International Standard Bible Encyclopedia: Handmaid

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International Standard Bible Encyclopedia: Handmaid


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hand´mād: Which appears often in the Old Testament, but seldom in the New Testament, like bondmaid, is used to translate two Hebrew words (שׁפחה, shiphḥāh, and אמה, 'āmāh) both of which normally mean a female slave. It is used to translate the former word in the ordinary sense of female slave in ; ; , ; ; , ; ; to translate the latter word in ; ; . It is used as a term of humility and respectful self-depreciation in the presence of great men, prophets and kings, to translate the former word in ; ; ; ; , ; it translates the latter word in the same sense in ; ; , , , ; ; , ; . It is also used to express a sense of religious humility in translating the latter word only, and appears in this sense in but three passages, ; ; .

In the New Testament it occurs 3 t, in a religious sense, as the translation of δούλη, doúlē, “a female slave” (, ; ), and twice (, ) as the translation of παιδίσκη, paidı́skē, the King James Version “bondmaid.”