שָׁפֵל
to humble
‘to humble’ is one of 2 main senses fuller range ↓
Full lexicon entry — Brown-Driver-Briggs (BDB)
From Brown-Driver-Briggs (BDB)
Where this word appears
See every Hiphil verb in the Hebrew Bible →
Grammar key — what these labels mean
Part of speech
- Verb
- An action or state-of-being word.
Stem
- Qal
- The basic, simple active stem — the plain form of the verb (“he wrote”). Here: ‘all Is’
- Hiphil
- The causative active stem (“he caused / brought about”). Here: ‘fig.’
Form
- Sequential Perfect
- A perfect with prefixed waw continuing a preceding imperfect or command (waw-consecutive perfect).
- Sequential Imperfect
- An imperfect with prefixed waw — the standard past-narrative form (waw-consecutive imperfect).
- Imperfect
- An incomplete, ongoing, or future action (“he will / would write”).
- Participle Active
- A verbal adjective expressing ongoing or characteristic action (“writing / one who writes”).
- Imperative
- A direct command (“write!”).
- Infinitive Construct
- A bound verbal noun, frequently with prepositions (“to write / in writing”).
- Perfect
- A completed action or state — Hebrew marks aspect (completeness) more than strict tense (“he wrote”).
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).
Person
- 3rd Person
- The one spoken about (“he / she / it / they”).
- 2nd Person
- The one addressed (“you”).
- 1st Person
- The speaker (“I / we”).
Gender
- Masculine
- Grammatically masculine.
- Feminine
- Grammatically feminine.
- Common
- Either gender — not distinguished for this form.
Number
- Singular
- One.
- Plural
- More than one (in Hebrew, generally three or more).
Grammatical forms 21 distinct
- Verb, Hiphil, Imperfect, 3rd Person, Masculine, Singular 3 times (10%)
- Verb, Qal, Sequential Perfect, 3rd Person, Masculine, Singular 2 times (7%)
- Verb, Qal, Sequential Imperfect, 3rd Person, Masculine, Singular 2 times (7%)
- Verb, Hiphil, Imperfect, 2nd Person, Masculine, Singular 2 times (7%)
- Verb, Hiphil, Participle Active, Masculine, Singular, Absolute 2 times (7%)
- Verb, Qal, Imperfect, 3rd Person, Masculine, Plural 2 times (7%)
- Verb, Hiphil, Infinitive Construct 2 times (7%)
- Verb, Hiphil, Sequential Perfect, 3rd Person, Masculine, Singular 1 time (3%)
+13 more forms (13 occurrences)
Parsed forms decoded from the imported morphology (morphhb / Westminster Leningrad Codex — WLC text public domain, morphhb tagging CC BY 4.0), counted across 29 parsed occurrences — not distinct verses.
Every verse where H8213 appears — 27 distinct verses across 8 books. 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 Samuel 1 verse
2 Samuel 1 verse
Job 2 verses
Psalms 4 verses
- Psalms 18:27 תַּשְׁפִּֽיל Hiphil impf 2ms For you will save the afflicted people, But the haughty eyes you will bring down.
- Psalms 75:7 יַ֝שְׁפִּ֗יל Hiphil impf 3ms But God is the judge. He puts down one, and lifts up another.
- Psalms 113:6 הַֽ/מַּשְׁפִּילִ֥י ptcl def.art + Hiphil ptcp.act ms cs Who stoops down to see in heaven and in the earth?
- Psalms 147:6 מַשְׁפִּ֖יל Hiphil ptcp.act ms Yahweh upholds the humble. He brings the wicked down to the ground.
Proverbs 2 verses
- Proverbs 25:7 מֵֽ֭/הַשְׁפִּ֣ילְ/ךָ prep + Hiphil inf.cs + sfx pers 2ms For it is better that it be said to you, "Come up here," Than that you should be put lower in the presence of the prince, Whom your eyes have seen.
- Proverbs 29:23 תַּשְׁפִּילֶ֑/נּוּ Hiphil impf 3fs + sfx pers 3ms A man's pride brings him low, But one of lowly spirit gains honor.
