The Hebrew word beten (בֶּטֶן) means belly, womb, or the innermost part of a person. Appearing approximately 72 times in the Old Testament, it spans a remarkable range of meaning: the literal belly or stomach, the maternal womb, and the inner self or deepest being. This semantic range reflects the Hebrew view of the body as wholly integrated — the physical belly, the generative womb, and the emotional/spiritual core are all expressed by one word.
Beten is central to theology of personhood and calling. God forms and knows individuals "in the womb" (Psalm 139:13; Jeremiah 1:5), establishing that divine purposes are set before birth. The prophet Jeremiah was appointed as a prophet "before you were formed in the womb" (beten). Jonah prayed from the belly of the great fish (Jonah 2:2), a radical image of being in the depths — the beten of Sheol. Jesus referenced Jonah's three days in the fish's belly as a sign of His own resurrection (Matthew 12:40). The womb theology of Scripture undergirds the sanctity of human life from its earliest moments.