Hebrew word · H6370

פִּלֶ֫גֶשׁ

pilegesh

concubine

A secondary wife: a woman lawfully attached to a man's household with lower status than a primary wife. Her children could inherit in some cases (Gen 25:6; Judg 8:31; 19:1, where the Levite is called her "husband" and her father his "father-in-law").

Appears 37 times in 35 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

1) concubine, paramour

1a) concubine

1b) paramour

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 Song of Songs 6:9

Range of meaning

A secondary wife: a woman lawfully attached to a man's household with lower status than a primary wife. Her children could inherit in some cases (Gen 25:6; Judg 8:31; 19:1, where the Levite is called her "husband" and her father his "father-in-law"). The word is probably borrowed from a non-Semitic language (compare Greek pallakē).

Against the English

"Concubine" in modern English often means a kept mistress outside marriage. In Israel a pîlegeš was a recognized, though lesser, member of the household.

How it drifted

Modern Western monogamy has no category for a lawful secondary wife, so "concubine" has come to suggest an illicit affair.

Used elsewhere in the period

Royal concubines: 2 Sam 5:13; 15:16; 1 Kgs 11:3 (Solomon's 700 wives and 300 concubines). The LXX translates the word pallakai.

From the study of Genesis 25:6

Range of meaning

A woman in a recognised sexual and domestic union with a man, of lower legal and social rank than a principal wife (ʾiššāh). Her children were the man's acknowledged offspring but did not automatically share the main inheritance. The status was not illicit. In Judges 19 the Levite with a pîlegeš is called 'her husband' and her father is called his 'father-in-law.' A concubine could be a former slave woman (like Bilhah, Gen 35:22) or a free woman taken as a secondary wife.

Against the English

English 'concubine' now suggests a mistress, a kept woman, or something like a royal harem. Translations like 'secondary wife' or 'lesser wife' (used by some modern versions in other passages) are closer to the legal reality.

How it drifted

In Roman and later European usage concubina came to mean cohabitation outside lawful marriage. Christian moral discourse then made the word mean an illegitimate partner. The Hebrew institution was a lawful marriage of lower rank.

Used elsewhere in the period

Used of Reumah, Nahor's concubine (Gen 22:24); Bilhah (35:22); Timna (36:12); Gideon's concubine (Judg 8:31); the Levite's wife (Judg 19–20); Saul's Rizpah (2 Sam 3:7); David's concubines (2 Sam 15:16; 16:21–22); Solomon's 300 (1 Kgs 11:3). 1 Chronicles 1:32 calls Keturah 'Abraham's pîlegeš,' though Genesis 25:1 calls her an ʾiššāh, 'wife.' Hagar was a slave woman given to Abraham 'as a wife' (Gen 16:3). The word is probably not Semitic in origin. It resembles Greek pallakis/pallakē and Latin paelex, and the direction of borrowing is debated (HALOT).

From the study of Esther 2:14

Range of meaning

A secondary wife: a woman legally attached to a man's household with lower status than a primary wife, usually without the full rights given by a dowry or by her children's inheritance. Her sexual relationship with the man is recognized, not illicit.

Against the English

"Concubine" (KJV, BSB, ESV, NASB, WEB, YLT) is the standard and broadly accurate term. To modern ears it can sound like "mistress" or a secret lover, which misses that this was a recognized status within the household.

How it drifted

In modern English "concubine" survives mostly in historical romance and suggests illicit sex. The Hebrew term describes a legal, if lower, household status.

Used elsewhere in the period

Abraham's concubines (Gen 25:6), Bilhah (Gen 35:22), the Levite's concubine (Judg 19). Most relevant are David's ten concubines, who after Absalom's revolt were "shut up until the day of their death, living as widows" (2 Sam 20:3). Herodotus says each Persian "marries many wives, and acquires many more concubines" (Histories 1.135). The word is probably borrowed from another language and is related to Greek pallakē, "concubine."

Where it appears

Genesis · 4

  1. Genesis 22:24 וּפִֽילַגְשׁ֖וֹ and concubine his

    Moreover, Nahor’s concubine, whose name was Reumah, bore Tebah, Gaham, Tahash, and Maacah.

  2. Genesis 25:6 הַפִּֽילַגְשִׁים֙ the concubines

    But while he was still alive, Abraham gave gifts to the sons of his concubines and sent them away from his son Isaac to the land of the east.