Isaiah 14 verses
- Isaiah 2:9 וַ/יִּשְׁפַּל conj + Qal wimpf 3ms Man is brought low, And mankind is humbled; Therefore don't forgive them.
- Isaiah 2:11 שָׁפֵ֔ל Qal pf 3ms The lofty looks of man will be brought low, The haughtiness of men will be bowed down, And Yahweh alone will be exalted in that day.
- Isaiah 2:12 וְ/שָׁפֵֽל conj + Qal wpf 3ms For there will be a day of Yahweh of Hosts for all that is proud and haughty, And for all that is lifted up; And it shall be brought low:
- Isaiah 2:17 וְ/שָׁפֵ֖ל conj + Qal wpf 3ms The loftiness of man shall be bowed down, And the haughtiness of men shall be brought low; And Yahweh alone shall be exalted in that day.
- Isaiah 5:15 וַ/יִּשְׁפַּל תִּשְׁפַּֽלְנָה conj + Qal wimpf 3ms Qal impf 3fp So man is brought low, Mankind is humbled, And the eyes of the arrogant ones are humbled;
- Isaiah 10:33 יִשְׁפָּֽלוּ Qal impf 3mp Behold, the Lord, Yahweh of Hosts, will lop the boughs with terror: and the high of stature shall be hewn down, and the lofty shall be brought low.
- Isaiah 13:11 אַשְׁפִּֽיל Hiphil impf 1cs I will punish the world for [their] evil, and the wicked for their iniquity: and I will cause the arrogance of the proud to cease, and will lay low the haughtiness of the terrible.
- Isaiah 25:11 וְ/הִשְׁפִּיל֙ conj + Hiphil wpf 3ms He shall spread forth his hands in the midst of it, as he who swims spreads forth [his hands] to swim; but [Yahweh] will lay low his pride together with the craft of his hands.
- Isaiah 25:12 הִשְׁפִּ֛יל Hiphil pf 3ms The high fortress of your walls has he brought down, laid low, and brought to the ground, even to the dust.
- Isaiah 26:5 יַשְׁפִּילֶ֤/נָּה יַשְׁפִּילָ/הּ֙ Hiphil impf 3ms + sfx pers 3fs Hiphil impf 3ms + sfx pers 3fs For he has brought down those who dwell on high, the lofty city: he lays it low, he lays it low even to the ground; he brings it even to the dust.
- Isaiah 29:4 וְ/שָׁפַלְתְּ֙ conj + Qal wpf 2fs You shall be brought down, and shall speak out of the ground, and your speech shall be low out of the dust; and your voice shall be as of one who has a familiar spirit, out of the ground, and your speech shall whisper out of the dust.
- Isaiah 32:19 תִּשְׁפַּ֥ל Qal impf 3fs But it shall hail in the downfall of the forest; and the city shall be utterly laid low.
- Isaiah 40:4 יִשְׁפָּ֑לוּ Qal impf 3mp Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low; and the uneven shall be made level, and the rough places a plain:
- Isaiah 57:9 וַ/תַּשְׁפִּ֖ילִי conj + Hiphil wimpf 2fs You went to the king with oil, and did increase your perfumes, and did send your ambassadors far off, and did debase yourself even to Sheol.
Jeremiah 1 verse
Ezekiel 2 verses
- Ezekiel 17:24 הִשְׁפַּ֣לְתִּי Hiphil pf 1cs All the trees of the field shall know that I, Yahweh, have brought down the high tree, have exalted the low tree, have dried up the green tree, and have made the dry tree to flourish; I, Yahweh, have spoken and have done it.
- Ezekiel 21:26 הַשְׁפִּֽיל Hiphil inf.cs thus says the Lord Yahweh: Remove the turban, and take off the crown; this [shall be] no more the same; exalt that which is low, and abase that which is high.
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.
