Court of the Women

The Court of the Women (Hebrew: עזרת הנשים Ezrat HaNashim or עזרת נשים‎ Ezrat Nashim) was the outer forecourt of the Temples in Jerusalem into which women were permitted to enter.^[1] The court was also known as the "middle court", as it stood between the Court of the Gentiles and the Court of Israel, i.e. the Court of the Men.^[2] The Women's Court existed in the Second Temple, and there are sources which say it existed even in the Tabernacle at Shiloh and in the First Temple. Second Chronicles 20:5 states that King Jehoshaphat stood "... in the house of the Lord before the new court." a court identified by the Talmud as the Court of the Women. In contemporary synagogues, this term is used for the area allocated to women for the purpose of prayer.

^ Watson E. Mills, general editor (1990) Mercer Dictionary of the Bible. Macon, Georgia: Mercer University Press; p. 880 "An inner court, raised and enclosed by a stone partition three cubits high led to the Court of the Women and the Court of Israel. ... They would enter the Court of the Women. Men might enter the inner court from any of the nine gates."
^ C. K. Barrett A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Acts of the Apostles 2 vols. Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 1994-1998; p. 179 "This passage unfortunately is by no means clear; the gate in question may be 'the gate between the court of the Gentiles and the court of the women or between the court of the women and the court of the men' (Lake, Begs. 5.483). " Citation=The Beginnings of Christianity; edited by F. J. Foakes Jackson and Kirsopp Lake. Part 1, the Acts of the Apostles.

[1] Watson E. Mills, general editor (1990) Mercer Dictionary of the Bible. Macon, Georgia: Mercer University Press; p. 880 "An inner court, raised and enclosed by a stone partition three cubits high led to the Court of the Women and the Court of Israel. ... They would enter the Court of the Women. Men might enter the inner court from any of the nine gates."

[2] C. K. Barrett A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Acts of the Apostles 2 vols. Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 1994-1998; p. 179 "This passage unfortunately is by no means clear; the gate in question may be 'the gate between the court of the Gentiles and the court of the women or between the court of the women and the court of the men' (Lake, Begs. 5.483). " Citation=The Beginnings of Christianity; edited by F. J. Foakes Jackson and Kirsopp Lake. Part 1, the Acts of the Apostles.

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