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שָׂחַק

to laugh

also: play, mock fuller range ↓

H7832 Strong's Hebrew
sâchaq Transliteration
/saw-khak'/ Pronunciation
Usage in the Hebrew Bible 36 appearances

Compare with another word →

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.

The Hebrew verb שחק centers on the idea of “to laugh.” Its earliest occurrence is Judges 16:25. It turns up in 36 verses across 13 books, a moderately common footprint. The word gravitates to Job (25%), then Proverbs and Psalms. Read the stem: it spans 3 stems, including Qal and Piel. Dig into 36-verse concordance and the renderings breakdown below.

Gloss history

Strong's 1890 vs modern scholarship

Strong's · 1890
deride
Modern gloss
to laugh
Strong's 1890 sometimes compressed multiple senses — or homonymous roots — under one number, and used 19th-century English phrasing that no longer carries the same connotation. The modern gloss reflects current BDB scholarship; open the Lexicon Entry tab for the full sense breakdown. Download share card

About this word

Strong's H7832 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 →

36
distinct verses
The word appears in 36 distinct verses.
13 / 39
OT books
The word appears in 13 of 39 Old Testament books.
Judges 16:25
first appearance
The earliest occurrence is in Judges 16:25.
Zechariah 8:5
last appearance
The latest occurrence is in Zechariah 8:5.
#990
by frequency
Top 1000 most frequent Hebrew words (rank 990 of 8,640 Hebrew words by occurrence).

View all 36 occurrences in the concordance →


Most concentrated in

By section of the Old Testament

  • Pentateuch 0 · 0%
  • Historical 9 · 25%
  • Wisdom 21 · 58%
  • Prophets 6 · 17%

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 36 distinct verses.

  • Writings (Ketuvim) 25 verses · 69%
  • Prophets (Nevi'im) 11 verses · 31%

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).

  • King James Version: Play 3×, Shall laugh 3×, Make merry 2×
  • American Standard Version: Make merry 3×, Played 2×, Playing 2×
  • Berean Standard Bible: Laugh 3×, He laughs 2×, Laughing 2×
  • unfoldingWord Literal Text: Laughs 6×, Laugh 4×, Play 3×

King James Version Public Domain

Renders H7832 across 36 tagged occurrences — most commonly:

  • “Play” 3×
  • “Shall laugh” 3×
  • “Make merry” 2×
  • “Played” 2×
  • “Playing” 2×
  • “Rejoicing” 2×

Plus 22 renderings that appear only once — usually multi-word phrases or single function words the recovered tagging swept in, not distinct renderings.

American Standard Version Public Domain

Renders H7832 across 35 tagged occurrences — most commonly:

  • “Make merry” 3×
  • “Played” 2×
  • “Playing” 2×
  • “Rejoicing” 2×
  • “Will laugh” 2×

Plus 24 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 H7832 across 36 tagged occurrences — most commonly:

  • “Laugh” 3×
  • “He laughs” 2×
  • “Laughing” 2×
  • “Laughs” 2×
  • “Were celebrating” 2×

Plus 25 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 H7832 across 36 tagged occurrences — most commonly:

  • “Laughs” 6×
  • “Laugh” 4×
  • “Play” 3×
  • “Celebrating” 2×
  • “Frolicking” 2×
  • “He laughs” 2×

Plus 17 renderings that appear only once — usually multi-word phrases or single function words the recovered tagging swept in, not distinct renderings.


9 senses and sub-senses in the full BDB

Hebrew verbs can shift meaning by stem (binyan): Qal is the basic action, Niphal is often passive or reflexive, Piel often intensifies or makes it factitive, and Hiphil is typically causative. The senses below are grouped under the stem BDB assigns to each.

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 9 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.

