שֶׁ֫קֶר
lie
also: deception, disappointment, falsehood 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
- 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.
- Plural
- More than one (in Hebrew, generally three or more).
Every verse where H8267 appears in the Book of Deuteronomy — 1 distinct verse. 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.
Deuteronomy
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 שקר centers on the idea of “lie.” Where the King James Version says “lies,” newer translations reach for “falsehood” (unfoldingWord Literal Text); the renderings breakdown has the detail. It appears 109 verses across 19 books of the Hebrew Bible, among its common vocabulary. The word gravitates to Jeremiah (31%), then Psalms and Proverbs. Alongside “lie” the lexicon also lists “deception”, “disappointment”, and “falsehood” — part of its full sense range. Dig into 109-verse concordance and the renderings breakdown below.
Gloss history
Strong's 1890 vs modern scholarship
About this word
Strong's H8267 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 →
- 109
- distinct verses
- The word appears in 109 distinct verses.
- 19 / 39
- OT books
- The word appears in 19 of 39 Old Testament books.
- #386
- by frequency
- Top 500 most frequent Hebrew words (rank 386 of 8,640 Hebrew words by occurrence).
View all 109 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 109 distinct verses.
- Prophets (Nevi'im) 56 verses · 51%
- Writings (Ketuvim) 46 verses · 42%
- Torah (Pentateuch) 7 verses · 6%
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: Lies 18×, Lying 15×, Falsely 13×
- American Standard Version: Falsely 18×, Lies 14×, Falsehood 12×
- Berean Standard Bible: Lies 19×, False 12×, Lying 12×
- unfoldingWord Literal Text: Falsehood 49×, Lie 11×, Lies 7×
King James Version Public Domain
Renders H8267 across 111 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. Not rendered by a distinct English word in 2 further occurrences.
American Standard Version Public Domain
Renders H8267 across 112 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.
Berean Standard Bible Public Domain
Renders H8267 across 104 tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus other, less common renderings. Plus 18 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 9 further occurrences.
unfoldingWord Literal Text CC BY-SA 4.0
Renders H8267 across 106 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.
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. deception,what deceives, disappoints, and betrays one: a molten image Je 10:14 = 51:17; gift Pr 25:14; grace of person 31:30, etc.; אֹ֫רַח שׁ׳ ψ 119:104, 128; דֶּ֫רֶךְ שׁ׳ v 29; בטח בשׁ׳ Je 13:25; נחל שׁ׳ 16:19, cf. also ψ 7:15; 33:17; 119:118; Is 28:15; לַשֶּׁקֶר for disappointment, in vain 1 S 25:21; Je 3:23. e.g. Jeremiah 10:14
- 2. deceit, fraud, wrong: (ל)שׁ׳ עשׂה do or practise fraud, wrong Ho 7:1; Je 6:13; 8:9, 10; c. בְ, 2 S 18:13; פְּעֻלַּת שׁ׳ Pr 11:18; לֶ֫חֶם שׁ׳ Pr 20:17 food got by fraud; זֶ֫רַע שׁ׳ Is 57:4; עֵט שׁ׳ Je 8:8; ילד שׁ׳ ψ 7:15 (‖ עמל); דרךְ לשׁון קשׁת שׁ׳ Je 9:2; בְּשׁ׳ 3:10 (‖ בגד), adv. שׁקר fraudulently, wrongfully ψ 35:19; 38:20; 69:5; 119:78, 86. e.g. Hosea 7:1
