Word Research
What is Woman?
Although the Bible uses the word “Woman” to describe particular individuals, on this page we will look at “Woman” as it relates metaphorically. Numerous verses define Christ (male/groom) and his church (woman/bride.) and this serves as a key to understanding several prophecies where words such as woman, whore, her seed, or bride are used. Examples below:
Ephesians 5:25: – “Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it;
We see the correlation between husband/wife and Christ/Church.
Ephesians 5:31-32: – “For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh. This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the church.”
The great mystery helps us unlock many Bible prophecies when understood.
2 Corinthians 11:2: “For I am jealous over you with godly jealousy: for I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ.”
Again we see that the true believers in Christ are depicted as a bride. The virginity would be attributed to keeping the pure faith in Christ. When Christians partake in things such as Christmas and Easter celebrations, Sunday worship and many others, they are sleeping with another god/man. Mixing pagan or other practices into the Christian faith that is not found in the Bible is a huge cause for concern and we should root out these false practices and realign to the truth found only within the Bible.
Revelation 19:7-9: “Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready. And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints. And he saith unto me, Write, Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb. And he saith unto me, These are the true sayings of God.”
Again the followers of Christ are depicted as a bride. This time with clean, white linen which represents the righteousness of Christ covering his people at the end of this earth age.
Revelation 21:2: “And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.”
After the millennium we see the new Jerusalem portrayed in the same prophetic sense as woman/bride.
Revelation 21:9: “And there came unto me one of the seven angels which had the seven vials full of the seven last plagues, and talked with me, saying, Come hither, I will shew thee the bride, the Lamb’s wife.”
Much like the word bride is used to depict the true church of Christ, so also the word “lamb” is used to depict Christ who became our lamb of sacrifice for the forgiveness of our sins.
In English
Woman
In Hebrew
אִשָּׁה (ishah)
In Greek
γυναίκα
Word Count
The term “woman” appears 360 times in the King James Version (KJV) of the Bible.
Woman Explained
When reading the Bible it is important to distinguish between woman/she/proustite the individual and woman/bride/her/whore the church system. In the Bible, you will read of the virgin bride of Christ and also of the great whore Babylon. In both cases, the church systems profess to be brides of Christ however in the case of the whore, she has slept around with other gods and partaken in their traditions and practices. Below are a few examples of scripture speaking of whores in the religious sense.
Leviticus 21:9: “And the daughter of any priest, if she profane herself by playing the whore, she profaneth her father: she shall be burnt with fire.”
This verse speaks of a literal command but also offers a peek into the outcome of the false church system at the end time. Having profaned Jesus our priest, she will meet her demise in the lake of fire at the end of time.
Jeremiah 3:2: “Lift up thine eyes unto the high places, and see where thou hast not been lien with. In the ways hast thou sat for them, as the Arabian in the wilderness; and thou hast polluted the land with thy whoredoms and with thy wickedness.”
Here we see Israel also being accused of whoredoms and wickedness against God the Father. The Christian church is spiritual Israel and has many of the same problems you will read about in the time of physical Israel of the Old Testament.
Revelation 17:1: “And there came one of the seven angels which had the seven vials, and talked with me, saying unto me, Come hither; I will shew unto thee the judgment of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters:”
Revelation 17:15-16: “And he saith unto me, The waters which thou sawest, where the whore sitteth, are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues. And the ten horns which thou sawest upon the beast, these shall hate the whore, and shall make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh, and burn her with fire.”
Here again Revelation 17:1 introduces a vision where John is invited to witness the judgment of a symbolic figure known as the “great whore,” representing widespread spiritual corruption and idolatry found within this church system orifessing to be the bride of Christ.
This entity, also having significant influence over many nations and peoples, will face divine judgment and destruction as part of the broader narrative of Revelation’s depiction of the end times and God’s ultimate victory over evil.
Note: Revelation 17:15 offers us the key into what “waters” are in Bible prophecy also. Although defined elsewhere, the horns are particular nations or kingdoms.