    Here: Secondary wives: women in a recognised union with Abraham, but of lower standing than a principal wife. The plural most naturally means Hagar (Ishmael's mother) and Keturah (mother of the six sons in 25:1–4).

  3. Genesis 35:22 פִּילֶ֣גֶשׁ [the] concubine of

    While Israel was living in that region, Reuben went in and slept with his father’s concubine Bilhah, and Israel heard about it. Jacob had twelve sons:

    Here: A woman bound to a man in a recognised but lower-ranking marriage. Calling Bilhah this here stresses that she belongs to the father's household and bed.

  4. Genesis 36:12 פִילֶ֗גֶשׁ a concubine

    Additionally, Timna, a concubine of Esau’s son Eliphaz, gave birth to Amalek. These are the grandsons of Esau’s wife Adah.

Judges · 12

  1. Judges 8:31 וּפִֽילַגְשׁוֹ֙ and concubine his

    His concubine, who dwelt in Shechem, also bore him a son, and he named him Abimelech.

  2. Judges 19:1 פִילֶ֔גֶשׁ a concubine

    Now in those days, when there was no king in Israel, a Levite who lived in the remote hill country of Ephraim took for himself a concubine from Bethlehem in Judah.

    Here: This word names her rank: a wife of secondary status. The phrase is literally 'a woman, a concubine', meaning a wife who was a concubine. Later in the story her father is called his father-in-law (19:4).

  3. Judges 19:2 פִּֽילַגְשׁ֔וֹ concubine his

    But she was unfaithful to him and left him to return to her father’s house in Bethlehem in Judah. After she had been there four months,

  4. Judges 19:9 וּפִילַגְשׁ֖וֹ and concubine his

    When the man got up to depart with his concubine and his servant, his father-in-law, the girl’s father, said to him, “Look, the day is drawing to a close. Please spend the night. See, the day is almost over. Spend the night here, that your heart may be merry. Then you can get up early tomorrow for your journey home.”

  5. Judges 19:10 וּפִילַגְשׁ֖וֹ and concubine his

    But the man was unwilling to spend the night. He got up and departed, and arrived opposite Jebus (that is, Jerusalem), with his two saddled donkeys and his concubine.

  6. Judges 19:24 וּפִֽילַגְשֵׁ֗הוּ and concubine his

    Look, let me bring out my virgin daughter and the man’s concubine, and you can use them and do with them as you wish. But do not do such a vile thing to this man.”

  7. Judges 19:25 בְּפִ֣ילַגְשׁ֔וֹ on concubine his

    But the men would not listen to him. So the Levite took his concubine and sent her outside to them, and they raped her and abused her throughout the night, and at dawn they let her go.

  8. Judges 19:27 פִֽילַגְשׁ֗וֹ concubine his

    In the morning, when her master got up and opened the doors of the house to go out on his journey, there was his concubine, collapsed in the doorway of the house, with her hands on the threshold.

  9. Judges 19:29 בְּפִֽילַגְשׁ֔וֹ on concubine his

    When he reached his house, he picked up a knife, took hold of his concubine, cut her limb by limb into twelve pieces, and sent her throughout the territory of Israel.

  10. Judges 20:4 וּפִֽילַגְשִׁ֖י and concubine my

    So the Levite, the husband of the murdered woman, answered: “I and my concubine came to Gibeah in Benjamin to spend the night.

  11. Judges 20:5 פִּילַגְשִׁ֥י concubine my

    And during the night, the men of Gibeah rose up against me and surrounded the house. They intended to kill me, but they abused my concubine, and she died.

  12. Judges 20:6 בְּפִֽילַגְשִׁי֙ on concubine my

    Then I took my concubine, cut her into pieces, and sent her throughout the land of Israel’s inheritance, because they had committed a lewd and disgraceful act in Israel.

2 Samuel · 9

  1. 2 Samuel 3:7 פִּלֶ֔גֶשׁ פִּילֶ֥גֶשׁ a concubine, [the] concubine of

    Now Saul had a concubine named Rizpah, the daughter of Aiah. So Ish-bosheth questioned Abner, “Why did you sleep with my father’s concubine?”

  2. 2 Samuel 5:13 פִּֽלַגְשִׁ֤ים concubines

    After he had arrived from Hebron, David took more concubines and wives from Jerusalem, and more sons and daughters were born to him.

  3. 2 Samuel 15:16 פִּֽלַגְשִׁ֖ים concubines

    Then the king set out, and his entire household followed him. But he left behind ten concubines to take care of the palace.