שפל (shâphêl) is a Hebrew verb most often rendered “to humble.” Isaiah dominates its distribution — 14 of 27 verses. The Hebrew Bible uses it across 27 verses — moderately common. Debuting at 1 Samuel 2:7, it then recurs through the corpus. Different stems carry different senses — BDB groups them under 2 stems, among them Qal and Hiphil. 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 H8213 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 →
- 27
- distinct verses
- The word appears in 27 distinct verses.
- 8 / 39
- OT books
- The word appears in 8 of 39 Old Testament books.
- #1,160
- by frequency
- Top 2500 most frequent Hebrew words (rank 1,160 of 8,640 Hebrew words by occurrence).
View all 27 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 27 distinct verses.
- Prophets (Nevi'im) 19 verses · 70%
- Writings (Ketuvim) 8 verses · 30%
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: Shall be humbled 4×, Abase 2×, He layeth it low 2×
- American Standard Version: Shall be brought low 3×, He layeth it low 2×, Laid low 2×
- Berean Standard Bible: Will be humbled 3×
- unfoldingWord Literal Text: Will become low 6×, And 3×, Bringing down 2×
King James Version Public Domain
Renders H8213 across 30 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.
American Standard Version Public Domain
Renders H8213 across 29 tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus 22 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 H8213 across 30 tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus 27 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 1 further occurrence.
unfoldingWord Literal Text CC BY-SA 4.0
Renders H8213 across 35 tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus 20 renderings that appear only once — usually multi-word phrases or single function words the recovered tagging swept in, not distinct renderings.
8 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 8 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. שׁ׳ Is 2:11; 2 fs. וְשָׁפַלְתְּ 29:4, etc.; Impf. 3 ms. וַיִּשְׁפַּל 2:9; 5:15; 3 fpl. תִּשְׁפַּלְנָה 5:15, etc.; Inf. cstr. שְׁפַל Ec 12:4; Pr 16:19, v. infr.;— e.g. Isaiah 2:11
- 1. all Is: become (be brought, laid) low, of trees Is 10:33 (‖ גְּדֻעִים), mts. 40:4 (opp. נִשָּׂא), of כָּל־נִשָּׂא 2:12 (but read, for שׁ׳, נִשְׂגָּב [Kohler], or גָּבֹהַּ [Lag], so Du CheHpt. Di-Kit Marti); fig. be humiliated, of man 2:9; 5:15, his loftiness 2:17, haughty eyes v 11 (all ‖ שָׁחַח), 5:15; of city 32:19; as helping vb. (= adv.) וְשׁ׳ מֵאֶרֶץ תְּדַבֵּ֑רִי 29:4 thou shalt speak low out of the ground (Ges§ 120 g; ‖ מֵעָפָר תִּשַּׁח אִמְרָתֵךְ). e.g. Isaiah 10:33
- 2. שְׁפַל־רוּחַ Pr 16:19 to be lowly of spirit, so Buhl SS Toy al.; Thes RobGes. al. sub שָׁפָל. e.g. Proverbs 16:19
- 3. of sound Ec 12:4. e.g. Ecclesiastes 12:4
Hiphil
- Pf. 3 ms. הִשְׁפִּיל Is 25:12, etc.; Impf. 3 ms. יַשְׁפִּיל ψ 75:8, sf. יַשְׁפִּילֶנָּה יַשְׁפִּילָהּ Is 26:5 (but 2nd vb. prob. doublet), etc.; Imv. mpl. (sf.) (הַשְׁפִּילֵ הוּ Jb 40:11 Je 13:18; Inf. cstr. sf. הַשְׁפִּילְךָ Pr 25:7 (Ez 21:31 read abs. הַשְׁפֵּיל, ‖ הַגְבֵּהַּ, so Co Krae Ges§ 113 bb R. 3); Pt. מַשְׁפִּיל 1 S 2:7 ψ 147:6; מַשְׁפִּילִי (Ges§ 90 l) ψ 113:6;— e.g. Isaiah 25:12
