Daughter

Hawker's Poor Man's Concordance And Dictionary

I should not think it necessary to offer any observation upon this name, if considered in natural alliances only. But there is a great sweetness in it, when read in Scripture in allusion to the church. It is very blessed to perceive, that as the Lord Jesus fills all relations to his church, and is, in one and the same moment, her everlasting Father, her Husband, and Brother, and Friend, so the church is to Jesus, his daughter, his sister, his spouse, his beloved, his fair-one, and the only one of her mother. ( Psalms 45:9-10;  Song of Song of Solomon 6:9) How frequently do we find the Lord speaking of his church under the endeared character of daughter. "For the hurt of the daughter of my people, I am hurt." ( Jeremiah 8:21) "Tell ye the daughter of Zion, Behold, thy King cometh unto thee!"  Zechariah 9:9 with  Matthew 21:5

Fausset's Bible Dictionary

Daughter used also for granddaughter, or female descendant ( Genesis 31:43;  Genesis 27:46). "Daughter of Zion," "daughter of Jerusalem" ( Isaiah 37:22); i.e., Zion or Jerusalem and her inhabitants, personified poetically as an abstract collective feminine. Hengstenberg takes "daughter of Zion" or Zion, "daughter of Jerusalem" or Jerasalem (compare  Psalms 9:14). "Daughters of music," ( Ecclesiastes 12:4): songs and instrumental performances sound low to the old ( 2 Samuel 19:35); otherwise the voice and ear, the organs which produce and enjoy music. Analogy favors the former view. As the principal city is termed "mother," so its dependent villages are called "daughter towns" ( Joshua 15:45, Hebrew).

Wilson's Dictionary of Bible Types

 Isaiah 10:32 (b) This term is used to represent the Jewish people, particularly those of Jerusalem. The word is also used to describe the descendants or the adherents of other nations. (See also  Judges 11:40;  Psalm 48:11;  Ezekiel 16:57, etc).

 2 Corinthians 6:18 (b) This term is applied to those women who are GOD's children who live and work as their Father desires them to do. They are not only related to the Father because of salvation, but they resemble their Father in their life of separation.

 1 Peter 3:6 (b) This name is given to the descendants of Abraham who enjoyed the faith of Abraham, and practiced it. (See also  Luke 13:16).

Smith's Bible Dictionary

Daughter. The word is used, in Scripture, not only for daughter, but for granddaughter or other female descendant.  Genesis 24:48. It is used of the female inhabitants of a place or country,  Genesis 6:2;  Luke 23:28, and of cities in general,  Isaiah 10:32;  Isaiah 23:12, but more specifically, of dependent towns or hamlets, while to the principal city, the correlative "mother" is applied.  Numbers 21:25. "Daughters of music," that is, singing birds,  Ecclesiastes 12:4, refers to the power of making and enjoying music.

Easton's Bible Dictionary

The "daughters of music" ( Ecclesiastes 12:4 ) are singing women.

Copyright Statement These dictionary topics are from M.G. Easton M.A., DD Illustrated Bible Dictionary, Third Edition, published by Thomas Nelson, 1897. Public Domain.

Bibliography Information Easton, Matthew George. Entry for 'Daughter'. Easton's Bible Dictionary. https://www.studylight.org/dictionaries/eng/ebd/d/daughter.html. 1897.

Morrish Bible Dictionary

Besides the ordinary meaning of this word it is used also for grand-daughter or female descendant in general,  Luke 1:5; also as belonging to a race or country, or to Zion or Israel,  Genesis 27:46;  Numbers 25:1;  2 Kings 19:21;  Luke 23:28 . The term is also applied to towns and villages associated with some city, as may be seen in the margin of  Numbers 21:25 .

Webster's Dictionary

(1): ( n.) A term of address indicating parental interest.

(2): ( n.) A son's wife; a daughter-in-law.

(3): ( n.) A female descendant; a woman.

(4): ( n.) The female offspring of the human species; a female child of any age; - applied also to the lower animals.

Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible

Daughter . See Family.

King James Dictionary

DAUGHTER, n,

Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament

See Family.

Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature

( בִּת , bath, for בֶּנֶת , fem. of בֵּן , son; Θυγατήρ ), a word used in Scripture in a variety of senses, some of which are unknown to our own language, or have only become known through familiarity with scriptural forms of speech. (See Ben)-. Besides its usual and proper sense of

(1.)' a daughter, born or adopted, we find it used to designate

(2.) a Uterine sister, niece, or any female descendant ( Genesis 20:12;  Genesis 24:48;  Genesis 28:6;  Genesis 36:2;  Numbers 25:1;  Deuteronomy 23:17).

(3.) Women, as natives, residents, or professing the religion of certain places, as "the daughter of Zion" ( Isaiah 3:16); "daughters of the Philistines" ( 2 Samuel 1:20); "daughter of a strange god" ( Malachi 2:11); daughters of men," i.e. carnal women ( Genesis 6:2), etc.

