Definition · Webster 1828 · Scriptures · Corruption · Roots · Usage · Related
📖 Biblical Definition
Jemima is the first of three named daughters born to Job after the LORD restored his fortunes at the end of his great trial (Job 42:12-17). The three sisters were JEMIMAH ("dove" or "day-bright"), KEZIAH ("cassia," a spice), and KEREN-HAPPUCH ("horn of antimony," a cosmetic). Job 42:15 famously adds: "And in all the land were no women found so fair as the daughters of Job: and their father gave them inheritance among their brethren" — an unusually generous patriarchal arrangement that gave Job's daughters inheritance alongside his sons. The naming is theologically rich. Job's first daughters (mentioned in chapter 1) had died in the great trial; Jemima, Keziah, and Keren-Happuch were the daughters of restoration. Their names — DOVE, CASSIA-SPICE, BEAUTY-COSMETIC — all evoke loveliness and fragrance, in contrast to the boils and ashes Job's body had borne. The restoration after suffering is more beautiful than the original. The name Jemima also became famously commercialized in early-20th-century America (Aunt Jemima pancakes) in ways that the original biblical name should not be confused with. The biblical Jemima is the dove-named daughter of a man who suffered and was restored.
📜 Webster 1828 Definition
Hebrew "dove" or "day-bright"; the first of Job's three restored daughters (Job 42:14); a name of beauty after suffering.
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JEMIMA, proper noun. Hebrew Yemimah (H3224) — "dove" or possibly "day-bright."
First of the three daughters born to Job after his trial (Job 42:14). Her sisters were Keziah (cassia-spice) and Keren-Happuch (horn of antimony, a cosmetic). All three received inheritance with their brothers (Job 42:15).
📖 Key Scripture
Job 42:13-15 — "He had also seven sons and three daughters. And he called the name of the first, Jemima; and the name of the second, Kezia; and the name of the third, Keren-happuch. And in all the land were no women found so fair as the daughters of Job: and their father gave them inheritance among their brethren."
Job 42:10 — "And the LORD turned the captivity of Job, when he prayed for his friends: also the LORD gave Job twice as much as he had before."
Genesis 8:11 — "And the dove came in to him in the evening; and, lo, in her mouth was an olive leaf pluckt off: so Noah knew that the waters were abated from off the earth."
Song of Solomon 6:9 — "My dove, my undefiled is but one; she is the only one of her mother, she is the choice one of her that bare her."
⚠️ Modern Corruption
Jemima is corrupted when her biblical context (Job's restoration daughters, given inheritance with their brothers) is lost behind the 20th-century American advertising stereotype (Aunt Jemima pancakes), which has no connection to the canonical figure.
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Aunt Jemima confusion. The biblical Jemima has nothing to do with the racist pancake-advertising stereotype that ran from 1889 to 2021 in American grocery stores. The advertising character was a fictional black mammy figure based on minstrel-show tropes; the biblical Jemima is a Hebrew woman named DOVE who received inheritance with her brothers in the patriarch Job's restored household. The names share spelling only; modern parents naming a daughter Jemima should know the biblical context and not let advertising shadows interfere.
Inheritance-detail overlooked. Job 42:15 makes a striking statement: Job gave his daughters INHERITANCE ALONG WITH HIS SONS. In ancient Near Eastern patriarchy this was rare; daughters usually received dowries but not full inheritance. Job's restoration-household departed from the cultural norm: his three beautiful daughters received what most patriarchs reserved for sons. The Bible does not condemn primogeniture but it preserves this Job-pattern as one of its many quiet windows into God-honored female dignity.
🔗 Greek & Hebrew Roots
Hebrew Yemimah (H3224) — "dove" or "day-bright"; first of Job's three restored daughters.
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Hebrew Yemimah (H3224) — "dove" or possibly "day-bright"
Appears only at Job 42:14 — first of Job's three restored daughters
Sister of Keziah (cassia-spice) and Keren-Happuch (cosmetic horn)
Received inheritance with her brothers (Job 42:15), a striking departure from typical patriarchal practice
Usage
"Jemima — Job's restored dove-daughter, born after suffering, given inheritance with her brothers."
"The advertising stereotype is a 20th-century fiction; the biblical Jemima is a Hebrew woman of dignity."
"In all the land were no women found so fair as the daughters of Job — beauty after suffering."