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שָׁכַם

to rise early

‘to rise early’ is one of 3 main senses fuller range ↓

H7925 Strong's Hebrew
shâkam Transliteration
/shaw-kam'/ Pronunciation
Usage in the Hebrew Bible 65 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.

שכם — transliterated shâkam — is a Hebrew verb carrying the sense “to rise early.” Its English rendering has broadened — “rose up early” classically, “again and again” (Berean Standard Bible) and “and” (unfoldingWord Literal Text) in modern versions; see the renderings breakdown. The Hebrew Bible uses it across 64 verses — moderately common. It first appears in Genesis 19:2. Its lexical range runs to 3 senses. Each statement above links to its evidence; the full detail follows below.

Gloss history

Strong's 1890 vs modern scholarship

Strong's · 1890
early
Modern gloss
to rise early
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 H7925 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 →

64
distinct verses
The word appears in 64 distinct verses.
17 / 39
OT books
The word appears in 17 of 39 Old Testament books.
Genesis 19:2
first appearance
The earliest occurrence is in Genesis 19:2.
Zephaniah 3:7
last appearance
The latest occurrence is in Zephaniah 3:7.
#597
by frequency
Top 1000 most frequent Hebrew words (rank 597 of 8,640 Hebrew words by occurrence).

View all 64 occurrences in the concordance →


Most concentrated in

By section of the Old Testament

  • Pentateuch 14 · 22%
  • Historical 30 · 47%
  • Wisdom 4 · 6%
  • Prophets 16 · 25%

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 64 distinct verses.

  • Prophets (Nevi'im) 43 verses · 67%
  • Torah (Pentateuch) 14 verses · 22%
  • Writings (Ketuvim) 7 verses · 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).

  • King James Version: Rose up early 12×, Early 6×, Rose early 6×
  • American Standard Version: Rose up early 9×, Rising up early 6×, Rose early 5×
  • Berean Standard Bible: Again and again 8×, Got up 7×, Got up early 7×
  • unfoldingWord Literal Text: And 11×, Got up early 11×, Rising early 9×

King James Version Public Domain

Renders H7925 across 67 tagged occurrences — most commonly:

  • “Rose up early” 12×
  • “Early” 6×
  • “Rose early” 6×
  • “They arose early” 5×
  • “Rising early” 4×
  • “Rising up early” 4×
  • “Rise up early” 3×
  • “They rose early” 3×
  • “They rose up early” 3×
  • “Arose early” 2×
  • “You rising early” 2×

Plus 17 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 H7925 across 67 tagged occurrences — most commonly:

  • “Rose up early” 9×
  • “Rising up early” 6×
  • “Rose early” 5×
  • “Early” 4×
  • “Arose early” 3×
  • “Rise up early” 3×
  • “They arose early” 3×
  • “They rose early” 3×
  • “They rose up early” 3×
  • “You” 3×
  • “Men arose early” 2×
  • “Rising early” 2×

Plus other, less common renderings. Plus 19 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 H7925 across 65 tagged occurrences — most commonly:

  • “Again and again” 8×
  • “Got up” 7×
  • “Got up early” 7×
  • “They got up early” 5×
  • “Again” 4×
  • “Early” 3×
  • “Early in the morning” 3×
  • “Get up early” 3×
  • “They got up” 3×
  • “Like the early” 2×
  • “People got up” 2×

Plus 18 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 H7925 across 80 tagged occurrences — most commonly:

  • “And” 11×
  • “Got up early” 11×
  • “Rising early” 9×
  • “Arose early” 8×
  • “They arose early” 7×
  • “So” 4×
  • “Then” 4×
  • “They got up early” 3×
  • “He arose early” 2×
  • “Ones rising early” 2×
  • “Rise early” 2×
  • “Rose early” 2×

Plus other, less common renderings. Plus 13 renderings that appear only once — usually multi-word phrases or single function words the recovered tagging swept in, not distinct renderings.


Senses in BDB

The 3 senses BDB distinguishes for this word, in lexicon order (not ranked by frequency or importance). The full entry — with sub-senses — is in the Lexicon Entry tab.

  1. to rise or start early

(Hiphil)

  1. to rise early, make an early start
  2. early (as adverb)

Word origin

[ שָׁכַם ] 65 vb. Hiph. denom. start, rise, early

— 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: 2386


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.

שָׂכַם

  • , Hif. הִשְׂכִּים, v. סָכַם.

