גְרֻשָׁה
𐤂𐤓𐤔𐤄
gᵉrushâh
H1646 noun
SILEX Entry
Definition
A woman who has been driven away or divorced; specifically refers to a female who has been lawfully separated from her husband by a legal act of divorce. The term denotes the status of a woman who is no longer married due to forceful expulsion from the marriage, typically through a bill of divorce (sefer keritut). In legal and social contexts, it distinguishes her from a widow or an unmarried woman.
Semantic Range
divorced woman, woman who has been driven away, woman separated by legal divorce, status of legal separation (female); sometimes abstractly as the act or condition of being divorced
Root / Etymology
The term גְרֻשָׁה (gᵉrushâh) is the feminine passive participle formation from the root גָּרַשׁ (garash), meaning 'to drive out, expel, banish.' The root denotes an act of forceful removal or separation. The form גְרֻשָׁה thus literally means 'one who has been expelled (female),' and in this context, specifically, 'a (woman) who has been divorced.'
Historical & Contextual Notes
In the Hebrew Bible, גְרֻשָׁה refers exclusively to a woman who has been divorced from her husband, particularly in legal passages regulating Israelite marriage and priestly conduct (e.g., Leviticus 21:7, Leviticus 21:14). The status of the גְרֻשָׁה is distinct from the widow (אַלְמָנָה) or virgin (בְּתוּלָה). The word is used primarily in post-Sinaitic legal contexts, notably in the Torah's priestly regulations, which restrict the marriage eligibility of priests to גְרֻשָׁה. In later Hebrew (post-biblical), גְרֻשָׁה continued as the regular term for a divorced woman. The English terms 'divorced woman' or 'divorcee' generally capture the primary meaning, but may not convey the sense of forced removal inherent in the root or the specific legal implications within ancient Israelite society. Unlike later terminology (such as the English 'ex-wife'), גְרֻשָׁה carries social, legal, and purity connotations distinctive to ancient law.
Original Strong's Gloss (1890)
feminine passive participle of גָּרַשׁ; (abstractly) dispossession; exaction.
Bantu Hebrew
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+ Add Bantu Hebrew WordRoot Family
גרשׁ (g-r-sh) — drive out, expel, banish, divorce
| Strong's | Lemma | SIBI-P1 |
|---|---|---|
| H1645 | גֶּרֶשׁ | yield of |
Word Forms
1 distinct form
| SIDANCE | Surface | Transliteration | Morphology | Common | SIBI-P1 | Occurrences |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
H1646-01 |
גְרֻשֹֽׁתֵי/כֶם֙ | gerushoteykhem | HNcfpc/Sp2mp |
your-exactions | your divorced-women | 1 |
Occurrences in Scripture
1 total occurrence
| SIDANCE | Reference | Word | Transliteration | Morphology | Common | SIBI-P1 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
H1646-01 |
Ezekiel 45:9 | גְרֻשֹֽׁתֵי/כֶם֙ | gerushoteykhem | HNcfpc/Sp2mp |
your-exactions | your divorced-women |