(4.) Metaphorically small towns are called daughters of neighboring large cities — metropoles, or mother cities — to which they belonged or from which they were derived, as "Heshbon and all the daughters [ Auth. Vers. Villages ] thereof" ( Numbers 21:25); so Tyre is called the daughter of Sidon ( Isaiah 22:12), as having been originally a colony from thence; and hence also the town of Abel is called "a mother in Israel" ( 2 Samuel 20:19); and Gath is in one place (comp.  2 Samuel 7:1;  1 Chronicles 18:1) called Gath- Ammah, or Gath the mother town, metropolis, to distinguish it from its own dependencies, or from another place called Gath. (See Village). Comp. other instances in  Numbers 21:32;  Judges 11:26;  Joshua 15:45, etc.

(5.) The people collectively of any place, the name of which is given, as "the daughter (i.e. the people) of Jerusalem hath shaken her head at thee" ( Isaiah 37:22; see also  Psalms 45:13;  Psalms 137:8;  Isaiah 10:30;  Jeremiah 46:19;  Lamentations 4:22;  Zechariah 9:9). This metaphor is illustrated by the almost universal custom of representing towns under the figure of a woman.

(6.) The word "daughter," followed by a numeral, indicates a woman of the age indicated by the numeral, as when Sarah (in the original) is called "the daughter of ninety years" ( Genesis 17:17).

(7.) The word "daughter" is also applied to the produce of animals, trees, or plants. Thus, "daughter of the she-ostrich," (supposed) for "female ostrich" ( Leviticus 11:16); Joseph is called "a fruitful bough whose daughters (branches) run over the wall" ( Genesis 49:22). See further in Gesenius and Furst, s.v. בת .

The condition of daughters, that is, of young women, in the East, their employments, duties, etc., may be gathered from various parts of Scripture, and seems to have borne but little resemblance to that of young women of respectable parentage among ourselves. Rebekah drew and fetched water; Rachel kept sheep, as did the daughters of Jethro, though he was a priest, or a prince, of Midian. They superintended and performed domestic services for the family; Tamar, though a king's daughter, baked bread; and the same of others. We have the same occupations for the daughters of princes in the ancient poets, of which Homer is an unquestionable evidence. (See Child); (See Education); (See Woman); (See Marriage). The original terms rendered "daughter-in-law" are in the Hebrews כִּלָּה Kallah ; Sept. and New Test. Νύμφη , both literally meaning a bride (as elsewhere rendered), and applied to a son's wife.

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

dô´tẽr ( בּת , bath  ; θυγάτηρ , thugátēr ): Used in Scriptures in several more or less distinct senses: ( a ) for daughter in the ordinary, literal sense ( Genesis 46:25;  Exodus 1:16 ); ( b ) daughter-in-law (Rth 2:2); ( c ) grand-daughter or other female descendant (Ex 21;  Luke 1:5;  Luke 13:16 ); ( d ) The women of a country, or of a place, taken collectively ( Luke 23:28 ), of a particular religion ( Malachi 2:11 ); ( e ) all the population of a place, taken collectively, especially in Prophets and poetic books ( Psalm 9:14;  Isaiah 23:10;  Jeremiah 46:24;  Matthew 21:5 ); ( f ) used in familiar address, "Daughter, be of good comfort" ( Matthew 9:22 the King James Version;   Mark 5:34;  Luke 8:48 ); ( g ) women in general ( Proverbs 31:29 ); ( h ) The personification of towns or cities, as of the female sex ( Isaiah 47:1;  Ezekiel 16:44 ,  Ezekiel 16:46; compare  Nahum 3:4 ,  Nahum 3:7 ), especially of dependent towns and villages ( Psalm 48:11;  Numbers 21:25 margin;   Judges 1:27 margin); ( i ) in Hebrew idiom for person or thing belonging to or having the characteristics of that with which it is joined, as "daughter of ninety years," of Sarah, ninety years old ( Genesis 17:17 ); "daughters of music," singing birds, or singing women ( Ecclesiastes 12:4 ); daughters of a tree, i.e. branches; daughter of the eye, i.e. the pupil.

Daughters were not so highly prized as sons, not being usually mentioned by name. A father might sometimes sell his daughter as bondwoman ( Exodus 21:7 ); though not to a foreigner ( Exodus 21:8 ); daughters might sometimes inherit as did sons, but could not take the inheritance outside of the tribe ( Numbers 36:1-12 ).

Kitto's Popular Cyclopedia of Biblial Literature

In the Scriptures the word daughter is used in a variety of senses, some of which are unknown to our own language, or have only become known through familiarity with Scriptural forms of speech. Besides its usual and proper sense of—

A daughter sent or adopted, we find it used to designate.

A uterine sister, niece, or any female descendant (;;;;; ).

Women, as natives, residents, or professing the religion of certain places, as 'the daughter of Zion' 'daughters of the Philistines' 'daughter of a strange God' .

Metaphorically, small towns are called daughters of neighboring large cities, to which they belonged, or from which they were derived, as 'Heshbon and all the daughters [Auth. Vers. ] thereof' so Tyre is called the daughter of Sidon , as having been originally a colony from thence; and hence also the town of Abel is called 'a mother in Israel' and Gath is in one place (comp.; ) called Gath-Ammah, or Gath the mother town, to distinguish it from its own dependencies, or from another place called Gath. See other instances in;; , etc.

The people collectively of any place, the name of which is given; as 'the daughter (i.e. the people) of Jerusalem hath shaken her head at thee' (; see also;;;;; ).

Respecting the condition of daughters in families, see articles Woman and Marriage.