- 3. injurious falsehood, in testimony, especially in courts: עֵד שֶׁקֶר Ex 20:16 (E) Dt 19:18 ψ 27:12 Pr 6:19; 14:5; 25:18; עֵד שׁקרים 12:17; 19:5, 9; ענה שׁ׳ Dt 19:18 testify falsehood; שְׁבֻעַת שׁ׳ Zc 8:17 false oath; נשׁבע לשׁ׳ swear falsely Je 5:2 + 5 times; נשׁבע על שׁ׳ Lv 5:22; דבּר שׁ׳ Mi 6:12 + (v. [דָּבַר], דָּבָר); אִמְרֵי שׁ׳ Is 32:7; שׁ׳ שׂפת(י) ψ 31:19; 120:2; Pr 10:18; 17:7; טפל שׁ׳ Jb 13:4 ψ 119:69, cf. v 163; abs. false! 2 K 9:12 Je 37:14. e.g. Exodus 20:13
- 4. falsity, of false or self-deceived prophets: נבּא שׁ׳ prophesy falsely Je 14:14; 23:25, 26; 29:21; + ל pers. 27:10, 14, 16; נ׳ לַשּׁ׳ v 15; נ׳ בשׁ׳ 5:31; 20:6; 29:9; מוֹרֶה שׁ׳ Is 9:14 Hb 2:18; חזה שׁ׳ Zc 10:2; חֲזוֹן שׁ׳ Je 14:14, etc., (+ 12 times); רוּחַ שׁ׳ v. p. 925 b. e.g. Jeremiah 14:14
- 5. lie, falsehood, in gen.: דבר שּׁ׳ ψ 101:7 (‖ רְמִיָּה); דְּבַר שׁ׳ Pr 13:5; of מִלִּים Jb 36:4; לְשׁוֹן שׁ׳ false tongue Pr 6:17; 12:19; 21:6; 26:28; ψ 109:2; of lips Pr 12:22; אִישׁ שׁ׳ 17:4 liar. e.g. Psalms 101:7
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. deception, disappointment, falsehood;—שׁ׳ Ex 23:7 + 64 times; שָׁ֑קֶר Ex 5:9 + 42 times; pl. שְׁקָרִים ψ 101:7 + 3 times; sf. שִׁקְרֵיהֶם Je 23:32;—
— Brown-Driver-Briggs (Oxford 1906, public domain), digitized via Sefaria, supplemented by the OpenScriptures HebrewLexicon (CC BY 4.0). See Sources.
Derived from שקר (shâqar) (H8266) — to deal falsely.
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.
שָׂקַר
- , v. סָקר II
שָׁקַר
- (b. h.) to be false. Gen. R. s. 85, beg. שָׁקַרְתָּ יהודה thou hast been false, O Judah; Yalk. ib. 144; Yalk. Mal. 589.
- 1. same, same, to lie; to defraud.—מה לי לשַׁקּר what reason should I have for making a false statement?, i.e. a person’s statement is to be credited, when he gains nothing by it, since he might have obtained the same advantage in another way. Kidd. 64ᵇ אמרינן מה לי לשקר וכ׳ we apply the principle that we believe him, because he gains nothing by falsehood: for, why should he have said so? In order to release her from leviratical marriage after his death? If so, he might have said to her: I release thee by a divorce. Ib. מה לי לש׳ כי עדים דמי a person’s statement accepted on the ground that he had no reason for lying, has the same legal value as the statement of witnesses; מה לי לש׳ כי חזקה דמי it has only the same value as a presumption (חֲזָקָה). Keth. 27ᵇ מה לי לש׳ אי בעי וכ׳ we must believe him, for, if he had wanted, he might have said &c. Ib. מה לי לש׳ במקום עדים וכ׳ we do not apply the principle of mah li l’shaḳḳer, when the person’s statement is contradicted by witnesses (by well-known facts); B. Mets. 81ᵇ; a. fr.—Y. Snh. XI, 30ᶜ top (expl. כחש לו, I Kings XIII, 18) שי׳ בו (not ביה) he played him false; Cant. R. to II, 5 שי׳ לו; ib. ומה שי׳ לו שהאכילהו וכ׳ and wherein did he play him false? In that he gave him the bread of deceit to eat (made him the recipient of treacherous hospitality). Num. R. s. 2018; Tanḥ. Balak 12 מְשַׁקֵּר במשקלות, v. מִשְׁקָל; a. fr. e.g. 1 Kings 13:18
- 2. to prove false; to contradict, refute. Macc. 5ᵃ (ref. to Deut. XIX, 18) עד שתְּשַׁקֵּר גופה וכ׳ until thou disprovest the body of the testimony (provest an alibi of the witnesses). e.g. Deuteronomy 19:18
- to be refuted, be proved to be a liar. Y. ib. I, beg. 31ᵃ [read:] עדים שנזדממו וחזרו ונִשְׁתַּקְּרוּ if witnesses against whom an alibi had been proved were also proved to have told a falsehood (as to the fact to which they testified).
