שְׁנַ֫יִם
two
‘two’ is one of 5 main senses 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
- Adjective
- A word that describes or qualifies a noun.
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.
- Feminine
- Grammatically feminine.
Number
- Dual
- Exactly two — for natural pairs and some measures of time.
Every verse where H8147 appears in the Book of 1 Chronicles — 41 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.
1 Chronicles
- 1 Chronicles 1:19 שְׁנֵ֣י adj Cardinal number md cs To Eber were born two sons: the name of the one was Peleg; for in his days the earth was divided; and his brother's name was Joktan.
- 1 Chronicles 4:5 שְׁתֵּ֣י adj Cardinal number fd cs Ashhur the father of Tekoa had two wives, Helah and Naarah.
- 1 Chronicles 6:63 שְׁתֵּ֥ים adj Cardinal number fd To the sons of Merari [were given] by lot, according to their families, out of the tribe of Reuben, and out of the tribe of Gad, and out of the tribe of Zebulun, twelve cities.
- 1 Chronicles 7:2 וּ/שְׁנַ֥יִם conj + Adjective Cardinal number md The sons of Tola: Uzzi, and Rephaiah, and Jeriel, and Jahmai, and Ibsam, and Shemuel, heads of their fathers' houses, [to wit], of Tola; mighty men of valor in their generations: their number in the days of David was twenty-two thousand six hundred.
- 1 Chronicles 7:7 וּ/שְׁנַ֨יִם֙ conj + Adjective Cardinal number md The sons of Bela: Ezbon, and Uzzi, and Uzziel, and Jerimoth, and Iri, five; heads of fathers' houses, mighty men of valor; and they were reckoned by genealogy twenty-two thousand thirty-four.
- 1 Chronicles 9:22 וּ/שְׁנֵ֣ים conj + Adjective Cardinal number md All these who were chosen to be porters in the thresholds were two hundred and twelve. These were reckoned by genealogy in their villages, whom David and Samuel the seer did ordain in their office of trust.
- 1 Chronicles 11:21 בַ/שְּׁנַ֨יִם֙ prep det + Adjective Cardinal number md Of the three, he was more honorable than the two, and was made their captain: however he didn't attain to the [first] three.
- 1 Chronicles 11:22 שְׁנֵ֤י adj Cardinal number md cs Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, the son of a valiant man of Kabzeel, who had done mighty deeds, he killed the two [sons of] Ariel of Moab: he went down also and killed a lion in the midst of a pit in time of snow.
- 1 Chronicles 12:28 וּ/שְׁנָֽיִם conj + Adjective Cardinal number md and Zadok, a young man mighty of valor, and of his father's house twenty-two captains.
- 1 Chronicles 15:10 וּ/שְׁנֵ֥ים conj + Adjective Cardinal number md of the sons of Uzziel, Amminadab the chief, and his brothers one hundred twelve.
- 1 Chronicles 18:5 וּ/שְׁנַ֥יִם conj + Adjective Cardinal number md When the Syrians of Damascus came to help Hadarezer king of Zobah, David struck of the Syrians twenty-two thousand men.
- 1 Chronicles 19:7 שְׁנַיִם֩ adj Cardinal number md So they hired them thirty-two thousand chariots, and the king of Maacah and his people, who came and encamped before Medeba. The children of Ammon gathered themselves together from their cities, and came to battle.
