Almah ( ‘almā, plural: ‘ălāmōṯ), from a root implying the vigour of puberty, is a Hebrew word meaning a young woman ripe for marriage; despite its importance to the account of the virgin birth of Jesus in the Gospel of Matthew, scholars agree that it refers to a woman of childbearing age and has nothing to do with virginity. It occurs nine times in the Hebrew Bible. Etymology and social context Almah derives from a root meaning "to be full of vigour, to have reached puberty". In the ancient Near East girls received value as potential wives and bearers of children: "A wife, who came into her husband's household as an outsider, contributed her labor and her fertility ... [h]er task was to build up the bet 'ab by bearing children, particularly sons" (Leeb, 2002). Scholars thus agree that almah refers to a woman of childbearing age without implying virginity. From the same root, the corresponding masculine word elem עֶלֶם 'young man' also appears in the Bible, as does alum (used in plural עֲלוּמִים) used in the sense '(vigor of) adolescence', in addition to the post-Biblical words almut (עַלְמוּת) and alimut (עֲלִימוּת) both used for youthfulness and its strength (distinct from post-Biblical Alimut אַלִּימוּת 'violence' with initial Aleph, although Klein's Dictionary states this latter root is likely a semantic derivation of the former, from 'strength of youth' to 'violence'). The Hebrew Bible uses an unrelated word, betulah (‏בְּתוּלָה), to refer to a virgin, as well as the idea of virginity, betulim (‏בְּתוּלִים). Biblical usage The word almah occurs nine times in the Hebrew Bible: A servant of Abraham tells his master how he met Rebecca. He prayed to the Lord that if an almah came to the well and he requested a drink of water from her, that should she then provide him with that drink and also water his camels; he would take that as a sign that she was to be the wife of Isaac. Miriam, an almah, is entrusted to watch the baby Moses; she takes thoughtful action to reunite the baby with his mother by offering to bring the baby to a Hebrew nurse maid (her mother). In 1 Chronicles 15:20 and the heading to Psalm 46, the psalm is to be played "on alamot". The musical meaning of this phrase has become lost with time: it may mean a feminine manner of singing or playing,