וַיְהִ֗י אַחַר֙ הַדְּבָרִ֣ים הָאֵ֔לֶּה חָלָ֕ה בֶּן־הָאִשָּׁ֖ה בַּעֲלַ֣ת הַבָּ֑יִת וַיְהִ֤י חׇלְיוֹ֙ חָזָ֣ק מְאֹ֔ד עַ֛ד אֲשֶׁ֥ר לֹא־נֽוֹתְרָה־בּ֖וֹ נְשָׁמָֽה׃
After a while, the son of that woman—the owner of the house—fell sick, and his illness grew worse, until he had no breath left in him.
(The above rendering comes from the RJPS translation, an adaptation of the NJPS translation. Before accounting for this rendering, I will analyze the plain sense of the Hebrew term אִשָּׁה, by employing a situation-oriented construal as outlined in this introduction, pp. 11–16.)
The noun phrase in question is הָאִשָּׁה בַּעֲלַת הַבָּיִת; this referring expression is “overencoded” (i.e., more verbose than necessary to identify the referent), which in Biblical Hebrew signals a significant narrative development.
Prototypically, the situating noun אִישׁ (including its feminine form אִשָּׁה) labels an essential party whose involvement defines the situation of interest. At the same time, by regarding its referent in terms of the overall situation, it directs our attention to that situation. Here, the referent was previously labeled “widow.” Now, this verse opens with a time stamp that signals a new scene, whereupon the label הָאִשָּׁה regards her in terms of the previously depicted situation. (See my paper “Explaining the Preference for הָאִישׁ as a Label,” presented to the Linguistics and Biblical Hebrew section, Society of Biblical Literature, Annual Meeting, San Diego, 24 November 2024.) This label thus increases textual cohesion and thereby preserves cognitive continuity.
In turn, the apposed term בַּעֲלַת הַבָּיִת conveys ownership/control, which is a fact that seems salient and noteworthy from a gender perspective. She is the responsible party for her household.
As for rendering into English, the NJPS “the mistress of the house” is lacking in two respects: (1) it does not direct attention to the situation per se; and (2) it does not clearly convey ownership/control.
In the revised rendering, in order to express the situating function, I employ the situating noun ‘woman’ (similarly OJPS, NRSV, REB, CEV, ESV), for the sake of participant reference tracking. Meanwhile, a demonstrative pronoun clarifies the reference and helps to launch the new episode.
And to express ownership/control, I revise the rendering of the apposed term to “the owner of the house” (just as NJPS renders the masculine equivalent הָאִישׁ בַּעַל הַבַּיִת in Judg 19:23).