שֶׁ֫בֶר
grain
Full lexicon entry — Brown-Driver-Briggs (BDB)
From Brown-Driver-Briggs (BDB)
Where this word appears
See every Absolute-state word in the Hebrew Bible →
Grammar key — what these labels mean
Part of speech
- Noun
- A naming word — a person, place, thing, or idea.
Noun type
- Common
- A common noun — a general class of person, place, or thing (“king,” “city,” “water”), not a specific name.
State
- Absolute
- The independent form of a noun, not bound to a following word.
- Construct
- A noun bound to a following noun in a possessive / “of” relationship (the construct chain).
Gender
- Masculine
- Grammatically masculine.
Number
- Singular
- One.
3 distinct verses where H7668 appears in the Construct state, across 1 book. Filtered view — show all forms. Click any verse to open its interlinear word-by-word view. Verse text shown in the World English Bible for context — . Each verse’s Hebrew form is shown with its reference; the English is not keyword-highlighted, since the data carries no word-level English alignment. Use “Compare translations” on any verse to read it across multiple English versions. This concordance covers the Hebrew Bible; Septuagint (Greek Old Testament) occurrences are not indexed here.
Genesis 3 verses
- Genesis 42:19 שֶׁ֖בֶר n c ms cs If you are honest men, then let one of your brothers be bound in your prison-house; but you go, carry grain for the famine of your houses.
- Genesis 42:26 שִׁבְרָ֖/ם n c ms cs + sfx pers 3mp They loaded their donkeys with their grain, and departed from there.
- Genesis 44:2 שִׁבְר֑/וֹ n c ms cs + sfx pers 3ms Put my cup, the silver cup, in the sack's mouth of the youngest, with his grain money." He did according to the word that Joseph had spoken.
About this entry
At a glance — auto-summarized from this page’s data, not written by a person. Every figure links to its source below. This summary describes the numbers; it doesn’t interpret them.
At its core, שבר (sheber) means “grain.” The word gravitates to Genesis (78%), then Nehemiah and Amos. It appears 9 verses across 3 books of the Hebrew Bible, among its uncommon vocabulary. First canonically at Genesis 42:1, it enters the text early. Where the King James Version says “corn,” newer translations reach for “grain” (Berean Standard Bible); the renderings breakdown has the detail. Dig into 9-verse concordance and the renderings breakdown below.
Gloss history
Strong's 1890 vs modern scholarship
About this word
Strong's H7668 catalogs a Hebrew word from the Hebrew Old Testament.
These counts are not copied from any lexicon or concordance. They are computed here, from the morphology-tagged Hebrew Old Testament. What Lemma adds →
- 9
- distinct verses
- The word appears in 9 distinct verses.
- 3 / 39
- OT books
- The word appears in 3 of 39 Old Testament books.
- #2,481
- by frequency
- Top 2500 most frequent Hebrew words (rank 2,481 of 8,640 Hebrew words by occurrence).
View all 9 occurrences in the concordance →
By section of the Old Testament
By traditional corpus
Conventional, traditional groupings — biblical authorship is debated, so this is a traditional corpus grouping, not an authorship claim. Each share is this word’s portion of its verses in that division of the Hebrew canon. Each figure is a share of the word’s 9 distinct verses.
- Torah (Pentateuch) 7 verses · 78%
- Prophets (Nevi'im) 1 verse · 11%
- Writings (Ketuvim) 1 verse · 11%
How translations render this word
Counts come from each version’s own published word-to-Strong’s tagging or interlinear alignment — an approximate guide to how each version renders this word, not a word-level alignment the data otherwise carries. Because each total is that version’s own tagged count, the per-version totals vary from one another and need not match the appearance or distinct-verse counts above. These counts may also differ from a printed concordance because Lemma counts each distinctly tagged rendering and does not collapse phrase taggings into a single head-word total. This is a fixed set of word-tagged versions (KJV, ASV, BSB, ULT) and does not change with the reading translation you choose elsewhere. Each version’s license is shown beside its name below (and on Sources).
BDB lists this Strong’s number as 3 distinct words (homographs). Each count above pools all of them and is not split by sense — see the Senses section below. A low-frequency rendering may belong to a different one of those words, not the primary meaning.
- King James Version†: Corn 8×
- American Standard Version†: Grain 6×
- Berean Standard Bible†: Grain 7×
- unfoldingWord Literal Text†: Grain 9×
King James Version Public Domain
Renders H7668 across 9† tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus 1 rendering that appears only once — usually multi-word phrases or single function words the recovered tagging swept in, not distinct renderings.
