By Rabbi Dr. Israel Drazin in Pikesville, Maryland
The Hebrew phrase ezer kenegdo (עֵזֶר כְּנֶגְדּוֹ) appears in the Torah, the Hebrew Bible, in Genesis 2:18 and 20, when the Bible speaks of the creation of Eve, the wife of Adam. The words are not mentioned again. They describe the Torah’s view of the proper relationship between a man and his wife.
Verse 18 depicts God declaring, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an ezer kenegdo.” Verse 20 follows the event of Adam naming the animals and finding no suitable companion; the passage states, “for Adam there was not found an ezer kenegdo.”
Many English Bibles translate the words “help meet” or “helper suitable for him.” This translation demeans the wife’s position in the marriage; she is only a helper. The original Hebrew conveys a more profound sense of strength and equality than these translations suggest.
The Aramaic translation of the Pentateuch renders the words with the Aramaic term semach (“support”).
The 1611 King James Bible is another example of mistranslation. In Genesis 2:18 and 20, God recognizes man’s need for a companion and the subsequent search for one among the animals. It translates verse 18 as “And the Lord God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him.” It renders verse 20 as “And Adam gave names to all cattle, and to the fowl of the air, and to every beast of the field; but for Adam there was not found an help meet for him.”
But it these are improper translations.
The word ezer appears 21 times in the Hebrew Bible. It is not a term for a subordinate assistant; instead, 16 of its occurrences refer to God as the helper of humanity (e.g., Psalm 121:1-2). Scholars often translate it as “strong help,” “protector,” “lifesaver,” or “warrior.”
The term kenegdo means “in front of him,” “opposite him,” or “corresponding to him.” It suggests someone who is a “mirror image”—identical in essentials but distinct in being. The combined two-word phrase implies that the woman was created as a powerful ally and equal partner.
The Greek Septuagint translation of the Hebrew, translated in the 3rd century BCE, uses two Greek phrases to capture the meaning of the Hebrew ezer kenegdo. In Genesis 2:18, it translates the phrase as boēthon kat’auton (“a vital help corresponding to him.”) The word boēthos signifies a “rescuer” or “strong help,” maintaining the strength of the original Hebrew ezer. It translates Genesis 2:20 as boēthos homoios autō (“a vital help similar to him.”)
The use of homoios (similar) highlights the woman’s nature as being of the same as the man, rather than a different or lesser being.
The 4th-century Latin Vulgate, translated by St. Jerome, is identical: Genesis 2:18 uses adiutorium similem sui (“a help similar to him.”) Genesis 2:20 uses adiutor similis eius (“a helper similar to him.”)
We need to recognize that the Bible was given to the Israelites, who were only recently freed from slavery and who had absorbed many false notions, such as the need to show love to God by offering sacrifices to Him and that people should be punished “an eye for an eye,” rather than monetary compensation. The Bible could not immediately remove these ideas but gave multiple hints on how they must be changed. The ancient notion of women being inferior creations is one of them. The concept of ezer kenegdo strongly suggests that this is wrong.
Today, half of marriages end in divorce, and most of the couples in the second half are not fully satisfied with their lives.
The problem is their failure to live a life of ezer kenegdo, equal partnership, with no hidden secrets between them and total trust in each other, love and friendship being insufficient.
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Rabbi Dr. Israel Drazin is a retired brigadier general in the U.S. Army Chaplain Corps. He is also the author of 67 books.