שָׁלָל
plunder
also: prey, spoil, booty fuller range ↓
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.
41 distinct verses where H7998 appears in the Absolute state, across 17 books. 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 1 verse
Exodus 1 verse
Numbers 2 verses
- Numbers 31:11 הַ/שָּׁלָ֔ל ptcl def.art + n c ms They took all the spoil, and all the prey, both of man and of animal.
- Numbers 31:12 הַ/שָּׁלָ֖ל ptcl def.art + n c ms They brought the captives, and the prey, and the spoil, to Moses, and to Eleazar the priest, and to the congregation of the children of Israel, to the camp at the plains of Moab, which are by the Jordan at Jericho.
Joshua 1 verse
Judges 1 verse
1 Samuel 7 verses
- 1 Samuel 14:32 שלל הַ/שָּׁלָ֔ל n c ms ptcl def.art + n c ms and the people flew on the spoil, and took sheep, and oxen, and calves, and killed them on the ground; and the people ate them with the blood.
- 1 Samuel 15:19 הַ/שָּׁלָ֔ל ptcl def.art + n c ms Why then didn't you obey the voice of Yahweh, but flew on the spoil, and did that which was evil in the sight of Yahweh?"
- 1 Samuel 15:21 מֵ/הַ/שָּׁלָ֛ל prep + ptcl def.art + n c ms But the people took of the spoil, sheep and oxen, the chief of the devoted things, to sacrifice to Yahweh your God in Gilgal.
- 1 Samuel 30:16 הַ/שָּׁלָ֣ל ptcl def.art + n c ms When he had brought him down, behold, they were spread abroad over all the ground, eating and drinking, and dancing, because of all the great spoil that they had taken out of the land of the Philistines, and out of the land of Judah.
- 1 Samuel 30:19 וּ/מִ/שָּׁלָ֔ל conj + prep + n c ms There was nothing lacking to them, neither small nor great, neither sons nor daughters, neither spoil, nor anything that they had taken to them: David brought back all.
- 1 Samuel 30:22 מֵ/הַ/שָּׁלָ֖ל prep + ptcl def.art + n c ms Then answered all the wicked men and base fellows, of those who went with David, and said, Because they didn't go with us, we will not give them anything of the spoil that we have recovered, except to every man his wife and his children, that he may lead them away, and depart.
- 1 Samuel 30:26 מֵֽ/הַ/שָּׁלָ֛ל מִ/שְּׁלַ֖ל prep + ptcl def.art + n c ms prep + n c ms cs When David came to Ziklag, he sent of the spoil to the elders of Judah, even to his friends, saying, Behold, a present for you of the spoil of the enemies of Yahweh:
2 Samuel 1 verse
2 Kings 1 verse
1 Chronicles 1 verse
2 Chronicles 5 verses
- 2 Chronicles 14:13 שָׁלָ֖ל n c ms Asa and the people who were with him pursued them to Gerar: and there fell of the Ethiopians so many that they could not recover themselves; for they were destroyed before Yahweh, and before his host; and they carried away very much booty.
- 2 Chronicles 15:11 הַ/שָּׁלָ֖ל ptcl def.art + n c ms They sacrificed to Yahweh in that day, of the spoil which they had brought, seven hundred oxen and seven thousand sheep.
- 2 Chronicles 20:25 שְׁלָלָ/ם֒ הַ/שָּׁלָ֖ל n c ms cs + sfx pers 3mp ptcl def.art + n c ms When Jehoshaphat and his people came to take the spoil of them, they found among them in abundance both riches and dead bodies, and precious jewels, which they stripped off for themselves, more than they could carry away: and they were three days in taking the spoil, it was so much.
- 2 Chronicles 28:8 שָׁלָ֥ל הַ/שָּׁלָ֖ל n c ms ptcl def.art + n c ms The children of Israel carried away captive of their brothers two hundred thousand, women, sons, and daughters, and took also away much spoil from them, and brought the spoil to Samaria.
