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Insight

Does the Bible refer to God as feminine?

By Hershel Shanks

Most good Bible teachers have a secret satchel of especially enticing insights that liven up a class and engage students. We want to present one of these little gems in Insight in each issue of BR. We hope this new department will surprise, teach and entertain—and thereby compel your interest. We invite submissions, from scholars and lay readers alike. In at least one instance in the Hebrew Bible, God is referred to as feminine. This is not apparent in English translations because “you” is neither masculine nor feminine. However, many other languages, including Hebrew, use masculine and feminine forms […]

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Endnotes

1.

Avrohom Davis, ed., The Metsudah Chumash/Rashi, vol. 4, BaMidbar (Book of Numbers) (Hoboken, NJ: Ktav, 1996), p. 144.

2.

See Joseph M. Baumgarten et al., Qumran Cave 4, XIII: The Damascus Document (4Q266-273), Discoveries in the Judaean Desert 18 (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1996), p. 76, pl. 14.

3.

The same phrase, “You, O my God,” appears frequently in this scroll, but with the heh. Of course the difference could be attributed to a simple scribal error, or it could, possibly, be purposeful.