שִׁפְחָה

From the study of Ruth 2:13

Range of meaning

A female slave or servant, usually the lowest-ranking woman in a household, often a personal maid (Hagar, Zilpah, Bilhah). In polite speech a woman could call herself 'your shifchah' to mean 'I' when addressing a superior.

Against the English

'Maidservant' or 'handmaid' keeps the female, low-status sense. WEB and NIV's 'servant' and NLT's 'workers' lose both. BSB uses two different English words ('maidservant' and 'servant girls') for one Hebrew word, which hides the wordplay.

Used elsewhere in the period

Gen 16:1 (Hagar); 1 Sam 1:18 (Hannah's self-designation); 1 Sam 25:27, 41 and 2 Sam 14:6 (polite self-reference). In Ruth 3:9 Ruth instead calls herself Boaz's 'amah, another word for female servant. A. Jepsen (1958) argued that 'amah meant a servant with more standing, one who could become a wife or concubine. Others point out that Abigail uses both words interchangeably (1 Sam 25:24–41), so the difference may be small.

From the study of Genesis 16:2

Range of meaning

A female slave, usually the personal servant of a woman. She is attached to her mistress and was often given as part of a bride's dowry (Zilpah to Leah, Bilhah to Rachel: Gen 29:24, 29). She is property. Her body and labour are at her owner's disposal, including, as here, for bearing children.

Against the English

"Maid" (KJV), "maidservant" (BSB) and "servant" (WEB, ESV, NLT) can suggest a hired domestic worker. "Slave" (NIV) is closer to her legal status. "Handmaid" (YLT) is archaic and sounds almost dignified.

How it drifted

English "maid" and "servant" came to mean employees with wages and the freedom to leave. Hagar had neither. Pious and literary use of "handmaid" softened the term further.

Used elsewhere in the period

Genesis also uses the other word for a slave woman, ʾamah, for Hagar (21:10–13), and the two overlap. Some scholars (e.g. A. Jepsen) proposed that shifchah was the lower-status term, but usage is not consistent. In ancient Near Eastern law, the slave woman a wife gave to her husband stayed under the wife's authority (Code of Hammurabi §146).

From the study of Genesis 24:35

Range of meaning

A female slave or maidservant, usually attached to a woman of the household and under her authority. She could be given as a surrogate mother (Hagar, Bilhah, Zilpah) or as part of a bride's dowry (24:61; 29:24, 29).

Against the English

'Maidservants' (KJV, BSB) or 'female servants' (WEB) suggests hired help. The Hebrew describes an owned dependent woman.

How it drifted

As with eved, the older English word has softened over time.

Used elsewhere in the period

Hagar is Sarah's shiphchah (16:1); Laban gives Leah and Rachel a shiphchah each at their weddings (29:24, 29). The same pairing 'male and female slaves' appears in the formula lists of 12:16 and 30:43.