- 1. usually fig., י׳ subj., lay low, tree Ez 17:24 (opp. הִגְבַּהְתִּי); city Is 26:5 (‖ הֵשַׁח); fortress 25:12 (+ הֵשַׁח; Du thinks doublet of 26:5); humiliate pride v 11; 13:11, cf. Jb 40:11; obj. עֵינַיִם רָמוֹת ψ 18:28, so read also ‖ 2 S 22:28, י׳מַשׁ׳אַף־מְרוֹמֵם 1 S 2:7, רְשָׁעִים ψ 147:6; זֶה יַשׁ׳ וְזֶה יָרִים 75:8, cf. Ez 21:31. e.g. Ezekiel 17:24
- 2. hum. subj. set one in a lower place Pr 25:7; subj. hum. pride Pr 29:23; declar. Is 57:9 thou didst shew abasement עַד־שְׁאוֹל. e.g. Proverbs 25:7
- 3. as helping vb.: + vb. coörd., הַשׁ׳ שֵׁ֑בוּ Je 13:18 make low, sit down = take a low seat (Ges§ 120 g); + inf. מַשׁ׳ לִרְאוֹת ψ 113:6 he who maketh low to look upon heaven and earth (i.e. י׳; ‖ הַמַּגְבִּיהִי לָשָׁ֑בֶת v 5; Ges§ 114n).—הִשְׁפִּילוּ וַתֹּאמֶר גֵּוָ֑ה Jb 22:29 is dub.; ‖ יוֹשִׁעַ favours אֱלוֹהַּ as subj., which Bu conj. for וַתֹּא׳, read then הִשְׁפִּיל, א׳ hath abased pride, so (in part) Du; > they cast (thee) down (RV); men are cast down (הִשׁ׳ intrans.; AV, cf. LagBN 121); (thy ways) are brought low (Ew De Di). e.g. Jeremiah 13:18
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. be or become low, be abased (NH, der. spec.; Assyrian šapâlu, der. spec. and deriv.; Sab. ספל n. humility or lowland DHMxxix (1875), 604; Arabic سَفِلَ, سَفُلَ, سَفَلَ be low (LagBN 48); Aramaic שְׁפַל, ܫܦܰܠ (der. spec.));—
— 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
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.
שָׁפֵל I
- to be low.
- to lower, humble. Erub. 13ᵇ המַשְׁפִּיל עצמו; הקב"ה מַשְׁפִּילוֹ, v. גָּבַהּ; Ned. 55ᵃ. Pesik. R. s. 10 (ref. to Is. II, 9) אימתי שחו ונִשְׁפָּלוּ … הִשְׁפִּילָם הקב"ה when did they sink and were lowered? When they committed that deed (worshipped the golden calf), the Lord lowered them. Arakh. 15ᵇ יַשְׁפִּיל דעתו let him humble his mind (think of his shortcomings). M. Kat. 16ᵇ (play on ת̇ח̇כ̇מ̇נ̇י̇, II Sam. XXIII, 8) הואיל והִשְׁפַּלְתָּ עצמך ת̇ה̇א כ̇מ̇ו̇נ̇י̇ because thou didst lower thyself, thou shalt be like myself; a. fr. e.g. Isaiah 2:9
- to be lowered. Pesik. R. l. c., v. supra.
- same. Pesik. Ki Thissa, p. 11ᵇ (ref. to Is. II, 9) יודע … והָשְׁפַּלְתִּי אני והם וכ׳ I know that Israel bowed to the golden calf, and I and they have been lowered, but wilt thou not raise (forgive) them?; Tanḥ. Ki Thissa 4 והשפלתי אותי and I myself have been lowered; Yalk. Is. 260 והוּשְׁפַּלְתִּי. Tanḥ. l. c. 5 (ref. to Ps. LXXV, 8) בלשון זה הו׳ וכ׳ for the word zeh (Ex. XXXII, 24) was he (Aaron) lowered, v. גָּבַהּ; בלשון זה הוּשְׁפָּלוּ וכ׳ through zeh (ib. 23) were they lowered, and with zeh (ib. XXX, 13) have they been raised; Lev. R. s. 8; a. fr. e.g. Isaiah 2:9
- [to let one’s self drop,]
- 1. to be humble, gentle. Lev. R. s. 19 (ref. to שפלות ידים, Koh. X, 18) ע"י שנִשְׁתַּפְּלוּ ישראל מלחנות וכ׳ because the Israelites were too gentle to encamp (before Sinai) in discord &c. e.g. Ecclesiastes 10:18
- 2. to be lazy, indolent. Ib. ע"י … מִשְׁתַּפֵּל מלקנח וכ׳ (not לקנח) because that man is too careless to wipe his body properly, he gets scabs. Ib. ע"י … מִשְׁתַּפֶּלֶת וכ׳ because that woman is too indolent to examine her body properly &c.; a. e.