שָׁכַם

  • , Hif. הִשְׁכִּים (b. h.; [to load, v. Ges. Thes. s. v.,] to rise early; to do a thing early. Ber. 30ᵃ ה׳ לצאת לדרך if one rises early (before sunrise) to go on the road; Tosef. ib. III, 19. Cant. R. to V, 11 (play on שחרות כעורב, ib.; cmp. שׁחַר) מַשְׁכִּים ומעריב (Lev. R. s. 19 משחיר), v. עָרַב II. B. Mets. VII, 1 if one hired working men, ואמר להן להַשְׁכִּים וכ׳ and told them that he expected them to come to their work earlier and go later (than the customary time). Ber. 47ᵇ לעולם יַשְׁכִּים אדם וכ׳ a man should always go early to the house of prayer, that he may succeed in being counted among the earliest ten &c. Ib. 16ᵇ; Y. ib. IV, 7ᵈ bot. ונַשְׁכִּים ונמצא וכ׳ that we may early (in life) obtain &c., v. יִחוּל. B. Kam. 92ᵇ הַשְׁכֵּם ואכול take an early breakfast. Gitt. 7ᵃ הַשְׁכֵּם והערב עליהן והם וכ׳ (omit לבה"מ) pray against them (the tormentors) early and late, and they shall cease of themselves; a. fr.—Bicc. III, 2 ולִמַשְׁכִּים היה וכ׳ and at rising time &c.

שְׁכֶם I

  • (b. h.)
  • 1. shoulder. Gen. R. s. 53 (ref. to Gen. XXI, 14) שכן דרך עבדים … על שִׁכְמָם for such is the manner of slaves, to carry their filled pitchers on their shoulder; a. e. e.g. Genesis 21:14
  • 2. load; trnsf. (cmp. מַשָּׂא, סִבָּלוֹן) portion, share. Gen. R. s. 97, end (ref. to Gen. XLVIII, 22) ש׳ זו הבכורה by sh’khem is meant the share of the first-born; B. Bath. 123ᵃ; a. e. e.g. Genesis 48:22
  • 3. mountain range, v. next w.

שְׁכֶם II

  • (b. h.)
  • 1. pr. n. m. Shechem, son of Hamor the Hivite. Macc. 11ᵃ, a. e., v. גְּזַר. Sot. 22ᵇ, v. שִׁיכְמִי; a. fr.
  • 2. pr. n. pl. Shechem in Mount Ephraim. Gen. R. s. 97, end (ref. to Gen. XLVIII, 22, v. preced.) זו ש׳ ודאי it means Shechem in reality. Ib. (in a corrupt passage) לפיכך תהא הש׳ בחלקך therefore shall the district of Sh. (or the mountain range, v. preced.) be in thy share. Ib. בש׳ נפרצה וכ׳ in Sh. did unchastity break out, and thou didst fence it in (setting the example of chastity), therefore &c. Num. R. s. 23, v. נִיפּוֹלִין; a. fr. e.g. Genesis 48:22