- 2 Chronicles 28:15 הַ/שָּׁלָל֒ ptcl def.art + n c ms The men who have been mentioned by name rose up, and took the captives, and with the spoil clothed all who were naked among them, and arrayed them, and shod them, and gave them to eat and to drink, and anointed them, and carried all the feeble of them on donkeys, and brought them to Jericho, the city of palm trees, to their brothers: then they returned to Samaria.
Psalms 2 verses
Proverbs 3 verses
- Proverbs 1:13 שָׁלָֽל n c ms We'll find all valuable wealth. We'll fill our houses with spoil.
- Proverbs 16:19 שָׁ֝לָ֗ל n c ms It is better to be of a lowly spirit with the poor, Than to divide the plunder with the proud.
- Proverbs 31:11 וְ֝/שָׁלָ֗ל conj + n c ms The heart of her husband trusts in her. He shall have no lack of gain.
Isaiah 4 verses
- Isaiah 9:3 שָׁלָֽל n c ms You have multiplied the nation, you have increased their joy: they joy before you according to the joy in harvest, as men rejoice when they divide the spoil.
- Isaiah 10:6 שָׁלָל֙ n c ms I will send him against a profane nation, and against the people of my wrath will I give him a charge, to take the spoil, and to take the prey, and to tread them down like the mire of the streets.
- Isaiah 33:23 שָׁלָל֙ n c ms Your rigging is untied; they could not strengthen the foot of their mast, they could not spread the sail: then was the prey of a great spoil divided; the lame took the prey.
- Isaiah 53:12 שָׁלָל֒ n c ms Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he poured out his soul to death, and was numbered with the transgressors: yet he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.
Jeremiah 6 verses
- Jeremiah 21:9 לְ/שָׁלָֽל prep + n c ms He who remains in this city shall die by the sword, and by the famine, and by the pestilence; but he who goes out, and passes over to the Chaldeans who besiege you, he shall live, and his life shall be to him for a prey.
- Jeremiah 38:2 לְ/שָׁלָ֖ל prep + n c ms Thus says Yahweh, He who remains in this city shall die by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence; but he who goes forth to the Chaldeans shall live, and his life shall be to him for a prey, and he shall live.
- Jeremiah 39:18 לְ/שָׁלָ֔ל prep + n c ms For I will surely save you, and you shall not fall by the sword, but your life shall be for a prey to you; because you have put your trust in me, says Yahweh.
- Jeremiah 45:5 לְ/שָׁלָ֔ל prep + n c ms Seek you great things for yourself? Don't seek them; for, behold, I will bring evil on all flesh, says Yahweh; but your life will I give to you for a prey in all places where you go.
- Jeremiah 49:32 לְ/שָׁלָ֔ל prep + n c ms Their camels shall be a booty, and the multitude of their cattle a spoil: and I will scatter to all winds those who have the corners [of their hair] cut off; and I will bring their calamity from every side of them, says Yahweh.
- Jeremiah 50:10 לְ/שָׁלָ֑ל prep + n c ms Chaldea shall be a prey: all who prey on her shall be satisfied, says Yahweh.
Ezekiel 3 verses
- Ezekiel 7:21 לְ/שָׁלָ֑ל prep + n c ms I will give it into the hands of the strangers for a prey, and to the wicked of the earth for a spoil; and they shall profane it.
- Ezekiel 38:12 שָׁלָ֖ל n c ms to take the spoil and to take the prey; to turn your hand against the waste places that are [now] inhabited, and against the people who are gathered out of the nations, who have gotten cattle and goods, who dwell in the middle of the earth.
- Ezekiel 38:13 שָׁלָל֙ שָׁלָ֥ל n c ms n c ms Sheba, and Dedan, and the merchants of Tarshish, with all the young lions of it, shall tell you, Are you come to take the spoil? have you assembled your company to take the prey? to carry away silver and gold, to take away cattle and goods, to take great spoil?
