עָקָר

Genesis 11:30 עֲקָרָ֑ה barren

But Sarai was barren; she had no children.

Here: Unable to conceive. This is the very first thing the narrator tells us about Sarai beyond her name. The same word later describes Rebekah, Rachel, Samson's mother and (in her song) Hannah.

Genesis 25:21 עֲקָרָ֖ה [was] barren

Later, Isaac prayed to the LORD on behalf of his wife, because she was barren. And the LORD heard his prayer, and his wife Rebekah conceived.

Here: "Barren, childless." The same word was used of Sarai in 11:30 and will be used of Rachel in 29:31. It links Rebekah to a pattern: each mother of the promised line cannot conceive at first.

Genesis 29:31 עֲקָרָֽה׃ [was] barren

When the LORD saw that Leah was unloved, He opened her womb; but Rachel was barren.

Here: 'Childless, unable to conceive.' This is the same word used of Sarah (11:30) and the same situation as Rebekah's (25:21). Rachel is now the third in a line of barren matriarchs. The clause has no verb, so it describes her condition at the time. It is not a final verdict: God later 'opens her womb' too (30:22).

Exodus 23:26 וַעֲקָרָ֖ה and barren

No woman in your land will miscarry or be barren; I will fulfill the number of your days.

Here: "And a barren one": a female who cannot conceive at all. Paired with the previous word, it covers both ways fertility fails: no conception, and conception that ends in loss.

Deuteronomy 7:14 עָקָ֥ר וַֽעֲקָרָ֖ה a sterile [male], and a barren [female]

You will be blessed above all peoples; among you there will be no barren man or woman or livestock.

Here: A sterile man. This masculine form appears to be unique in the Hebrew Bible. Elsewhere the word is used of women such as Sarah, Rachel and Hannah. Here male infertility is named directly.

Judges 13:2 עֲקָרָ֖ה [was] barren

Now there was a man from Zorah named Manoah, from the clan of the Danites, whose wife was barren and had no children.

Here: Unable to have children. It is the same word used of Sarah (Gen 11:30), Rebekah (Gen 25:21) and Rachel (Gen 29:31), so a reader who knows Israel's story expects God to step in.

Judges 13:3 עֲקָרָה֙ [are] barren

The angel of the LORD appeared to the woman and said to her, “It is true that you are barren and have no children; but you will conceive and give birth to a son.

Here: The same word used of Sarah, Rebekah and Rachel. The messenger repeats the narrator's word from v. 2, naming the condition that defined her socially before he overturns it.

1 Samuel 2:5 עֲקָרָה֙ a barren [woman]

The well-fed hire themselves out for food, but the starving hunger no more. The barren woman gives birth to seven, but she who has many sons pines away.

Here: The childless wife, Hannah's own position (1:2). The word carries the whole social weight of being without children in ancient Israel, not just the medical fact.

Job 24:21 עֲ֭קָרָה a barren [woman]

They prey on the barren and childless, and show no kindness to the widow.

Psalm 113:9 עֲקֶ֬רֶת [the] barren [woman] of

He settles the barren woman in her home as a joyful mother to her children. Hallelujah!

Here: The woman who has borne no children. This is the word used of Sarah, Rebekah, Rachel, Samson's mother and (in her song) Hannah. In Israel it named a condition of public shame and an insecure place in the family. The form binds it tightly to the next word: 'the barren one of the house'.

Isaiah 54:1 עֲקָרָ֖ה O barren [woman]

“Shout for joy, O barren woman, who bears no children; break forth in song and cry aloud, you who have never travailed; because more are the children of the desolate woman than of her who has a husband,” says the LORD.

Here: Used as a form of address: 'you barren woman'. It is the word used of Sarah, Rebekah, Rachel and Hannah's world, and it carries the shame and vulnerability of a woman with no children. Here the woman is Zion, Jerusalem pictured as a wife and mother.