American Standard Version Public Domain
Renders H7668 across 9† tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus 3 renderings that appear only once — usually multi-word phrases or single function words the recovered tagging swept in, not distinct renderings.
Berean Standard Bible Public Domain
Renders H7668 across 9† tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus 2 renderings that appear only once — usually multi-word phrases or single function words the recovered tagging swept in, not distinct renderings.
unfoldingWord Literal Text CC BY-SA 4.0
Renders H7668 across 9† tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Senses in the full BDB
What do BDB’s symbols mean?
BDB uses these scholarly abbreviations:
| Symbol | Meaning |
|---|---|
| 𝔊 | the Septuagint (the ancient Greek translation, LXX) |
| 𝔙 | the Vulgate (the Latin translation) |
| 𝔖 | the Syriac version (the Peshitta) |
| 𝔗 | the Targum (the Aramaic translation) |
| ψ | the Psalms |
| √ | root (the underlying root or stem) |
| ‖ | parallel passage (a synonymous or contrasted parallel) |
| † | the dagger: every passage where the word occurs is cited |
The 4 senses and sub-senses the full Brown-Driver-Briggs lexicon distinguishes for this word, in lexicon order (not ranked by frequency), with BDB’s own verbatim wording and sub-sense lettering. Shown in Hebrew script with BDB’s own scholarly abbreviations. The condensed entry is in the Lexicon Entry tab. See also the Forms in the corpus table below.
שבר I
- 1. breaking of pottery Is 30:14, fracture of member, limb Lv 21:19; 24:20 (H), especially fig. of people personif. שׁ׳ יוֹסֵף Am 6:6, cf. Is 30:26 (‖ מַחַץ מַכָּתוֹ), Je 8:21; 10:19; 14:17; 30:12 (‖ מַכָּה), v 15 (‖ מַכְאֹב), La 2:11; 3:48; 4:10, also (c. רפא, רפה heal) Je 6:14; 8:11 La 2:13 ψ 60:4, cf. Na 3:19; of sinners Is 1:28; shattering, crushing, of wall (in fig.) Is 30:13; שׁ׳ גָּדוֹל (‖ רָעָה) Je 4:6; 6:1, שׁ׳ עַל־שׁ׳ 4:20; שֹׁד וָשׁ׳ Is 59:7; 60:18; Je 48:3, cf. Is 51:19; הַשֵּׁאת וְהַשּׁ׳ La 3:47; זַעֲקַת שׁ׳ Is 15:5, cf. Je 48:5; of individ. Pr 16:18; 17:19; 18:12; fig., שׁ׳ רוּחַ of spirit Is 65:14, cf. Pr 15:4; so (רוּחַ om.) מִשְּׁבָרִים Jb 41:17 from terror, Di De, cf. Bi, but dub.; Buhl Bu conj. מִשְׁבְּרֵי יָם, Gie מִשִּׁנָּיו גִּבֹּרִים, Du מִשְׁמָרִים. e.g. Isaiah 30:14
- 2. crashing, Zp 1:10 (‖ קוֹל צְעָקָה, יְלָלָה), Je 50:22 (‖ מִלְחָמָה), 51:54 (‖ קוֹל זְעָקָה). e.g. Zephaniah 1:10
- 3. breaking of a dream, i.e. its interpretation (solution of mystery) Ju 7:15 (cf. GFM). e.g. Judges 7:15
- 4. הַשְּׁבָרִים Jos 7:5, perhaps (Di Benn Steuern) the quarries, as n.pr.loc., 𝔙 Sabarim (הִשָּֽׁבְרָם).—שִׁבְרִי Ez 32:9, read שִׁבְיְךָ 𝔊 Co Sta Berthol Krae (not Toy). e.g. Joshua 7:5
שבר II m. a Calebite 1 Ch 2
שבר III [m.] corn, grain, as food stuff (perhaps broken, i.e. threshed, HoffmZAW iii (1883), 122 SS Siegf Ne 10
Senses from the full Brown-Driver-Briggs lexicon (Brown, Driver, Briggs; Oxford 1906 — public domain), digitized via Sefaria, supplemented by the OpenScriptures HebrewLexicon (CC BY 4.0). Full attribution on Sources.