Daniel 1 verse
Zechariah 1 verse
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 noun שלל centers on the idea of “plunder.” Where the King James Version says “spoil,” newer translations reach for “plunder” (Berean Standard Bible); the renderings breakdown has the detail. It appears 64 verses across 19 books of the Hebrew Bible, among its moderately common vocabulary. Debuting at Genesis 49:27, it then recurs through the corpus. Alongside “plunder” the lexicon also lists “prey”, “spoil”, and “booty” — part of its full sense range. For the data behind this summary, explore the sense tree and the renderings breakdown below.
Gloss history
Strong's 1890 vs modern scholarship
About this word
Strong's H7998 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.
- 19 / 39
- OT books
- The word appears in 19 of 39 Old Testament books.
- #536
- by frequency
- Top 1000 most frequent Hebrew words (rank 536 of 8,640 Hebrew words by occurrence).
View all 64 occurrences in the concordance →
Most concentrated in
- 1 Samuel 9 verses 14%
- Isaiah 7 verses 11%
- 2 Chronicles 6 verses 9%
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 64 distinct verses.
- Prophets (Nevi'im) 40 verses · 63%
- Writings (Ketuvim) 16 verses · 25%
- Torah (Pentateuch) 8 verses · 13%
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: Spoil 46×, All the spoil 6×, Prey 6×
- American Standard Version: Spoil 45×, All the spoil 4×, All the plunder 2×
- Berean Standard Bible: Plunder 40×, Spoil 12×, Spoils 4×
- unfoldingWord Literal Text: Plunder 22×, Spoil 22×, Spoil of 8×
King James Version Public Domain
Renders H7998 across 73 tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus 12 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 H7998 across 73 tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus 18 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 H7998 across 73 tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus 12 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 H7998 across 74 tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus 8 renderings that appear only once — usually multi-word phrases or single function words the recovered tagging swept in, not distinct renderings.
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.
- 1. prey, of Benj. as wolf Gn 49:27 (poem in J; c. חִלֵּק). e.g. Genesis 49:27
- 2. booty, spoil of war, of all kinds (often ‖ בַּז): incl. garments, gold and silver Jos 7:21 (J), ornaments Ju 8:24, 25, fabrics and women 5:30 a, b, flocks and herds 1 S 30:20; Je 49:32; 2 Ch 15:11, + persons Dt 20:14(×2), garments, food and drink 2 Ch 28:15, etc. (58 times; among these) שְׁלַל הֶעָרִים Dt 2:25; 2 S 12:30; 1 Ch 20:2 and (+ cattle in addition) Dt 3:7, Jos 8:27; 11:14 (both RD), cf. (also of city) Is 8:4; Dt 13:17(×2); Zc 14:1 and (+ cattle) Jos 8:2 (RD), but incl. pers. and cattle Dt 20:14, cf. v 14; fig. of entire nation Je 50:10; Ez 7:21; Zc 2:13; שׁ׳ in symbol. n.pr. מַהֵר שָׁלָל וגו׳ Is 8:1, 3, v. supr. p. 555a; שׁ׳ in metaph. of future majesty of עֶבֶד י׳ Is 53:12; וְהֳיְתָה־לּוֹ נַפְשׁוֹ לְשׁ׳ i.e. life shall be spared, Je 21:9; 38:2; 39:18, cf. 45:5. e.g. Joshua 7:21
- 3. private plunder Is 10:2 (אַלְמָנוֹת שְׁלָלָם), Pr 1:13 and (perhaps in current saying) 16:19. e.g. Isaiah 10:2
- 4. = gain Pr 31:11.—לְצַוְּארֵי שׁ׳ Ju 5:30c is clearly wrong; meaning dub. (v. especially GFM); plausible conj. are לְצַוָּארַי שׁ׳ for my neck as spoil, Reuss Br al., and לְצַוְּארֵי שֵׁגָל for the neck of the queen Ew Be Kit al. (but שֵׁגָל elsewhere late); Now del. שָׁלָל and reads לְצַוָּארָיו. e.g. Proverbs 31:11
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
n.m. 1 S 30:16 prey, spoil, plunder, booty;—abs. שׁ׳ Gn 49:27 +; cstr. שְׁלַל Ju 5:30 +, sf. שְׁלָלֵךְ Zc 14:1, שְׁלַלְכֶם Is 33:4, etc.;—
— Brown-Driver-Briggs (Oxford 1906, public domain), digitized via Sefaria, supplemented by the OpenScriptures HebrewLexicon (CC BY 4.0). See Sources.