שְׁפַל
- , to fall down, go down. B. Kam. 92ᵇ; Meg. 14ᵇ (prov.) שפיל ואזיל בר אווזא וכ׳ the duck bends its head down in walking, and its eyes look all around (it follows two pursuits at the same time, v. פִּלְכָא). Snh. 7ᵃ ודיקולא שָׁפֵיל, v. דִּיקוּלָא. Ber. 10ᵃ שְׁפִיל לסיפיה דקרא go to the end of the verse (in order to understand the whole of it); a. fr.
- 1. to lower. Targ. Y. II, Lev. X, 20. Targ. Prov. XXV, 7. Ib. XXIX, 23; a. fr.
- 2. to carry down, carry along. Yeb. 121ᵃ גלי אַשְׁפְּלוּ the waves may have carried (and landed him).
- to humble one’s self. Targ. I Sam. II, 36.
שָׁפָל
- preced.)
- 1. low, humble. Num. R. s. 420 ואל … ש׳ בעיני וכ׳ say not that I was low in the eyes of others, and was not despised in my own eyes. Taan. 16ᵃ; Snh. 88ᵇ, a. e. שְׁפַל ברך low of knee, polite. Y. ib. I, 19ᶜ נפש ש׳ a humble soul, humility; Ab. V, 19 נפש ש׳ contented, opp. רחבה. Ib. IV, 10 הוי שְׁ׳ רוח בפני וכ׳ be humble before every man. Snh. 43ᵇ מי שדעתו ש׳ מעלה וכ׳ to him whose mind is lowly the Lord accounts it as if he had offered all kinds of sacrifices. Sot. 5ᵃ ואין … את הש׳, v. גָּבוֹהַּ. Ib. אבל … ורואה את הש׳ but not so the Lord, he is high and looks at the low; a. fr.—Pl. שְׁפָלִים, שְׁפָלִין; שְׁפָלוֹת. Ib. 47ᵇ, v. גָּבַהּ; a. e.
- 2. (v. שָׁפֵל, Hithpa.) [letting the hands sink,] indolent, negligent, opp. זָרִיז. Tosef. Yeb. IV, 8; Pes. 50ᵇ יש ש׳ וכ׳ sometimes one is lazy and profits, and sometimes one is lazy and loses.—Pl. as ab. Ib. 89ᵃ; Ned. 36ᵃ; Gitt. 25ᵃ
שְׁפַל II
- , lowly. Targ. Prov. XVI, 19.
שָׁפֵל
- II (or שׁפֶל) m., v. next w.
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 26 distinct written forms H8213 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.
Same root — word family
Other BDB entries built from the same root as H8213, 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
- שפל shᵉphal H8214 to humble
- שפל shephel H8216 lowliness
- שפל shâphâl H8217 humble
- שפלה shᵉphêlâh H8219 valley
- שפלות shiphlûwth H8220 idleness
Compare all same-root words → Showing 4 of 6 — not the complete family. They share a root, not necessarily a meaning.
Septuagint verse parallels
This word appears in 26 verses that also exist in the Greek Old Testament (Septuagint), out of the 27 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
- 1 Samuel 2:7
- 2 Samuel 22:28
- Job 22:29
- Psalms 75:7
- Proverbs 25:7
- Isaiah 2:9
- Jeremiah 13:18
- Ezekiel 17:24
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.
