שֵׁלָה
Shelah
BDB lists 2 entries for ‘Shelah’ fuller range ↓
Full lexicon entry — Brown-Driver-Briggs (BDB)
From Brown-Driver-Briggs (BDB)
Where this word appears
Grammar key — what these labels mean
Part of speech
- Noun
- A naming word — a person, place, thing, or idea.
Noun type
- Proper
- A name of a specific person, place, or people (e.g. Abraham, Zion, Israel).
Every verse where H7956 appears in the Book of Genesis — 5 distinct verses. 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
- Genesis 38:5 שֵׁלָ֑ה n Proper She yet again bore a son, and named him Shelah: and he was at Chezib, when she bore him.
- Genesis 38:11 שֵׁלָ֣ה n Proper Then Judah said to Tamar, his daughter-in-law, "Remain a widow in your father's house, until Shelah, my son, is grown up;" for he said, "Lest he also die, like his brothers." Tamar went and lived in her father's house.
- Genesis 38:14 שֵׁלָ֔ה n Proper She took off of her the garments of her widowhood, and covered herself with her veil, and wrapped herself, and sat in the gate of Enaim, which is by the way to Timnah; for she saw that Shelah was grown up, and she wasn't given to him as a wife.
- Genesis 38:26 לְ/שֵׁלָ֣ה prep + n Proper Judah acknowledged them, and said, "She is more righteous than I, because I didn't give her to Shelah, my son." He knew her again no more.
- Genesis 46:12 וְ/שֵׁלָ֖ה conj + n Proper The sons of Judah: Er, Onan, Shelah, Perez, and Zerah; but Er and Onan died in the land of Canaan. The sons of Perez were Hezron and Hamul.
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, שלה (Shêlâh) means “Shelah.” The word gravitates to Genesis (63%), then 1 Chronicles and Numbers. It appears 8 verses across 3 books of the Hebrew Bible, among its uncommon vocabulary. First canonically at Genesis 38:5, it enters the text early. Each statement above links to its evidence; the full detail follows below.
Gloss history
Strong's 1890 vs modern scholarship
About this word
Strong's H7956 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 →
- 8
- distinct verses
- The word appears in 8 distinct verses.
- 3 / 39
- OT books
- The word appears in 3 of 39 Old Testament books.
- #2,625
- by frequency
- Top 5000 most frequent Hebrew words (rank 2,625 of 8,640 Hebrew words by occurrence).
View all 8 occurrences in the concordance →
Most concentrated in
- Genesis 5 verses 63%
- 1 Chronicles 2 verses 25%
- Numbers 1 verse 13%
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 8 distinct verses.
- Torah (Pentateuch) 6 verses · 75%
- Writings (Ketuvim) 2 verses · 25%
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 2 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†: Shelah 6×
- American Standard Version†: Shelah 5×
- Berean Standard Bible†: Shelah 7×
- unfoldingWord Literal Text†: Shelah 8×
King James Version Public Domain
Renders H7956 across 8† 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.
American Standard Version Public Domain
Renders H7956 across 8† 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 H7956 across 8† 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.
unfoldingWord Literal Text CC BY-SA 4.0
Renders H7956 across 8† 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 2 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.
שלה I [i. שֵׁלָה] n.f. request, thing asked for
- 1. request, petition, Ju 8:24; 1 K 2:16, 20 (both acc. cogn. c. שָׁאַל), Est 5:6, 7 (c. נָתַן = grant), 7:2, 3; 9:12. This passes easily into e.g. Judges 8:24
- 2. thing asked for, 1 S 2:20, c. נָתַן 1:17, 27; Est 5:8 ψ 106:15; תָּבוֹא שׁ׳ Jb 6:8.—ii. שֵׁלָה v. infr. אֶשְׁתָּאֹל n.pr.m., v. p. 84a. e.g. 1 Samuel 2:20
שלה II m. son of Judah, Σηλωμ[ν]
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. [i. שֵׁלָה] n.f. request, thing asked for;—שְׁא׳ Ju 8:24 +; sf. שְׁאֵלָתִי 1 S 1:27 +, שֶׁאֱלָתִי Jb 6:8, שְׁאֵלָתֵךְ Est 5:6 +, שֵׁלָתֵךְ 1 S 1:17, שֶׁאֱלָתָם ψ 106:15;—
II. n.pr.m. son of Judah, Σηλωμ[ν]: Gn 38:5, 11, 14, 26 (J), 46:12 (P); Nu 26:20 (P), 1 Ch 2:3; 4:21.
— Brown-Driver-Briggs (Oxford 1906, public domain), digitized via Sefaria, supplemented by the OpenScriptures HebrewLexicon (CC BY 4.0). See Sources.