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 37 distinct written forms H7925 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
וַ/יַּשְׁכֵּ֨ם Verb, Hiphil, Sequential Imperfect, 3rd Person, Masculine, Singular Exodus 34:4 9
הַשְׁכֵּ֣ם Verb, Hiphil, Infinitive Absolute 1 Samuel 17:16 7
וַ/יַּשְׁכִּ֣ימוּ Verb, Hiphil, Sequential Imperfect, 3rd Person, Masculine, Plural Genesis 26:31 6
הַשְׁכֵּ֥ם Verb, Hiphil, Infinitive Absolute Jeremiah 7:25 3
וַ/יַּשְׁכִּ֣מוּ Verb, Hiphil, Sequential Imperfect, 3rd Person, Masculine, Plural 1 Samuel 1:19 3
הַשְׁכֵּ֤ם Verb, Hiphil, Infinitive Absolute Jeremiah 7:13 2
וַ/יַּשְׁכֵּ֣ם Verb, Hiphil, Sequential Imperfect, 3rd Person, Masculine, Singular Exodus 24:4 2
וַ/יַּשְׁכֵּ֤ם Verb, Hiphil, Sequential Imperfect, 3rd Person, Masculine, Singular Joshua 7:16 2
וַ/יַּשְׁכֵּ֥ם Verb, Hiphil, Sequential Imperfect, 3rd Person, Masculine, Singular Genesis 19:27 2
וַ/יַּשְׁכֵּם֙ Verb, Hiphil, Sequential Imperfect, 3rd Person, Masculine, Singular 2 Chronicles 29:20 2
אַשְׁכֵּ֥ים Verb, Hiphil, Infinitive Absolute Jeremiah 25:3 1
הִשְׁכִּ֣ימוּ Verb, Hiphil, Perfect, 3rd Person, Common, Plural Zephaniah 3:7 1
הַשְׁכֵּ֑ים Verb, Hiphil, Infinitive Absolute Proverbs 27:14 1
הַשְׁכֵּ֣ים Verb, Hiphil, Infinitive Absolute Jeremiah 35:15 1
הַשְׁכֵּ֥ים Verb, Hiphil, Infinitive Absolute Jeremiah 44:4 1
וְ/הִשְׁכִּ֣ים Verb, Hiphil, Perfect, 3rd Person, Masculine, Singular Job 1:5 1
וְ/הִשְׁכִּים֙ Verb, Hiphil, Sequential Perfect, 3rd Person, Masculine, Singular 2 Samuel 15:2 1
וְ/הִשְׁכַּמְתֶּ֖ם Verb, Hiphil, Perfect, 2nd Person, Masculine, Plural Genesis 19:2 1
וְ/הִשְׁכַּמְתֶּ֣ם Verb, Hiphil, Sequential Perfect, 2nd Person, Masculine, Plural 1 Samuel 29:10 1
וְ/הִשְׁכַּמְתֶּ֤ם Verb, Hiphil, Sequential Perfect, 2nd Person, Masculine, Plural Judges 19:9 1
וְ/הַשְׁכֵּ֥ם Verb, Hiphil, Infinitive Absolute Jeremiah 26:5 1
וַ/יַּשְׁכִּ֗מוּ Verb, Hiphil, Sequential Imperfect, 3rd Person, Masculine, Plural 1 Samuel 9:26 1
וַ/יַּשְׁכִּ֜ימוּ Verb, Hiphil, Sequential Imperfect, 3rd Person, Masculine, Plural Judges 6:28 1
וַ/יַּשְׁכִּ֡ימוּ Verb, Hiphil, Sequential Imperfect, 3rd Person, Masculine, Plural Joshua 8:14 1
וַ/יַּשְׁכִּ֤מוּ Verb, Hiphil, Sequential Imperfect, 3rd Person, Masculine, Plural 1 Samuel 5:3 1
וַ/יַּשְׁכִּ֥ימוּ Verb, Hiphil, Sequential Imperfect, 3rd Person, Masculine, Plural Judges 19:5 1
וַ/יַּשְׁכִּ֨ימוּ֙ Verb, Hiphil, Sequential Imperfect, 3rd Person, Masculine, Plural Exodus 32:6 1
וַ/יַּשְׁכִּ֨מוּ֙ Verb, Hiphil, Sequential Imperfect, 3rd Person, Masculine, Plural Joshua 6:15 1
וַ/יַּשְׁכֵּ֧ם Verb, Hiphil, Sequential Imperfect, 3rd Person, Masculine, Singular 1 Samuel 15:12 1
וַ/יַּשְׁכֵּם֩ Verb, Hiphil, Sequential Imperfect, 3rd Person, Masculine, Singular Joshua 3:1 1
וַ֠/יַּשְׁכֵּם Verb, Hiphil, Sequential Imperfect, 3rd Person, Masculine, Singular 2 Kings 6:15 1
מַשְׁכִּ֣ים Verb, Hiphil, Participle Active, Masculine, Singular, Absolute Hosea 13:3 1
מַשְׁכִּ֥ים Verb, Hiphil, Participle Active, Masculine, Singular, Absolute Hosea 6:4 1
מַשְׁכִּ֪ימֵי Verb, Hiphil, Participle Active, Masculine, Plural, Construct Psalms 127:2 1
מַשְׁכִּימֵ֥י Verb, Hiphil, Participle Active, Masculine, Plural, Construct Isaiah 5:11 1
נַשְׁכִּ֨ימָה֙ Verb, Hiphil, Cohortative, 1st Person, Common, Plural Song of Solomon 7:12 1
תַּשְׁכִּ֖ים Verb, Hiphil, Imperfect, 2nd Person, Masculine, Singular Judges 9:33 1

Same root — word family

Other BDB entries built from the same root as H7925, 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 60 verses that also exist in the Greek Old Testament (Septuagint), out of the 64 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.

Reading settings

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Old Testament
Old Testament edition

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