple, they consulted with the prophet Huldah. Her negative pronouncement resulted in one of the most sweeping religious reforms in Judah. Noadiah, whose name means “YHWH has met” or “YHWH has become manifest,”18 was a post-exilic prophet. Noadiah, along with other high-placed opponents like Tobiah and Sanballat, tried to intimidate Nehemiah. Since she was named specifically, she was likely the leader of the unnamed male prophets Nehemiah mentions.
Women also served as prophets in Mesopotamia. The Mari texts from Syria in the early second millennium BC give evidence of both male and female prophets. Women also spoke out as prophets during the seventh-century BC reign of Esarhaddon of Assyria. The females appeared to have served in the same function as the male prophets.19
Since these women functioned in the same roles as male prophets, it makes sense to use the same key word for both. For languages that do not mark gender on nouns or verbs, the word “woman” should be added to specify that the prophet was female, since the default is usually understood as male. In this way, it becomes clear that both women and men fulfilled the prophetic function. Languages that do distinguish noun gender will make the prophet’s sex obvious, but should add a footnote to the effect that women prophets did not have a different or lesser role in Israelite society.
In 2 Kgs 22:14a, NIV 1984 called Huldah a prophetess, but in NIV 2011 she is a prophet. NLT also calls her a prophet, but NET has “prophetess”:
NIV 1984: Hilkiah the priest, Ahikam, Acbor, Shaphan and Asaiah went to speak to the prophetess Huldah. . . .
NIV 2011: Hilkiah the priest, Ahikam, Akbor, Shaphan and Asaiah went to speak to the prophet Huldah. . . .
NLT: So Hilkiah the priest, Ahikam, Acbor, Shaphan, and Asaiah went to . . . consult with the prophet Huldah.
NET: So Hilkiah the priest, Ahikam, Acbor, Shaphan, and Asaiah went to Huldah the prophetess. . . .
Isaiah’s wife is called “the nebiah.” Some commentators say this was a polite way of referring to her since she was not reported as proclaiming God’s word herself, similar to the wife of a king being called the queen.20 Others insist that there is no reason to assume that the wife of a prophet was called a “prophetess.”21 In fact, the “queen” in the ancient Near East was not usually the king’s wife, so the name for her position was not normally the feminine form of melek (“king”) but rather “great lady” (gebirah)22 or “queen mother” (1 Kgs 11:19, 15:13; 2 Chr 15:16; Jer 13:18, 29:2), who, in the OT, fulfilled a specific position of power as adviser to the king. Since the case of Isaiah’s wife is a matter of opinion, the term could be translated “his wife” with a footnote such as, “Hebrew: woman prophet,” or, if the translation committee believed the term indicated her ministry, “his prophet wife” or the “woman prophet who was his wife” would be appropriate translations.
Conclusion
If we translate consistently key terms such as “prophet,” maintain female metaphors such as Daughter Zion and Woman Wisdom, and indicate the gender of feminine actors who exercise various gifts, readers and listeners will gain a grander understanding of how God worked through women and girls in biblical times, and how he wants to work through all his people today.
Notes
1. Hannibal Hamlin, Michael G. Brennan, Margaret P. Hannay, and Noel J. Kinnamon, eds., The Sidney Psalter: The Psalms of Sir Philip and Mary Sidney (Oxford, 2009) 124–5.
2. Franz Delitzsch, Commentary on the Psalms, trans. Francis Bolton, 2nd ed., 2 vols. (Clark, 1884) 2.253.
3. Another possible translation is, “and the beautiful woman of the house.” The NET Bible, for example, explains in a v. 12 note that the Hebrew form appears to be the construct of “pasture” but the phrase “pasture of the house” makes no sense, so this alternate translation assumes that the form is an alternative or corruption of “beautiful woman” (nswh), adding that a reference to a woman would be appropriate in light of v. 11b.
4. Scripture and/or notes quoted by permission. Quotations designated NET are from the NET Bible copyright 1996–2016 by Biblical Studies Press, L.L.C. All rights reserved.
5. NVI: El Señor ha emitido la palabra, y millares de mensajeras la proclaman: «Van huyendo los reyes y sus tropas; en las casas, las mujeres se reparten el botín.
6. PDT: El Señor dio la orden y muchas son las mujeres que fueron a contar las buenas noticias: «¡Los ejércitos de los reyes poderosos se han ido lejos de aquí! La mujer que se quedó en casa reparte todo el botín.
7. BDB, s.v. gedud.
8. NET Bible note 34 on Isa 37:22.
9. http://www.lmlk.com/research/lmlk_reliefs.htm, plates 9, 10a, and 10b.
10. John H. Walton, Victor H. Matthews and Mark W. Chavalas, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: Old Testament (InterVarsity, 2000) Electronic edition.
11. R. Laird Harris, Editor, Gleason L. Archer, Jr., and Bruce K. Waltke, assoc. eds., Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament (Moody, 1980) Electronic edition. 2072a (qeren).
12. PDT: Hija de Sion, levántate y aplástalos. Convertiré tus cuernos en hierro y tus cascos en bronce. Tú destruirás a muchos y le entregarás al SEÑOR todas las ganancias de ellos. Le entregarás todas sus riquezas al Señor de toda la tierra. Ahora, hija de guerreros, reúne a tus soldados. Estamos siendo asediados; ellos con su vara golpean en la mejilla al juez de Israel.
13. Graham S. Ogden and Jan Sterk, A Handbook on Isaiah (United Bible Societies, 2011) Electronic edition. Note on Isa 37:22.
14. NET Bible note 13 on Zech 2:10.
15. PDT: La sabiduría construyó su casa y puso siete columnas en ella. . . . La mujer insensata es escandalosa, estúpida e ignorante. Dios Habla Hoy (VP): La sabiduría construyó su casa, la adornó con siete columnas. . . . La necedad es como una mujer chismosa, tonta e ignorante. NVI: La sabiduría construyó su casa y labró sus siete pilares. . . . La mujer necia es escandalosa, frívola y desvergonzada.
16. Roger L. Omanson and John E. Ellington, Handbook on 1–2 Chronicles, 2 vols. (United Bible Societies, 2014) Electronic edition. Note on 2 Chr 24:26.
17. NTLH: Dois homens planejaram a morte dele: Zabade, filho de Simeate, uma mulher da terra de Amom, e Jeozabate, filho de Sinrite, uma mulher da terra de Moabe.
18. Tamara Cohn Eskenazi, “Noadiah,” in Carol Meyers, gen. ed., Toni Craven and Ross S. Kraemer, assoc. eds., Women in Scripture (Eerdmans, 2000) 132.
19. Walton, et al., IVP Bible Background Commentary on 2 Chr 34:22.
20. Susan Ackerman, “Prophetess (Wife of Isaiah)” in Women in Scripture, 317.
21. Katharine C. Bushnell, God’s Word to Women (1921) par. 716. https://godswordtowomen.files.wordpress.com/2010/10/gods_word_to_women1.pdf
22. TWOT, 1199b (malkah) .