Qal

  • Pf. 3 ms. וְשׂ׳ consec. Pr 29:9; 3 pl. שָֽׂחֲקוּ La 1:7; Jb 30:1; Impf. 3 ms. יִשְׂחַק Jb 39:7 +, etc.; Inf. cstr. שְׂחוֹק Ju 16:27; Ec 3:4;— e.g. Proverbs 29:9
  • 1.
    • a. laugh at, usually in contempt, derision, c. עַל pers. Jb 30:1 ψ 52:8; עַל rei La 1:7; c. ל pers. God subj. ψ 37:13; 59:9 (‖ לָעַג); c. ל rei vel pers. = have no fear of, Hb 1:10; Jb 5:22; Pr 31:25, also, fig., of noble animals Jb 39:7, 18, 22; 41:21; abs., Pr 29:9 (opp. רָגַז), of י׳ ψ 2:4 (‖ לָעַג), of wisdom Pr 1:26 (ב temp.; ‖ id.). e.g. Job 30:1
    • b. c. אֶל pers., appar. of friendly laugh Jb 29:24; in gen. Ec 3:4 (opp. בָּכָה). e.g. Job 29:24
  • 2. sport, play, Ju 16:27. e.g. Judges 16:27

Piel

  • Pf. 1 s. וְשִׂחַקְתִּ֫י 1 S 6:21; Impf. 3 ms. וַיְשַׂחֶק־ Ju 16:25, etc.; Inf. cstr. לְשַׂחֶק־ ψ 104:26; Pt. מְשַׂחֵק Pr 26:19; 1 Ch 15:29, f. מְשַׂחֶ֫קֶת Pr 8:30, 31; pl. מְשַׂחֲקִים 2 S 6:5 +, מְשַׂחֲקוֹת 1 S 18:7;— e.g. 1 Samuel 6:21
  • 1. make sport, Ju 16:25 (ל pers.) 2 S 2:14 (לִפְנֵי pers.; in tournament), Pr 8:30 (לִפְנֵי), v 31 (ב loc.). e.g. Judges 16:25
  • 2. jest, Pr 26:19. e.g. Proverbs 26:19
  • 3. play: incl. instr. music, singing and dancing 1 S 18:7, c. לִפְנֵי י׳ 2 S 6:5 (ב instr.), = 1 Ch 13:8, 2 S 6:21 1 Ch 15:29 (+ מְרַקֵּד); of merry-making Je 15:17 (‖ עָלַז), 30:19; 31:4; of children’s sport Zc 8:5; of beasts Jb 40:20 ψ 104:26; of man, play with (ב) crocod. Jb 40:29. e.g. 1 Samuel 18:7

Hiphil

  • (declar.) Pt. pl. מַשְׂחִיקִים 2 Ch 30:10 they uttered mockery עֲלֵיהֶם (‖ מַלְעִגִים). e.g. 2 Chronicles 30:10

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

vb. laugh (‖ צהק, q.v.; NH שָׂחַק, סָחַק; Ethiopic ሠሐቀ: );—

— Brown-Driver-Briggs (Oxford 1906, public domain), digitized via Sefaria, supplemented by the OpenScriptures HebrewLexicon (CC BY 4.0). See Sources.

Origin: a primitive root

Part of speech: Verb TWOT: 1905c


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.

