MOTHER

Like the Hebrew word ʼav (father), the word ʼem (mother) is probably a mimetic word, one of the first lip sounds of a baby. It is used to designate the immediate mother of an individual, possibly a stepmother (Ge 37:10; compare Ge 30:22-24; 35:16-19), and also an ancestress, since Adam’s wife Eve was “the mother of everyone living.” (Ge 3:20; 1Ki 15:10) The Greek word for “mother” is meʹter. In both Hebrew and Greek, the word for mother is used in a number of figurative ways.

Figurative Use. The word “mother” is applied at Judges 5:7 in the sense of a woman who assists and cares for others. Paul referred to his gentleness toward those to whom he brought God’s truth, his spiritual children, as that of “a nursing mother.”​—1Th 2:7; see GENTLENESS.

Because of the close spiritual relationship, Christian women are likened to mothers and sisters of their fellow Christians and are to be treated with the same respect and chastity. (Mr 3:35; 1Ti 5:1, 2) Christian wives who follow the good example of Abraham’s wife Sarah are termed her “children.”​—1Pe 3:6.

Since man’s body was made “out of dust from the ground,” the earth may figuratively be likened to his “mother.” (Ge 2:7; Job 1:21) A city is depicted as a mother, the inhabitants of which are considered her children. In the case of Jerusalem, the city as the seat of government stood for the entire nation, and the people of Israel as individuals were considered her children. (Ga 4:25, 26; Eze 23:4, 25; compare Ps 137:8, 9.) Also, a large city was considered as a mother to her surrounding “dependent towns,” or, literally translated, her “daughters.” (Eze 16:46, 48, 53, 55; see ftn on vs 46.) Babylon the Great, “the great city,” is called “the mother of the harlots and of the disgusting things of the earth.”​—Re 17:5, 18.