Word origin
I. n.m. Je 4:5 breaking, fracture, crushing, breach, crash;—abs. שֶׁבֶר Is 51:19 +, שָׁ֑בֶר La 3:47; Pr 17;19, cstr. שֶׁבֶר Is 1:28 +, שֵׁבֶר Am 6:6 +; sf. שִׁבְרִי Je 10:19, etc.; pl. שְׁבָרִים Jos 7:5 Jb 41:17 (dub., v. infr.), sf. שְׁכָרֶיהָ ψ 60:4;—
II. n.pr.m. a Calebite 1 Ch 2:48; Σαβερ, A Σεβερ, 𝔊L Σαβαρ.
III. n.[m.] corn, grain, as food stuff (perhaps broken, i.e. threshed, HoffmZAW iii (1883), 122 SS Siegf Ne 10:32; > Köii. 1, 19 n breaking out, i.e. sprouting (as chief fruit of soil); hence NH שִׁבָּרוֹן price of corn);—שׁ׳ abs. Gn 42:1 +; cstr. v 19; sf. שִׁבְרָם v 26, שִׁבְרוֹ 44:2;—corn, grain 42:1, 2, 19, 26; 43:2; 44:2; 47:14 (acc. cogn.), Am 8:5 (id.); so perhaps (for בָּר) Gn 42:3 LagBN 230; כָּל־שׁ׳ Ne 10:32 all kinds of grain.
— Brown-Driver-Briggs (Oxford 1906, public domain), digitized via Sefaria, supplemented by the OpenScriptures HebrewLexicon (CC BY 4.0). See Sources.
Derived from שבר (sheber) (H7667) — breaking.
Jastrow Dictionary
A second Hebrew/Aramaic lexicon for comparison, covering Aramaic and post-biblical (Talmudic, Targumic, Midrashic) usage that the biblical-Hebrew BDB does not. Matched by lemma rather than by Strong’s number, so a lemma may carry more than one Jastrow headword (shown separately below), and the entries cover usage well beyond the Bible.
שֵׂבֶר
- , v. סֵבֶר
שְׂבַר
- , Poël שׂוֹבַר, v. סְבַר II.
שָׁבַר I
- (b. h.)
- 1. to break. Y. Ab. Zar. II, 41ᵈ (play on אכל תשברו, Deut. II, 6) באכל תִּשְׁבְּרוֹ האכלתו שְׁבַרְתּוֹ with food break him (his ill-will); when thou hast given him to eat, thou hast broken him; אם היה קשה עליך באכל תשברו וכ׳ if he is hard on thee, break him with food, and if not (if thou succeedest not with food), heap silver upon him; Y. Sabb. I, 3ᶜ bot. Tanḥ. Sh’laḥ. 9 נתכוונו … לִשְׁבּוֹר לבן וכ׳ the spies intended to break the heart (courage) of the Israelites (ref. to ויניאו, Num. XXXII, 9). Tosef. B. Mets. II, 26 אוהבו … כדי לשבור את לבו if a friend requires help for loading, and an enemy for unloading (to relieve the broken down beast of burden), it is commended to help the enemy in order to break his heart (hatred); (B. Mets. 32ᵇ כדי לכוף את יצרו). Pesik. Eth Korb., p. 59ᵇ נטל את הטבלא … ושְׁבָרָהּ he took the plate … and shattered it. Ex. R. s. 18 (ref. to Ps. LXXVII, 7) נזכרת אני את השברים שהיית שׁוֹבֵר וכ׳ I remember the breaks with which thou brokest (the calamities with which thou didst visit) the empires for me by night; בא … שָׁבַרְתָּ וכ׳ Sennacherib came upon me, thou brokest him at night (v. infra Hof.); a. v. fr.—Y. Shebi. VIII, beg. 37ᵈ כל מדרש שאתה דורש ושׁוֹבֵר וכ׳ a textual interpretation which you introduce, and by which you break (upset partially) a previous interpretation of the same verse, is no legitimate interpretation. Tanḥ. Vayera 13 סופו … שובר את ראשו the end of the verse breaks (contradicts) its beginning. Cant. R. to VII, 9 (expl. דתבריא, Dan. III, 2) the scholars (scholastici) are called d’thabraya (v. תְּבַר), שהם שׁוֹבְרִים הדברים because they break (twist out of joint) the words (of the law).—Part. pass. שָׁבוּר, f. שְׁבוּרָה having a broken limb, injured. B. Mets. I, 4 רצין … אחר צבי ש׳ running … after a wounded deer. Ib. 94ᵇ ש׳ ומתה a borrowed animal that was injured or that died. Ib. נשבעין על הש׳ must make oath concerning an injured animal in their charge; a. fr.—2) (denom. of שׁוֹבֵר) to give a receipt; to acknowledge payment; to acquit. Tosef. Keth. IV, 11 שָׁבְרָה לו (על) מקצת כתובתה שברה לו אל כולה if she gave him a receipt for a portion of her jointure, she has released him of all obligations of the marriage contract. Ib. IX, 1 כונסה … והיא שׁוֹבֶרֶת לו וכ׳ he marries her and divorces her (and remarries her), and she gives him a receipt for her jointure (by which act the mortgage on the entire estate is cancelled); Y. ib. VIII, 32ᵇ bot.; Y. Yeb. IV, 5ᵈ; a. fr. e.g. Deuteronomy 2:6