שָׂחַק

  • to be bright; to laugh, jest, play. Tosef. B. Kam. II, 2 ס׳ בין הבקר וכ׳ ed. Zuck. (Var. צחבין, צהבין, read: צחק בין) if he (the ox) sported among the herd three times (doing no harm). Deut. R. s. 3, end ראה … שׂוֹחַקַת לעבד the king saw her smile at one of his servants. Y. Kidd. III, 63ᵈ מימי לא ש׳ וכ׳ never did a person have his sport with me, except this man. Tanḥ. Naso 5 באותו שבפנים שָׂחַקְתָּ אבל … לִשְׂחוֹק thou didst fool him (the watchman) that was inside, but thou canst not fool me. Der. Er. Zuṭṭa ch. V ולא בוכה בין השׂוֹחֲקִים ולא שׂוֹחֵק וכ׳ nor should one weep among those who laugh, nor laugh among those who weep; a. fr.—Trnsf. (of fingers) to be spread, opp. עצב. Succ. 7ᵃ טפח שוחק (Ms. M. a. Ar. ס׳); Erub. 3ᵇ שׂוֹחֲקוֹת, v. אַמָּה; a. e.
    • same. Tanḥ. l. c. באישך את מְשַׂחֶקֶת וכ׳ thou canst fool thy husband, but thou canst not fool me. Ib. ואני יושב ומְשַׂחֵק על וכ׳ but I sit laughing at my creatures. Tosef. Keth. IX, 2 מְסַחֵק הוא בה ed. Zuck. (Var. מְצַ׳) he may laugh at her (and take the sham sale seriously); (Keth. 79ᵃ רצה מצחק), v. פִּיסְטִין. Tanḥ. Noah 5 והיו משחקין ממנו they laughed at him (Noah). Ber. 7ᵇ, a. e. השעה משחקת לו the hour smiles on him, i.e. he is in luck; a. fr.
    • to cause to laugh, lead to sport. Gen. R. s. 22 אם בא … להַשְׂחִיקְךָ שמחהו וכ׳ if thy inclination comes to incite thee to merriment, rejoice it with words of the Law; Yalk. Is. 296.

שַׂחַק

  • , v. שְׂחוֹק

שָׁחַק

  • (b. h.) to rub, grind, pound. Midr. Till. to Ps. XVIII ולמה … שחקים שהן שׁוֹחֲקִין אלו באלו why are the clouds named sh’ḥaḳim? Because they rub against one another. Gen. R. s. 13, a. e., v. שַׁחַק II. Bets. II, 8 שוחקין את הפלפלין וכ׳ you may grind pepper on the pepper-mill (on the Holy Day). Y. Ber. VI, 10ᵃ top שְׁחָקָן וכ׳ if he mashed them (the turnips), he must say the benediction &c., opp. אם בעיינן הן if they are in their natural shape; a. fr.—[Yalk. Cant. 988 שחק, v. שָׁחַץ.]—Part. pass. שָׁחוּק; f. שְׁחוּקָה; pl. שְׁחוּקִים, שְׁחוּקִין; שְׁחוּקוֹת a) ground, pounded, mashed. Y. Ber. l. c. ויין לאו ש׳ הוא is wine not a product gained by pounding?; ib. ופת לאו ש׳ היא is not bread a product &c.?; ib. שאר … אע"פ שש׳ הן וכ׳ all other things, although produced by pounding (like olive-oil &c.) are ritually treated as if in their natural state; a. e.—b) (cmp. שָׁחַף) lean, meagre. Y. Dem. II, beg. 22ᵇ שחוקה היא (R. S. to Dem. II, 1 שְׁחִיקָא ch.) the fig of Bozrah is stunted.
    • 1. same; same; part. pass. מְשׁוּחָק; pl. מְשׁוּחָקִים, מְשׁוּחָקִין rubbed, worn-out, threadbare. Tosef. Men. I, 8; Zeb. 18ᵃ, v. רָשַׁל; ib. 18ᵇ; a. e.
    • 2. to curse the memory of a person, v. next w.
    • to be ground. Ab. d’R. N. ch. I נִשְׁחֲקוּ עצמותיו his bones were ground, i.e. his memory is cursed, v. next w.

