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On the noun אִשָּׁה in 2 Samuel 20:16

וַתִּקְרָ֛א אִשָּׁ֥ה חֲכָמָ֖ה מִן־הָעִ֑יר שִׁמְע֤וּ שִׁמְעוּ֙ אִמְרוּ־נָ֣א אֶל־יוֹאָ֔ב קְרַ֣ב עַד־הֵ֔נָּה וַאֲדַבְּרָ֖ה אֵלֶֽיךָ׃

when a woman who was wise shouted from the city, “Listen! Listen! Tell Joab to come over here so I can talk to him.”

(The above rendering comes from the RJPS translation, an adaptation of the NJPS translation. Before accounting for this rendering, I will analyze the plain sense of the אִישׁ term—which in this case is its feminine form אִשָּׁה—by employing a situation-oriented construal as outlined in “Notes on Gender in Translation,” pp. 11–16.)


On the plain-sense meaning of the referring expression אִשָּׁה חֲכָמָה—and what it does not mean—see my comment at 14:2.


As for rendering into English, on the reason for departing from the NJPS ‘clever woman’ and the choice of the revised rendering, see my comment at 14:2.

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