- to break. Sabb. 105ᵇ המקרע … והמְשַׁבֵּר כליו וכ׳ he who in his anger tears his garment or breaks his vessels, … let him be in thy sight like an idolater; a. fr.—Part. pass. מְשׁוּבָּר. Pesik. R. s. 17 (ref. to Job I, 15) מש׳ ומלוקה היה he (that escaped) was broken of limbs and smitten; Ruth R. to I, 5; Lev. R. s. 17 מוּשְׁבָּר; Yalk. Job 892 מושבר. e.g. Job 1:15
- to be broken. Pesik. Vattom., p. 129ᵇ (ref. to Ps. LXXVII, 7) נזכרת אני שֶׁבֶר שהוּשְׁבַּרְתִּי וכ׳ (not שכר שהושכ׳) I remember how I was broken (crushed) among the empires (v. supra); Lam. R. to I, 2 שהָשְׁבַּרְתִּי … בלילן וכ׳ how I was broken before thee in the night of persecution by the empires; Yalk. Ps. 816; a. fr.—Part. מוּשְׁבָּר, v. supra. e.g. Psalms 77:7
- , Nithpa. נִשְׁתַּבֵּר same. B. Mets. VI, 4. Kel. III, 3 ונִשְׁבְּרָה and was again broken. Ib. XI, 1 נִשְׁבְּרוּ טהרו when they are broken, they are no longer susceptible of uncleanness. Gen. R. s. 91 נִשְׁתַּבְּרוּ שיניהם their teeth were broken (fell out). Y. Kidd. I, beg. 58ᵇ נשבר קל וחומר the conclusion a minori is impaired. Ab. Zar. 50ᵇ, sq. זריקה מִשְׁתַּבֶּרֶת an interrupted throwing, i.e. sprinkling a liquid, but not throwing a solid object; a. fr.—Treat. Der. Er. ch. X מִשְׁתַּבֵּר על השיש ‘has his limbs broken’ (a sort of massage) on the marble floor (in the bath-house, in the presence of other people).
שָׁבַר II
- to buy provisions. Gen. R. s. 91 אף … לִשְׁבָּר אוכל Joseph, too, knew that his brothers were coming down to Egypt to buy food; ib. כל מי שנכנס לִשְׁבּוֹר וכ׳ let whomsoever enters (Egypt) to buy food register his name &c; Tanḥ. Mikk. 8.
- to sell provisions, to supply. Ib. (ref. to מַשְׁבִּיר, Prov. XI, 26) זה יוסף שזן וכ׳ that means Joseph who sustained the world &c.; Gen. R. l. c.; a. e.—[Tanḥ. ed. Bub. Vayesheb 13 משביר אותו, read: מַשְׂכִּיר.] e.g. Proverbs 11:26
שֶׁבֶר I
- 1. break, fracture. Sabb. XXII, 6 אין מחזירין את הש׳ you must not set a fracture (on the Sabbath). T’bul Yom IV, 7 שלום מן הש׳ וכ׳ (he meant) that it will be brought up in safety without being broken and without being spilt; Y. Ter. II, 41ᶜ top; a. e.—Trnsf. destruction, calamity. Gen. R. s. 91 (play on שֶׁבֶר, Gen. XLII, 1, a. סֵבֶר) כי יש ש׳ זה הרעב כי יש סבר זה השבע וכ׳ ‘that there is a calamity’, that means the famine; ‘that there is brightness’, that means plenty &c. Ib. והלא כבר נאמר ותרעב … יש ש׳ has it not been said before, ‘and all the land of Egypt was hungry’? what is meant by ‘there is a calamity in Egypt’? &c. Pesik. Vattom., p. 129ᵇ (not שכר); Yalk. Ps. 816, v. שָׁבַר I; a. e.—Pl. שְׁבָרִים, constr. שִׁבְרֵי. Gen. R. s. 30 (ref. to Job XII, 5) שהיו מוכנים לשני ש׳ לשבר מלמעלן וכ׳ they were predestined for two calamities, for destruction from above (rain), and for destruction from below (rise of the deeps). Ex. R. s. 18, v. שָׁבַר I. Kel. XI, 3, a. fr. שברי כלים fragments of vessels, broken vessels. B. Bath. 14ᵇ שברי לוחות the tablets broken by Moses. Ber. 8ᵇ הזהרו בזקן … לוחות ושברי וכ׳ be careful not to despise an old man that has forgotten his learning through no fault of his, for we are told, the (whole) tablets and the broken ones were deposited in the Ark; Men. 99ᵃ; a. fr. e.g. Genesis 42:1
