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Rachel

Biblical
Pronunciation

Understanding ARPABET Pronunciation

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The pronunciation guide uses the ARPABET phonetic system—the same system used in speech recognition and text-to-speech applications.

Vowel Examples:
AE1 = cat, bat
EH1 = bed, head
IY1 = see, me
OW1 = go, boat
UW1 = boot, do
Stress Numbers:
0 = no stress (unstressed)
1 = primary stress (loud)
2 = secondary stress (medium)
Example:
AH0 TH IY1 N AH0
= a-THEE-na (Athena)

The stressed syllable (marked with 1) is pronounced louder and clearer than others.

Quick Definition

Biblical matriarch, Jacob’s favored wife, and mother of Joseph and Benjamin; her story embodies love, longing, and tragic early death.

Detailed Definition
Rachel died giving birth to Benjamin; her tomb is a pilgrimage site. Her beauty and barrenness shaped her story. In poetry, Rachel symbolizes passionate love, maternal sorrow, and the enduring image of weeping for exiled children (Jeremiah 31).
Example
Example in poetry:
In Genesis 29–35, Rachel’s story inspires poetry about love, barrenness, and legacy; William Wordsworth alludes to Rachel’s weeping in “Ode: Intimations of Immortality”; Feminist poetry honors Rachel as passionate woman who stole household gods; Contemporary poems explore Rachel’s tomb as site of maternal lament (Jeremiah 31:15); In poems about longing, Rachel’s cry for children echoes through generations; Educational poems cite Rachel to teach about matriarchs and covenant.
Additional Notes
Rachel, Jacob’s beloved wife, dies giving birth to Benjamin; her tomb is a site of pilgrimage and lament (Jeremiah 31:15); her story embodies romantic love, maternal sacrifice, and enduring grief—making her a powerful figure in poems on desire, loss, and generational sorrow.
Also Known As
Rachel daughter of Laban Rachel wife of Jacob
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