- 1 Chronicles 24:12 שְׁנֵ֥ים adj Cardinal number md the eleventh to Eliashib, the twelfth to Jakim,
- 1 Chronicles 24:17 שְׁנַ֥יִם adj Cardinal number md the twenty-first to Jachin, the twenty-second to Gamul,
- 1 Chronicles 25:9 שְׁנֵ֥ים adj Cardinal number md Now the first lot came forth for Asaph to Joseph: the second to Gedaliah; he and his brothers and sons were twelve:
- 1 Chronicles 25:10 שְׁנֵ֥ים adj Cardinal number md the third to Zaccur, his sons and his brothers, twelve:
- 1 Chronicles 25:11 שְׁנֵ֥ים adj Cardinal number md the fourth to Izri, his sons and his brothers, twelve:
- 1 Chronicles 25:12 שְׁנֵ֥ים adj Cardinal number md the fifth to Nethaniah, his sons and his brothers, twelve:
- 1 Chronicles 25:13 שְׁנֵ֥ים adj Cardinal number md the sixth to Bukkiah, his sons and his brothers, twelve:
- 1 Chronicles 25:14 שְׁנֵ֥ים adj Cardinal number md the seventh to Jesharelah, his sons and his brothers, twelve:
- 1 Chronicles 25:15 שְׁנֵ֥ים adj Cardinal number md the eighth to Jeshaiah, his sons and his brothers, twelve:
- 1 Chronicles 25:16 שְׁנֵ֥ים adj Cardinal number md the ninth to Mattaniah, his sons and his brothers, twelve:
- 1 Chronicles 25:17 שְׁנֵ֥ים adj Cardinal number md the tenth to Shimei, his sons and his brothers, twelve:
- 1 Chronicles 25:18 שְׁנֵ֥ים adj Cardinal number md the eleventh to Azarel, his sons and his brothers, twelve:
- 1 Chronicles 25:19 הַ/שְּׁנֵ֤ים שְׁנֵ֥ים ptcl def.art + Adjective Cardinal number md adj Cardinal number md the twelfth to Hashabiah, his sons and his brothers, twelve:
- 1 Chronicles 25:20 שְׁנֵ֥ים adj Cardinal number md for the thirteenth, Shubael, his sons and his brothers, twelve:
- 1 Chronicles 25:21 שְׁנֵ֥ים adj Cardinal number md for the fourteenth, Mattithiah, his sons and his brothers, twelve:
- 1 Chronicles 25:22 שְׁנֵ֥ים adj Cardinal number md for the fifteenth to Jeremoth, his sons and his brothers, twelve:
- 1 Chronicles 25:23 שְׁנֵ֥ים adj Cardinal number md for the sixteenth to Hananiah, his sons and his brothers, twelve:
- 1 Chronicles 25:24 שְׁנֵ֥ים adj Cardinal number md for the seventeenth to Joshbekashah, his sons and his brothers, twelve:
- 1 Chronicles 25:25 שְׁנֵ֥ים adj Cardinal number md for the eighteenth to Hanani, his sons and his brothers, twelve:
- 1 Chronicles 25:26 שְׁנֵ֥ים adj Cardinal number md for the nineteenth to Mallothi, his sons and his brothers, twelve:
- 1 Chronicles 25:27 שְׁנֵ֥ים adj Cardinal number md for the twentieth to Eliathah, his sons and his brothers, twelve:
- 1 Chronicles 25:28 שְׁנֵ֥ים adj Cardinal number md for the one and twentieth to Hothir, his sons and his brothers, twelve:
- 1 Chronicles 25:29 לִ/שְׁנַ֤יִם שְׁנֵ֥ים prep + Adjective Cardinal number md adj Cardinal number md for the two and twentieth to Giddalti, his sons and his brothers, twelve:
- 1 Chronicles 25:30 שְׁנֵ֥ים adj Cardinal number md for the three and twentieth to Mahazioth, his sons and his brothers, twelve:
- 1 Chronicles 25:31 שְׁנֵ֥ים adj Cardinal number md for the four and twentieth to Romamtiezer, his sons and his brothers, twelve.
- 1 Chronicles 26:8 וּ/שְׁנַ֖יִם conj + Adjective Cardinal number md All these were of the sons of Obed-edom: they and their sons and their brothers, able men in strength for the service; sixty-two of Obed-edom.
- 1 Chronicles 26:17 שְׁנַ֥יִם שְׁנָֽיִם adj Cardinal number md adj Cardinal number md Eastward were six Levites, northward four a day, southward four a day, and for the store-house two and two.
- 1 Chronicles 26:18 שְׁנַ֖יִם adj Cardinal number md For Parbar westward, four at the causeway, and two at Parbar.
- 1 Chronicles 27:15 הַ/שְּׁנֵ֤ים לִ/שְׁנֵ֣ים ptcl def.art + Adjective Cardinal number md prep + Adjective Cardinal number md The twelfth [captain] for the twelfth month was Heldai the Netophathite, of Othniel: and in his division were twenty-four thousand.
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, שנים (shᵉnayim) means “two.” Not a single-sense word: explore its full sense range. Spanning 645 verses in 31 books, it ranks among the most common words of the Hebrew Bible. It first appears in Genesis 1:16. Sharing its root, it stands alongside שני, תנין and תרין. 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 H8147 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 →
- 645
- distinct verses
- The word appears in 645 distinct verses.
- 31 / 39
- OT books
- The word appears in 31 of 39 Old Testament books.
- #63
- by frequency
- Top 100 most frequent Hebrew words (rank 63 of 8,640 Hebrew words by occurrence).
View all 645 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 645 distinct verses.