שְׁקַר I
- Targ. Mal. II, 10 (ed. Wil. Pa.). Targ. Josh. XXII, 16; 22; 31; a. e.—Yeb. 55ᵇ, v. שַׁקָּרָא.
- same. Targ. O. Gen. XXI, 23 (Y. Pe.). Targ. Ps. XLIV, 18; a. fr.—Gitt. 57ᵃ שַׁקּוּרֵי מְשַׁקְּרִיתוּ you tell a falsehood. Taan. 9ᵇ כי היכי דמְשַׁקְּרֵי … משקרי וכ׳ as the Babylonians are deceivers, so their rains are, v. מִטְרָא. R. Hash. 22ᵇ לא משקרי וכ׳, v. גְּלֵי; a. fr.
שַׁקָּר
- (preced.) liar.—Pl. שַׁקָּרִים, שַׁקָּרִין. Sot. 42ᵃ; Yalk. Hos. 524, v. שַׁקְרָן.
שֶׁקֶר
- preced.) lie, falsehood, vanity. Y. Snh. XI, 30ᶜ top מי שהאכיל … לחם ש׳ he that offered to his friend bread of falsehood (treacherous hospitality, v. שָׁקַר), opp. לחם אמת true hospitality. Shebu. 21ᵃ שבועת ש׳ נשבע להחליף a false oath is, if one swears to what is the opposite of true (that something happened which has not happened &c.), (modified) נשבע ומחליף he swears (vows that he will or will not do a certain thing), and does the opposite. Macc. 3ᵃ עדות ש׳ העדתי I have given false testimony. Lev. R. s. 6 המשביע … לש׳ וכ׳ he who lets his neighbor swear in vain (when he knows that he has no claim), shall finally leave his house empty-handed; R. A. says על ש׳ וכ׳ if he lets him swear to what he knows to be a lie; R. J. says, even if he lets him swear to a truth. Sabb. 104ᵃ, v. קְרֵב; a. v. fr.—Y. Macc. I, beg. 31ᵃ עדים שנזדממו … ש׳ ש׳ when witnesses have been convicted of an alibi, R. J. says, we draw an analogy between sheḳer (Ex. XX, 16) and sheḳer (Deut. XIX, 18), i.e. they must suffer corporal punishment in addition to pecuniary penalty.—Pl. שְׁקָרִים. Gen. R. s. 8 אל יברא שכולו ש׳ let man not be created, for he will be full of falsehoods; a. e. e.g. Exodus 20:16
שְׁקַר
- Targ. I Sam. XII, 3 ממון דש׳ (h. text כפר). Ib. XV, 29. Targ. O. Ex. XX, 7 (h. text שוא). Targ. ib. 13; a. fr.—Sabb. 104ᵃ (v. קְרֵב) ש׳ שכיח וכ׳ lie is frequent, truth rare. Ib. קושטא קאי ש׳ וכ׳ truth stands firm, falsehood does not. B. Bath. 82ᵃ, a. fr. מחזי כש׳ it looks like a lie. Lev. R. s. 26; Midr. Sam. ch. XXIV; Yalk. ib. 139 עלמא דש׳, v. עַלְמָא. Ib. מלין דש׳ words of falsehood; Lev. R. l. c. מלין שַׁקָּרִין. Succ. 46ᵇ לא … דאתי לאגמוריה ש׳ one should not say to a child, I shall give thee something, and not give it, because he may teach him falsehood; a. fr.—Pl. שִׁקְרִין, שִׁי׳. Targ. Ps. CI, 7. Targ. Jer. XXIII, 32; a. e.—[Y. Snh. VI, 23ᵇ bot., 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 38 distinct written forms H8267 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.
Septuagint verse parallels
This word appears in 92 verses that also exist in the Greek Old Testament (Septuagint), out of the 109 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
- Exodus 5:9
- Leviticus 6:3
- Deuteronomy 19:18
- 1 Samuel 25:21
- 2 Samuel 18:13
- 1 Kings 22:22
- 2 Kings 9:12
- 2 Chronicles 18:21
- Job 13:4
- Psalms 7:14
- Proverbs 6:17
- Isaiah 9:15
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.
