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Rebekah

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

The biblical matriarch, wife of Isaac and mother of Jacob and Esau, known for her cunning and favoritism.

Detailed Definition
Rebekah secured Jacob’s blessing through deception, favoring him over Esau. Her initiative shaped covenant history. In poetry, Rebekah symbolizes maternal cunning, the burden of election, and the complex agency of women in patriarchal narratives.
Example
Example in poetry:
In Genesis 24–27, Rebekah’s agency inspires poetry about active participation in God’s plan; Feminist midrashic verse honors Rebekah as woman who shaped covenant destiny; Contemporary poems explore Rebekah’s deception for Jacob as complex maternal love; In poems about choice, Rebekah leaves home with “I will go”; Some liturgical laments honor Rebekah as matriarch whose actions secured blessing; Educational poems cite Rebekah to teach about discernment and risk.
Additional Notes
Rebekah, Isaac’s wife, secures Jacob’s blessing through deception (Genesis 27); her active role contrasts with passive matriarchs, raising questions about divine election and maternal agency; her story offers rich material for poems on cunning, destiny, and the moral ambiguity of chosenness.
Also Known As
Rebekah wife of Isaac Rebecca
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