שְׁחַק

  • Targ. O. Ex. XXX, 36.—Y. Sabb. VII, 10ᵃ bot. ההן דש׳ תומא he that grinds garlic. Ib. 10ᵇ bot. B. Bath. 146ᵃ שַׁחְקֵי, v. מַרְגְּנִיתָא; a. fr.—Midr. Sam. ch. I, v. infra.—Part. pass. שְׁחִיק.—ש׳ טמיא, v. טַמְיָא; (in Hebr. dict.) ש׳ עצמות. Gen. R. s. 49, beg.; a. e.—Y. Sabb. VI, 8ᵃ top הוות רגליה שחקה (read: שְׁחִיקָא) his foot was sore from rubbing.—Y. Dem. II, beg. 22ᵇ שחיקא (R. S. to Dem. II, 1), v. שָׁחַק
    • to mention the name of a dead person with the imprecation שחיק טמיא (his bones be ground), to curse. Lev. R. s. 32, end מדכרין ומְשַׁחְקִין there are those whose names are mentioned with a curse, opp. ומניחין, v. נוּחַ h.; Yalk. Ex. 411 (Hebr.) מזכירין ומְשַׁחֲקִים; Tanḥ. Vayaḳhel 4; Ex. R. s. 48 (mixed dict.) מדכרין ומשחקים; Midr. Sam. ch. I ושָׁחְקִין (Pe.).

שַׁחַק I

  • (preced.), pl. שְחָקִים, שְׁחָקִין worn garments, thin clothes. Sifra Thazr., Neg., Par. 4, ch. XV בקרחתו אלו הש׳ ‘in its baldness’ (Lev. XIII, 55), that means old clothes (whose nap is worn off). Keth. V, 8 אין נותנין לה … ולא ש׳ וכ׳ we must not give her new garments for summer and worn-out (thin) garments for winter; ib. והש׳ שלה and the discarded garments remain hers; v. בְּלָאוֹת. Zeb. 18ᵇ; a. e. e.g. Leviticus 13:55

שַׁחַק II

  • [dust,]; pl. שְׁחָקִים clouds, heaven, sh’ḥaḳim, name of one of the seven heavens. Ḥag. 12ᵇ ש׳ שבו רחיים וכ׳ it is named sh’ḥaḳim, for in it stands a mill and grinds manna for the righteous. Gen. R. s. 13 למה … ש׳ שהן שוחקין וכ׳ why are they (the clouds) called sh’ḥaḳim? Because they grind the water … like a stomach (grinding the food); Tanḥ. Mick. 1; Koh. R. to I, 7. Ib. איכן … בש׳, v. נָזַל. Midr. Till. to Ps. XVIII, v. שָׁחַק; a. e.

שַׁחַק

  • Targ. Ps. LXXXIX, 38.—Pl. שְׁחָקיָּא, שְׁחָקִין, שְׁחָקֵי. Ib. 7 (ed. Wil. שַׁחֲקֵי). Ib. LXXVII, 18. Targ. Job XXXVI, 28; a. e.

