Hebrew word · H1331

בְּתוּלִים

vetulim

virginity

A plural noun from the same root as bəṯûlāh, 'young woman, virgin'. It can mean (1) the state of being a bəṯûlāh: 'her maidenhood' (Lev 21:13; Judg 11:37–38, where Jephthah's daughter mourns her bəṯûlîm; Ezek 23:3, 8).

Appears 10 times in 9 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

virginity

Abridged from Brown, Driver and Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament (1906), via STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0).

In depth

From the study of Deuteronomy 22:15

Range of meaning

A plural noun from the same root as bəṯûlāh, 'young woman, virgin'. It can mean (1) the state of being a bəṯûlāh: 'her maidenhood' (Lev 21:13; Judg 11:37–38, where Jephthah's daughter mourns her bəṯûlîm; Ezek 23:3, 8). It can also mean (2) the physical sign or proof of that state, which is the sense in Deut 22:15, 17, 20.

Against the English

BSB 'proof of her virginity', KJV '[the tokens of] the damsel's virginity' (the brackets show that KJV added words not in the Hebrew), ESV and NASB 'evidence'. The bare English word 'virginity' names an abstract condition. In this verse the Hebrew word stands for an object the parents can pick up and carry.

How it drifted

Modern English uses 'virginity' only for a personal status or experience. It has no sense of a physical token, so translators have to add 'proof' or 'tokens'.

Used elsewhere in the period

The Septuagint has τὰ παρθένια, 'the maidenly things/tokens', and the Vulgate has signa virginitatis, 'signs of virginity'. Both understood something concrete. Keeping the bloodied wedding sheet as proof is a custom recorded by ethnographers in several Mediterranean and Middle Eastern communities into modern times. That shows such a practice is plausible, but it does not prove what was done in ancient Israel.

From the study of Ezekiel 23:3

Range of meaning

Virginity, maidenhood. It can also mean the physical evidence of virginity, as in Deut 22:14–20, where a father produces 'the evidence of virginity' to defend his daughter's honour. Related to betulah, a young woman of marriageable age, normally still a virgin.

Against the English

KJV 'teats of their virginity' is literal. BSB 'virgin bosoms' and WEB 'youthful nipples' put it smoothly. YLT 'loves of their virginity' reflects reading the neighbouring word differently (see textual notes).

Used elsewhere in the period

Deut 22:14–20; Judg 11:37–38 (Jephthah's daughter mourns her betulim); Ezek 23:8.

From the study of Judges 11:38

Range of meaning

An abstract plural from betulah ('young woman, maiden'). It names the condition of being a betulah: maidenhood, youth at the age to marry. In Deuteronomy 22:14–20 it also names the physical 'evidence' of a bride's maidenhood. Sexual inexperience is normally assumed in it, but the word's centre of gravity is a stage of life: a young woman of marriageable age who is not yet married and has not yet borne children.

Against the English

KJV, BSB, WEB, YLT and ESV all say 'virginity.' Modern English hears 'virginity' almost entirely as sexual status, something a person keeps or loses. The Hebrew includes that, but its weight falls on her unfinished passage into womanhood: becoming a wife and mother. Some modern versions (such as NIV) translate what it means here instead: she wept because she would never marry.

How it drifted

English 'virginity,' through the Latin virginitas (Vulgate), narrowed over time to the sexual sense. Later Christian ideals of consecrated celibacy also gave the word a positive, chosen meaning. Neither fits a young Israelite woman, for whom dying unmarried and childless was a disaster, not a vocation.

Used elsewhere in the period

The Septuagint renders it ta parthenia autēs, 'her maidenhood.' G. J. Wenham (Vetus Testamentum 22, 1972) argued that betulah basically means 'a girl of marriageable age' and betulim 'signs of maidenhood/adolescence.' Many have followed him, though not all agree on Deuteronomy 22. Pseudo-Philo (Biblical Antiquities 40, 1st century AD) gives the daughter, whom he names Seila, a lament on the mountain over her wedding that will never happen and the bridal chamber she will never enter. That is how one early Jewish reader heard 'weeping over her betulim.'

Where it appears

Leviticus · 1

  1. Leviticus 21:13 בִבְתוּלֶ֖יהָ in virginiti<es> her

    The woman he marries must be a virgin.

Deuteronomy · 5

  1. Deuteronomy 22:14 בְּתוּלִֽים׃ virginiti<es>

    and he then accuses her of shameful conduct and gives her a bad name, saying, “I married this woman and had relations with her, but I discovered she was not a virgin.”

  2. Deuteronomy 22:15 בְּתוּלֵ֧י [the] virginiti<es> of

    Then the young woman’s father and mother shall bring the proof of her virginity to the city elders at the gate

    Here: 'The virginity-tokens of'. Here this is something physical that can be carried. Verse 17 shows it is a cloth (simlah) spread before the elders, which most interpreters take to be the bloodstained sheet or garment from the wedding night.

  3. Deuteronomy 22:17 בְּתוּלִ֔ים בְּתוּלֵ֣י virginiti<es>, [are] [the] virginiti<es> of

    And now he has accused her of shameful conduct, saying, ‘I discovered that your daughter was not a virgin.’ But here is the proof of her virginity.” And they shall spread out the cloth before the city elders.

  4. Deuteronomy 22:20 בְתוּלִ֖ים virginiti<es>

    If, however, this accusation is true, and no proof of the young woman’s virginity can be found,

Judges · 2

  1. Judges 11:37 בְּתוּלַ֔י virginiti<es> my

    She also said to her father, “Let me do this one thing: Let me wander for two months through the mountains with my friends and mourn my virginity.”

  2. Judges 11:38 בְּתוּלֶ֖יהָ virginiti<es> her

    “Go,” he said. And he sent her away for two months. So she left with her friends and mourned her virginity upon the mountains.

    Here: An abstract plural that names the stage of being a young unmarried woman ready for marriage. She is mourning the future that stage pointed toward, marriage and children, which she will never have.

Ezekiel · 2

  1. Ezekiel 23:3 בְּתוּלֵיהֶֽן׃ virginiti<es> their

    and they played in Egypt, prostituting themselves from their youth. Their breasts were fondled there, and their virgin bosoms caressed.

    Here: 'Their virginity / maidenhood.' Joined to the previous word it gives 'their virgin breasts': the breasts of girls not yet married. It stresses how young they were and that this was their first sexual experience.

  2. Ezekiel 23:8 בְתוּלֶ֑יהָ virginiti<es> her

    She did not give up the prostitution she began in Egypt, when men slept with her in her youth, caressed her virgin bosom, and poured out their lust upon her.

Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.