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What Does “Lap (bosom)” Mean in the Bible?

The hollow made by the lap when a person is seated; where a child sits or is held.

A detail

  1. In the Bible: Naomi laid Ruth’s child on her lap. And Elijah took the widow’s son from her lap to pray for him.

Where it appears in the Bible

Ruth 4:16; 1 Kings 17:19

What the Bible says

Ruth 4:16

And Noemi taking the child laid it in her bosom, and she carried it, and was a nurse unto it.

1 Kings 17:19

And Elias said to her: Give me thy son. And he took him out of her bosom, and carried him into the upper chamber where he abode, and laid him upon his own bed.

Douay-Rheims Bible (Challoner revision), public domain.

Source: RAE, “regazo”

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