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 35 distinct written forms H7832 takes in the Hebrew Bible, most frequent first — each parse links to that stem’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
מְשַׂחֲקִ֖ים Verb, Piel, Participle Active, Masculine, Plural, Absolute Jeremiah 15:17 2
אֶשְׂחַ֣ק Verb, Qal, Imperfect, 1st Person, Common, Singular Job 29:24 1
אֶשְׂחָ֑ק Verb, Qal, Imperfect, 1st Person, Common, Singular Proverbs 1:26 1
בִּ/שְׂח֥וֹק Verb, Qal, Infinitive Construct Judges 16:27 1
הַֽ/מְשַׂחֲק֖וֹת Verb, Piel, Participle Active, Feminine, Plural, Absolute 1 Samuel 18:7 1
הַֽ/תְשַׂחֶק Verb, Piel, Imperfect, 2nd Person, Masculine, Singular Job 41:5 1
וְ/שִׂחַקְתִּ֖י Verb, Piel, Sequential Perfect, 1st Person, Common, Singular 2 Samuel 6:21 1
וְ֝/יִשְׂחַ֗ק Verb, Qal, Imperfect, 3rd Person, Masculine, Singular Job 41:29 1
וְ֝/שָׂחַ֗ק Verb, Qal, Sequential Perfect, 3rd Person, Masculine, Singular Proverbs 29:9 1
וִ/ישַֽׂחֶק Verb, Piel, Imperfect, 3rd Person, Masculine, Singular Judges 16:25 1
וִֽ/ישַׂחֲק֖וּ Verb, Piel, Imperfect, 3rd Person, Masculine, Plural 2 Samuel 2:14 1
וַ֝/תִּשְׂחַ֗ק Verb, Qal, Sequential Imperfect, 3rd Person, Feminine, Singular Proverbs 31:25 1
וּ/מְשַׂחֵ֔ק Verb, Piel, Participle Active, Masculine, Singular, Absolute 1 Chronicles 15:29 1
יְשַֽׂחֲקוּ Verb, Piel, Imperfect, 3rd Person, Masculine, Plural Job 40:20 1
יִ֭שְׂחַק Verb, Qal, Imperfect, 3rd Person, Masculine, Singular Job 39:7 1
יִשְׂחַ֣ק Verb, Qal, Imperfect, 3rd Person, Masculine, Singular Job 39:22 1
יִשְׂחַק Verb, Qal, Imperfect, 3rd Person, Masculine, Singular Psalms 37:13 1
יִשְׂחָ֑ק Verb, Qal, Imperfect, 3rd Person, Masculine, Singular Psalms 2:4 1
יִשְׂחָ֔ק Verb, Qal, Imperfect, 3rd Person, Masculine, Singular Habakkuk 1:10 1
יִשְׂחָֽקוּ Verb, Qal, Imperfect, 3rd Person, Masculine, Plural Psalms 52:6 1
לְ/שַֽׂחֶק Verb, Piel, Infinitive Construct Psalms 104:26 1
לִ/שְׂח֔וֹק Verb, Qal, Infinitive Construct Ecclesiastes 3:4 1
מְ֭שַׂחֶקֶת Verb, Piel, Participle Active, Feminine, Singular, Absolute Proverbs 8:31 1
מְשַֽׂחֲקִים֙ Verb, Piel, Participle Active, Masculine, Plural, Absolute 2 Samuel 6:5 1
מְשַׂחֲקִ֑ים Verb, Piel, Participle Active, Masculine, Plural, Absolute Jeremiah 30:19 1
מְשַׂחֲקִ֛ים Verb, Piel, Participle Active, Masculine, Plural, Absolute 1 Chronicles 13:8 1
מְשַׂחֲקִֽים Verb, Piel, Participle Active, Masculine, Plural, Absolute Jeremiah 31:4 1
מְשַׂחֵ֥ק Verb, Piel, Participle Active, Masculine, Singular, Absolute Proverbs 26:19 1
מְשַׂחֶ֖קֶת Verb, Piel, Participle Active, Feminine, Singular, Absolute Proverbs 8:30 1
מַשְׂחִיקִ֣ים Verb, Hiphil, Participle Active, Masculine, Plural, Absolute 2 Chronicles 30:10 1
שָֽׂחֲק֣וּ Verb, Qal, Perfect, 3rd Person, Common, Plural Job 30:1 1
שָׂחֲק֖וּ Verb, Qal, Perfect, 3rd Person, Common, Plural Lamentations 1:7 1
תִּֽשְׂחַ֥ק Verb, Qal, Imperfect, 3rd Person, Feminine, Singular Job 39:18 1
תִּשְׂחַק Verb, Qal, Imperfect, 2nd Person, Masculine, Singular Psalms 59:8 1
תִּשְׂחָ֑ק Verb, Qal, Imperfect, 2nd Person, Masculine, Singular Job 5:22 1

Same root — word family

Other BDB entries built from the same root as H7832, 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.

Derived from this word

Compare all same-root words → They share a root, not necessarily a meaning.


Septuagint verse parallels

This word appears in 35 verses that also exist in the Greek Old Testament (Septuagint), out of the 36 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.

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