  4. 2 Samuel 16:21 פִּלַגְשֵׁ֣י [the] concubines of

    Ahithophel replied, “Sleep with your father’s concubines, whom he has left to take care of the palace. When all Israel hears that you have become a stench to your father, then the hands of all who are with you will be strengthened.”

    Here: Secondary wives of the king. They had a recognised legal place in the royal household but lower status than principal wives. These are the ten women David left behind in 15:16.

  5. 2 Samuel 16:22 פִּֽלַגְשֵׁ֣י [the] concubines of

    So they pitched a tent for Absalom on the roof, and he slept with his father’s concubines in the sight of all Israel.

  6. 2 Samuel 19:5 פִּלַגְשֶֽׁיךָ׃ concubines your

    Then Joab went into the house and said to the king, “Today you have disgraced all your servants who have saved your life and the lives of your sons and daughters, of your wives, and of your concubines.

  7. 2 Samuel 20:3 פִּלַגְשִׁ֡ים concubines

    When David returned to his palace in Jerusalem, he took the ten concubines he had left to take care of the palace, and he placed them in a house under guard. He provided for them, but he no longer slept with them. They were confined until the day of their death, living as widows.

  8. 2 Samuel 21:11 פִּלֶ֥גֶשׁ [the] concubine of

    When David was told what Saul’s concubine Rizpah, daughter of Aiah, had done,

1 Kings · 1

  1. 1 Kings 11:3 וּפִֽלַגְשִׁ֖ים and concubines

    He had seven hundred wives of royal birth and three hundred concubines—and his wives turned his heart away.

1 Chronicles · 5

  1. 1 Chronicles 1:32 פִּילֶ֣גֶשׁ [the] concubine of

    The sons born to Keturah, Abraham’s concubine: Zimran, Jokshan, Medan, Midian, Ishbak, and Shuah. The sons of Jokshan: Sheba and Dedan.

  2. 1 Chronicles 2:46 פִּילֶ֣גֶשׁ [the] concubine of

    Caleb’s concubine Ephah was the mother of Haran, Moza, and Gazez. Haran was the father of Gazez.

  3. 1 Chronicles 2:48 פִּלֶ֤גֶשׁ [the] concubine of

    Caleb’s concubine Maacah was the mother of Sheber and Tirhanah.

  4. 1 Chronicles 3:9 פִֽילַגְשִׁ֖ים concubines

    These were all the sons of David, besides the sons by his concubines. And Tamar was their sister.

  5. 1 Chronicles 7:14 פִּֽילַגְשׁוֹ֙ concubine his

    The descendants of Manasseh: Asriel through his Aramean concubine. She also gave birth to Machir the father of Gilead.

2 Chronicles · 2

  1. 2 Chronicles 11:21 וּפִ֣ילַגְשָׁ֔יו וּפִֽילַגְשִׁ֖ים and concubines his, and concubines

    Rehoboam loved Maacah daughter of Absalom more than all his wives and concubines. In all, he had eighteen wives and sixty concubines, and he was the father of twenty-eight sons and sixty daughters.

Esther · 1

  1. Esther 2:14 הַפִּֽילַגְשִׁ֑ים of the concubines

    She would go there in the evening, and in the morning she would return to a second harem under the care of Shaashgaz, the king’s eunuch in charge of the concubines. She would not return to the king unless he delighted in her and summoned her by name.

    Here: "The concubines": women of secondary wife status who belong to the king's household for good. After one night the young woman now counts among them.

Song of Songs · 2

  1. Song of Songs 6:8 פִּֽילַגְשִׁ֑ים concubines

    There are sixty queens and eighty concubines, and maidens without number,

    Here: Secondary wives: women legally attached to the king, but with lower standing than full wives. Probably no full marriage payment, and their children had a weaker claim to inheritance. They are the second rank of the royal household.

  2. Song of Songs 6:9 וּפִֽילַגְשִׁ֖ים and concubines

    but my dove, my perfect one, is unique, the favorite of the mother who bore her. The maidens see her and call her blessed; the queens and concubines sing her praises.

    Here: Secondary wives of the royal household: lawfully attached to the king, but lower in rank than the queens.

Ezekiel · 1

  1. Ezekiel 23:20 פִּֽלַגְשֵׁיהֶ֑ם paramours their

    and lusted after their lovers, whose genitals were like those of donkeys and whose emission was like that of stallions.

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