be.tu.lah denotes a female identified as a virgin, whether an individual woman or a poetic designation for a city or people.

The term most often identifies individual women as virgins, including women in marriage, legal, royal, and family settings. In a substantial group of construct forms, it is joined to “daughter” and used poetically for Zion, Israel, Judah, Babylon, Sidon, or Egypt.

1. Virgin women in social and legal settings · dominant

   The singular and plural forms identify women in settings involving sexual status, marriage, family, or public gathering. In Genesis 24:16 the APB renders a maiden as “a virgin whom no man had known”; Deuteronomy 22:23 and Deuteronomy 22:28 place such a woman within laws about betrothal and sexual relations, while Esther 2:2 describes young women sought for the king.

   Genesis 24:16Deuteronomy 22:23Deuteronomy 22:28Esther 2:2Leviticus 21:14Judges 21:12
2. Poetic “virgin daughter” for a people or city · common

   Construct singular forms occur in the repeated expression rendered “virgin daughter,” followed by a place or collective designation. In Isaiah 37:22 the APB renders “the virgin daughter of Zion” as mocking an opponent, while Jeremiah 14:17 describes “the virgin daughter of my people” as shattered; Jeremiah 46:11 addresses “virgin daughter of Egypt.”

   Isaiah 37:22Jeremiah 14:17Jeremiah 31:4Jeremiah 46:11Lamentations 1:15Amos 5:2

In the Anselm Project Bible: Across the clearest individual and poetic examples, the APB commonly uses “virgin,” including “virgin daughter” for collective or city imagery. In some plural contexts it uses broader wording such as “young women,” so the translation does not consistently isolate the term with one English expression.