- Torah (Pentateuch) 256 verses · 40%
- Prophets (Nevi'im) 240 verses · 37%
- Writings (Ketuvim) 149 verses · 23%
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: Two 430×, Both 54×, Twelve 51×
- American Standard Version: Two 396×, Twelve 70×, Both 47×
- Berean Standard Bible: Two 342×, Twelve 57×, Both 48×
- unfoldingWord Literal Text: Two 393×, Two of them 51×, Two of 39×
King James Version Public Domain
Renders H8147 across 754 tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus other, less common renderings. Plus 86 renderings that appear only once — usually multi-word phrases or single function words the recovered tagging swept in, not distinct renderings. Not rendered by a distinct English word in 15 further occurrences.
American Standard Version Public Domain
Renders H8147 across 749 tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus other, less common renderings. Plus 112 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 H8147 across 603 tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus other, less common renderings. Plus 53 renderings that appear only once — usually multi-word phrases or single function words the recovered tagging swept in, not distinct renderings. Not rendered by a distinct English word in 159 further occurrences.
unfoldingWord Literal Text CC BY-SA 4.0
Renders H8147 across 706 tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus other, less common renderings. Plus 36 renderings that appear only once — usually multi-word phrases or single function words the recovered tagging swept in, not distinct renderings. Not rendered by a distinct English word in 120 further occurrences.
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 5 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. no other num.:
- a. usually cstr. before n.pl. (צְמִידִים) שְׁנֵי Gn 24:22 + 194 times + 2 S 23:20 ‖ 1 Ch 11:22 (ins. בְּנֵי 𝔊 Th mod., otherwise RSSem. i. 469, 2nd ed., 488); (נָשִׁים) שְׁתֵּי Gn 4:19 + 132 times, 1 S 10:4 ins. כִּכְּרוֹת Klo HPS Bu Now; Lv 16:21 read du. יָדָיו Qr, + Ju 16:28 (v. supr.) + שְׁתֵּי־אֵלֶּה Is 47:9 both these thing; before n.sg., שְׁנֵי Ex 16:22 (Ges§ 134e); sf. שְׁנֵיהֶם the two of them Gn 2:25 + 62 times, + Pr 24:22 (> their years 𝔖 𝔗 De al.; prob. crpt., v. Toy), שְׁנֵינוּ Gn 31:37 + 2 times, שְׁנֵיכֶם †Gn 27:45; שְׁתֵּיהֶם (msf.! Ges§ 135 o) †Ru 1:19; 4:11, יהֶן—ֵ †1 S 25:43; Ez 23:13. e.g. Genesis 24:22
- b. abs. (1) שְׁנַ֫יִם (90 times), before n.pl. Ju 11:37 + 26 times; after n.pl. 2 S 1:1; Ex 29:1 + 21 times (usually P Chr), n.sg. (coll.) Gn 46:27 Nu 7:17 + 11 times Nu 17; n. om. Gn 7:2; 44:27 + 26 times; שׁ׳ שׁ׳ distrib. Gn 7:9 +; לִשׁ׳ cut in two †2 K 3:25; Je 34:18; = double amount †Ex 22:3, 6, 8 (E); פִּי שׁ׳ †Dt 21:17 two-thirds, + בְּרוּחֲךָ †2 K 2:9 in (of) thy spirit, + בָּהּ †Zc 13:8; (2) שְׁתַּ֫יִם (55 times), bef. n.pl.; 1 K 3:16 + 16 times; after n.pl. (usually P and late) 2 Ch 24:3 + 9 times; n. om., = two things †Is 51:19 Jb 13:20 Pr 30:7; שְׁתַּיִם = twice †2 K 6:10 Jb 40:5 ψ 62:12 (or as Pr 30:7), בִּשׁ׳ Jb 33:14 either so, or in two ways RVm (v. De); as ordin. בִּשְׁנַת שְׁתַּיִם לְ 1 K 15:25 + 9 times, etc.; (3) as round number, שְׁנַיִם עֵצִים 1 K 17:12 a few sticks (Germ. ‘ein paar’), cf. 2 K 9:32 Is 17:6; שְׁתַּיִם שָׁלשׁ Am 4:8, פַּעַם וּשְׁתָּ֑יִם Ne 13:20, cf. Je 3:14 אֶחָד מֵעִיר וּשְׁנַיִם מִמִּשְׁפָחָה = a small no.; Ezr 10:13 not for one or two days (but for many), 2 K 6:10. e.g. Judges 11:37