- 2. a broken ejaculation, sigh, esp. the broken disconnected sounds produced on the Shofar. Y. Taan. II, 65ᵇ top (play on אֵד, Gen. II, 6) עלה ש׳ מלמטן וכ׳ when the broken tune (at the prayer meeting) rises from below, at once the rain comes down.—Pl. as ab. R. Hash. 34ᵃ שיעור תרועה כשלשה ש׳ the value of a t’ruʿah (a succession of tremulous sounds) is equal to three sh’barim. Ib. אתקין … שלשה ש׳ תרועה וכ׳ R. Abbahu introduced in Cæsaræa (for the New Year’s Day) the blowing of a t’ḳiʿah (a succession of connected notes), three sh’barim, a tr’uʿah, and a t’ḳi‘ah; a. e. e.g. Genesis 2:6
שֶׁבֶר II
- ; ש׳ רעבון, v. Gen. XLII, 19 a. 33, cmp. Ps. CIV, 11; v. Ehrlich Miḳra ki-Pheschuṭô, p. 114 sq.) (sale of) provisions (in time of famine). Gen. R. s. 91 מפני … יש אוכל במצרים שאמר הכתוב יש ש׳ וכ׳ why does not the Scripture say (Gen. XLII, 1) ‘there was okhel (food) in Egypt? (why is it) that the text says, ‘there was sheber’? e.g. Genesis 42:19
שִׁבַר
- (denom. of בַּר II, בְּרָא) [boy, Syr.,] simple, foolish (corresp. to h. פֶּתִי). Targ. Prov. IX, 4 (some ed. שכר, corr. acc.). Ib. XIV, 15. Targ. Job V, 2 (ed. Wil. שְׁבִירָא). Targ. Ps. XIX, 8 (ed. Lag. שִׁיבְרָא; ed. Wil. שִׂבְ׳, corr. acc.); a. e.—Pl. שַׁבְרֵי. Targ. Prov. I, 4; 22; 32; a. fr.—Fem. שְׁבַרְתָּא. Ib. IX, 13 (ed. Wil. שִׁבְרָתָה; some ed. שכ׳, corr. acc.).
A Dictionary of the Targumim, the Talmud Babli and Yerushalmi, and the Midrashic Literature (Marcus Jastrow; London, Luzac, 1903) — Public Domain. Digitized via Sefaria. Digitized via Sefaria. Full attribution on Sources.
Forms in the corpus
The 7 distinct written forms H7668 takes in the Hebrew Bible, most frequent first — each parse links to that state’s occurrences in the concordance. Hebrew forms include their vowel points and cantillation, so a single lemma takes many written forms.
| Form | Parsing | Example | Uses |
|---|---|---|---|
| שֶׁ֖בֶר | Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Absolute | Genesis 42:1 | 3 |
| בַּ/שֶּׁ֖בֶר | Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Absolute | Genesis 47:14 | 1 |
| הַ/שֶּׁ֔בֶר | Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Absolute | Genesis 43:2 | 1 |
| שִׁבְר֑/וֹ | Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Construct | Genesis 44:2 | 1 |
| שִׁבְרָ֖/ם | Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Construct | Genesis 42:26 | 1 |
| שֶׁ֜בֶר | Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Absolute | Nehemiah 10:31 | 1 |
| שֶּׁ֔בֶר | Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Absolute | Amos 8:5 | 1 |
Same root — word family
Other BDB entries built from the same root as H7668, grouped by Strong’s listed origin. These share a root / origin per the lexicon — not necessarily a shared meaning. Each links to that word’s own entry.
Derives from
Derived from this word
Proper names from this root
People and places named from this root — a name, not an additional meaning of the word.
Compare all same-root words → Showing 4 of 5 — not the complete family. 2 of the same-root words are proper names (people or places). They share a root, not necessarily a meaning.
Septuagint verse parallels
This word appears in 8 verses that also exist in the Greek Old Testament (Septuagint), out of the 9 Hebrew verses it occurs in. You can read those verses in Greek by switching the Old Testament edition to the Septuagint.
Read these verses in the Septuagint
This is a verse-level parallel only — the same verses exist in both the Hebrew and Greek Old Testaments. No word-level Hebrew↔Greek correspondence is claimed: the data carries no such alignment, so no Greek word is shown as this Hebrew word’s translation. Coverage is not total — the Septuagint omits the deuterocanon and renumbers the Psalms, so some Hebrew verses have no direct Greek parallel.