Derived from שאלה (shᵉʼêlâh) (H7596) — petition.
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.
שָׁלָה
- , v. שלי
שְׁלָה
- (v. שָׁלֵו)
- 1. to hang down; denom. שִׁלְהֵי.
- 2. (denom. of שִׁלְהֵי) to end, complete. Targ. Is. X, 32 כד יִשְׁלֶה עלמא וכ׳ (prob. to be read: יַשְׁלֶה) when the world shall have completed its (Messianic) period; (Targ. Y. II, Ex. XII, 42 יַשְׁלִים).
- 3. to be at ease; v. שַׁלְהַיָּא.
שלי
- Job XXVII, 8) to draw out, pull. Taan. 24ᵃ; Sabb. 107ᵇ השׁוֹלֶה דג וכ׳ he that takes a fish out of the water (on the Sabbath). Ḥull. 63ᵃ (expl. שָׁלָךְ, Lev. XI, 17) זה השולה דגים וכ׳ that is the bird that catches fish out of the sea. M. Kat. II, 3 ושולה פשתנו וכ׳ and may take his flax out of the pond. Yalk. Koh. 966 אדם שוקע … שולה ראשון if one sinks pots into his furnace, he takes out first what he has last put in; a. fr.—[Y. Maas. Sh. III, 53ᶜ top שולה, read: שורה, v. שָׁרָה.] e.g. Job 27:8
- same, esp. to draw wine (out of the pit). Ab. Zar. 56ᵃ; B. Mets. 92ᵇ היין … משׁיְשַׁלֶּה בחביות wine is subject to tithes …, when he fills it into kegs; Y. Ter. II, 41ᵇ bot. משישלה ומשיקפה (not משיקיפה) when he has filled and skimmed it; עד שלא שי׳ וכ׳ before he filled or skimmed it. Tosef. Maasr. I, 7 המקדיש … עד שלא שילה וקיפה מששילה וקיפה וכ׳ (ed. Zuck. שולה וקופה וכ׳, corr. acc.) if one dedicates the contents of a pit before he has drawn and skimmed the wine, and the Temple collector comes after he has done so &c.; a. e.
- to be pulled, drawn away. Gen. R. s. 22, beg. (ref. to Gen. IV, 1) ידע מאיזו שלוה נ׳ he knew from what happiness he was drawn away (through his wife). e.g. Genesis 4:1
שלי ²
- II, v. שָׁלֵו
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 H7956 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| שֵׁלָ֣ה | Noun, Proper | Genesis 38:11 | 2 |
| וְ/שֵׁלָ֔ה | Noun, Proper | 1 Chronicles 2:3 | 1 |
| וְ/שֵׁלָ֖ה | Noun, Proper | Genesis 46:12 | 1 |
| לְ/שֵׁלָ֗ה | Noun, Proper | Numbers 26:20 | 1 |
| לְ/שֵׁלָ֣ה | Noun, Proper | Genesis 38:26 | 1 |
| שֵׁלָ֑ה | Noun, Proper | Genesis 38:5 | 1 |
| שֵׁלָ֔ה | Noun, Proper | Genesis 38:14 | 1 |
Same root — word family
Other BDB entries built from the same root as H7956, 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
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 → 1 of the same-root words is a proper name (a person or place). They share a root, not necessarily a meaning.
Bible dictionary
Public-domain dictionary articles matched to this entry by name (Shelah). A biblical name can be shared by more than one person or place, so an article may treat several.
Easton's Bible Dictionary · M. G. Easton, 1897
Petition. (1.) Judah's third son (Gen. 38:2, 5, 11, 14).
(2.) A son of Arphaxad (1 Chr. 1:18).
Smith's Bible Dictionary · William Smith, 1863
(a petition).
+ The youngest son of Judah. (Genesis 38:5,11,14,26; 46:10; Numbers 26:20; 1 Chronicles 2:3; 4:21) (B.C. before 1706.) + The proper form of the name of Salah. (1 Chronicles 1:18,24)
Hitchcock's Bible Names Dictionary · Roswell D. Hitchcock, 1869
that breaks; that unties; that undresses
Classic public-domain reference works; full attribution on Sources.
Septuagint verse parallels
This word appears in 8 verses that also exist in the Greek Old Testament (Septuagint), out of the 8 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.