Derived from שלל (shâlal) (H7997) — to plunder.
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.
שָׁלַל I
- [to hang down, be loose,]
- 1. to hang on, to chain. Part. pass. שָׁלוּל. Lam. R. introd. (R. Z’ʿera) כת … שְׁלוּלִים בשלשלאות a troop of old men chained with chains.
- 2. to make chain-stitches, to baste, opp. אחה to sew together with fine stitches. Y. M. Kat. III, 82ᵇ top על כל המתים הוא שׁוֹלֵל … ומאחה וכ׳ for all deceased relatives one may baste the rent after seven days, and sew it after thirty days; ויִשְׁלוֹל יום שביעי וכ׳ let him be permitted to baste it on the seventh day &c.; Treat. S’maḥ. ch. IX; M. Kat. 22ᵇ. Ib. האשה שׁוֹלַלְתּוֹ וכ׳ a woman may baste it immediately (after rending), out of regard for her dignity; ib. 26ᵇ. Ib. דלא ניתן לשׁוֹלְלוֹ because it is not to be basted (during the seven days); a. e.
- to hang with, decorate with.—Part. pass. מְשׁוּלָּל. Mekh. B’shall., s. 1 מְשׁוּלָּלִין בזיין, v. שָׁלִישׁ.
שָׁלַל II
- (b. h.) to draw, capture; to carry off. Pirké d’R. El. ch. XXXVIII; Yalk. Gen. 134 שְׁלָלָהּ וכ׳ he (Shechem) carried her off and slept with her.—Trnsf. (of water) to make inroads. B. Kam. 61ᵃ, a. e. שׁוֹלְלִין, v. שְׁלוּלִית.
- to be bereft (of reason), be senseless. Snh. 97ᵃ (expl. Is. LIX, 15) וסר מרע מִשְׁתּוֹלֵל על הבריות he that departs from evil is considered by people as senseless. e.g. Isaiah 59:15
שָׁלָל I
- preced.) booty, gain. B. Kam. 61ᵃ, v. אֲגַף. Ex. R. s. 18 (ref. to Is. VIII, 3) ומיהר לבוז שְׁלָלָם (ed. Leipz. שלול, read: שְׁלָלוֹ) and he shall hasten to plunder their (his) booty. Mekh. B’shall., Shir., s. 7 [read:] מוחלק אני להם שְׁלָלִי וממוני להם I am assigned to them, my booty and my own property shall be theirs; Yalk. Ex. 249; a. e. e.g. Isaiah 8:3
שָׁלָל II
- (שָׁלַל 1) chain, loose stitch, baste. M. Kat. 26ᵇ הקורע מתוך הש׳ he who rends his garment (in mourning) where it has been stitched; Y. ib. III, 83ᵇ top מן הש׳. Ukts. II, 6 שְׁלַל הכובסין the washers’ materials loosely stitched together; Sabb. 48ᵇ ש׳ של כובסים.—Trnsf. ש׳ של ביצים embryonic eggs laced together with veins; ovary of birds. Tosef. Zab. V, 9; Bets. 7ᵃ
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 48 distinct written forms H7998 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.
Same root — word family
Other BDB entries built from the same root as H7998, 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
Shares the same root
Compare all same-root words → They share a root, not necessarily a meaning.
Septuagint verse parallels
This word appears in 62 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
- Genesis 49:27
- Exodus 15:9
- Numbers 31:11
- Deuteronomy 2:35
- Joshua 7:21
- Judges 5:30
- 1 Samuel 14:30
- 2 Samuel 3:22
- 2 Kings 3:23
- 1 Chronicles 20:2
- 2 Chronicles 14:13
- Esther 3:13
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.
