Bible Encyclopedias
Handmaid

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

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 Genesis 16:1; Genesis 25:12; Genesis 29:24 , Genesis 29:29; Proverbs 30:23; Jeremiah 34:11 , Jeremiah 34:16; Joel 2:29; to translate the latter word in Exodus 23:12; Judges 19:19; 2 Samuel 6:20 . 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 Rth 2:13; 1 Samuel 1:18; 1 Samuel 28:21; 2 Samuel 14:6; 2 Kings 4:2 , 2 Kings 4:16; it translates the latter word in the same sense in Rth 3:9; 1 Samuel 1:16; 1 Samuel 25:24 , 1 Samuel 25:28 , 1 Samuel 25:31 , 1 Samuel 25:41; 2 Samuel 20:17; 1 Kings 1:13 , 1 Kings 1:17; 1 Kings 3:20 . 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, 1 Samuel 1:11; Psalm 86:16; Psalm 116:16 .

In the New Testament it occurs 3 t, in a religious sense, as the translation of δούλη , doúlē , "a female slave" ( Luke 1:38 , Luke 1:48; Acts 2:18 ), and twice (Galatians 4:22 , Galatians 4:23 ) as the translation of παιδίσκη , paidı́skē , the King James Version "bondmaid."