- 2. twelve: c. n.m. שְׁנֵים עָשָׂר Gn 42:13 + 87 times, לִשְׁנֵי עָשָׂר Ex 28:21 + 4 times; c. n.f. שְׁתֵּים עֶשְׂרֵה Ex 24:4 + 34 times, שְׁתֵּי עֶשְׂרֵה †Ez 32:1, 17; 33:21; before n.pl. Gn 17:20; Ex 15:27 +; after n.pl. Nu 7:84(×2) +; before n.sg. Ex 28:21 +, Gn 14:4 (12 year) +, etc.; as ord., בְּיוֹם שְׁנֵים עָשָׂר יוֹם Nu 7:78, בִּשְׁתֵּי עֶשְׂרֵה שָׁנָה Ez 32:1 +, etc. e.g. Genesis 42:13
- 3. with large num.: 10 (etc.) + 2, 2 S 8:5; Ju 10:3 + 56 times; 2 + 10 (etc.) Nu 1:35 (P), 2 Ch 22:2 + 18 times (Köii. 1, 215 ff. Ges§ 97 f.); 200 + 2 + 30, 1 K 20:15; 50 + 2 as ord. 2 K 15:27 + 2 times; cf. 2 + 20, 1 Ch 24:17. e.g. 2 Samuel 8:5
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
(PhilipiZMG xlix (1895), 202 Ges§ 97b note)768 n.m. et f.du. two (NH id.; Ph. אשנם (and שני second), Pun. שנם Lzb380; Arabic اِثنَانِ; Sab. תֿני HomChr 47, Aramaic תְּרֵין, ܬܪܶܝܢ (תִּנְיָנָא, ܬܶܢܝܳܢܳܐ second); Nab. תרין, Palm. f. תרתן, תרתיא, Lzb388; Assyrian šinâ; on etym v. √, and especially PhilippiZMG xxxii (1878), 21–98);—m. (c. n.m.) שְׁנַיִם Am 3:3 +; cstr. שְׁנֵי Is 7:16 +, sf. שְׁנֵיהֶם Gn 2:25 +, etc.; f. (c. n.f.) שְׁתַּיִם Am 4:8 +; cstr. שְׁתֵּי Gn 4:19, וּשְׁתֵּי Is 7:21 +, etc., מִשְּׁתֵֿי Ju 16:28 (v. GFM); sfs. v. infr. (2 + 10 = 12, v. infr.); Hex chiefly P:—two:
— Brown-Driver-Briggs (Oxford 1906, public domain), digitized via Sefaria, supplemented by the OpenScriptures HebrewLexicon (CC BY 4.0). See Sources.
Derived from שני (shênîy) (H8145) — second.
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.
שָׁנִי
- (b. h.) scarlet; תולעת ש׳, v. תֹּולֵעָה.—Pl. שָׁנִים. Sabb. 89ᵇ (ref. to Is. I, 18) כשנים כשני מיבעי ליה וכ׳ kasshanim? it ought to read kasshani (as scarlet) &c.; Yalk. Is. 256; a. e., v. שָׁנָה II. e.g. Isaiah 1:18
שְׁנַיִם
- (b. h.) two. Ber. 8ᵃ ש׳ מקרא ואחד תרגום reading the Scriptural portion of the week twice, and the Targum once. Ib. שיעור ש׳ פתחים a distance of two gates. Zeb. V, 4, v. מַתָּנָה. Sabb. I, 1 ש׳ שהן ארבע two ways of transfer from place to place, which become four (by rabbinical addition). Ib. שְׁנֵיהֶם פטורין both of them are free. Snh. V, 3 בש׳ בחדש on the second day of the month. Ib. בש׳ שעות in the second hour of the day. Men. III, 3. Ib. 6; a. v. fr.—שְׁנֵים עָשָׂר, שְׁתֵּים עֶשְׂרֵה twelve. Nidd. 69ᵇ. Ab. Zar. 3ᵇ; a. fr.
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 182 distinct written forms H8147 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.
The 60 most common forms are shown; 122 rarer forms follow in the full concordance.
Same root — word family
Other BDB entries built from the same root as H8147, 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
Compare all same-root words → They share a root, not necessarily a meaning.
Septuagint verse parallels
This word appears in 611 verses that also exist in the Greek Old Testament (Septuagint), out of the 645 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 1:16
- Exodus 2:13
- Leviticus 3:4
- Numbers 1:35
- Deuteronomy 1:23
- Joshua 2:1
- Judges 3:16
- Ruth 1:1
- 1 Samuel 1:2
- 2 Samuel 1:1
- 1 Kings 2:5
- 2 Kings 1:14
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.