שָׂרַע
to stretch out
‘to stretch out’ is one of 3 main senses 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
- Verb
- An action or state-of-being word.
Stem
- Qal
- The basic, simple active stem — the plain form of the verb (“he wrote”). Here: ‘extended’
- Hithpael
- The reflexive or reciprocal stem (the subject acts on itself).
Form
- Participle Passive
- A verbal adjective expressing action received (“written”).
- Infinitive Construct
- A bound verbal noun, frequently with prepositions (“to write / in writing”).
State
- Absolute
- The independent form of a noun, not bound to a following word.
Gender
- Masculine
- Grammatically masculine.
Number
- Singular
- One.
Every verse where H8311 appears in the Book of Isaiah — 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.
Isaiah
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.
שרע (sâraʻ) is a Hebrew verb most often rendered “to stretch out.” It occurs a mere 3 verses across Scripture. It clusters heavily in Leviticus, which alone accounts for 67% of its uses. It first appears in Leviticus 21:18. The verb spans 2 stems, from Qal to Hithpael. 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 H8311 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 →
- 3
- distinct verses
- The word appears in 3 distinct verses.
- 2 / 39
- OT books
- The word appears in 2 of 39 Old Testament books.
- #4,179
- by frequency
- Top 5000 most frequent Hebrew words (rank 4,179 of 8,640 Hebrew words by occurrence).
View all 3 occurrences in the concordance →
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 3 distinct verses.
- Torah (Pentateuch) 2 verses · 67%
- Prophets (Nevi'im) 1 verse · 33%
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: Hath any thing superfluous 1×, Or any thing superfluous 1×, Than that a man can stretch 1×
- American Standard Version: Hath anything superfluous 1×, Or anything superfluous 1×, Than that a man can stretch 1×
- Berean Standard Bible: Deformed 1×, Has a deformed 1×, Stretch out on 1×
- unfoldingWord Literal Text: Extended 2×
King James Version Public Domain
Renders H8311 across 3 tagged occurrences — most commonly:
American Standard Version Public Domain
Renders H8311 across 3 tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Berean Standard Bible Public Domain
Renders H8311 across 3 tagged occurrences — most commonly:
unfoldingWord Literal Text CC BY-SA 4.0
Renders H8311 across 4 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.
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. This entry also uses Hithpael (reflexive or reciprocal).
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.
Qal
- extended, i.e. too long (in a limb or member)
Hithpael
- . stretch oneself
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
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.
רַע I
- [shaken,] weak, sick; bad; (noun) evil. Ber. 7ᵃ מפני מה … ורע לו why is there a righteous man who fares well, and another righteous man who fares badly? Ib. 23ᵃ (ref. to Koh. IV, 17) בין טוב לרע וכ׳ they cannot distinguish between good and evil, and want to offer a sacrifice before me? Kidd. 40ᵃ (ref. to Is. III, 11) וכי יש רשע רע ויש שאינו רע is there a bad wicked man and a wicked man that is not bad?; רע לשמים ורע לבריות וכ׳ one bad in his relation to heaven (irreligious) and bad to men is a bad wicked man &c. Ohol. XVIII, 6 שכחן רע whose strength is feeble, v. כֹּחַ. Ab. II, 9 חבר רע a bad companion; לב רע a bad heart; a. v. fr.—Fem. רָעָה bad; (noun) evil. Ib., a. fr. עין ר׳, v. עַיִן. Sabb. 11ᵃ כל ד׳ ולא אשה ר׳ any evil, only not a bad wife. Ber. 61ᵃ אחת … ואחת יועצתו לר׳ one (kidney) counsels for good, the other for evil. Y. Shek. I, beg. 45ᵈ לטובה … לר׳ וכ׳ for a good purpose—‘every liberal-hearted’ (Ex. XXXV, 22), for a bad purpose—‘the whole people’ (ib. XXXII, 3). Hor. 10ᵇ אפי׳ טובתם … ר׳ היא וכ׳ even the good which wicked men do is an evil with the righteous (they do not enjoy it); Yeb. 103ᵃ sq. Koh. R. to V, 12, v. חוֹלָה I. Ber. l. c. (ref. to Koh. IV, 17) אל תהי … אם על ר׳ הם מביאים be not like the fools who sin and offer a sacrifice, not knowing whether they offer it for the good they have done or for the evil; a. v. fr.—Pl. רָעִים; רָעוֹת. Keth. 110ᵇ (quot. fr. Ben Sira) כל ימי עני ר׳ all the days of a poor man are bad; Snh. 101ᵃ. Y. Ber. V, 8ᵈ bot., v. חָצַף. Ex. R. s. 42 (ref. to Jer. II, 13) ושתי ר׳ עשו לבד have they committed no more than two evils?; a. v. fr. e.g. Ecclesiastes 4:17
רַע II
- to be evil, v. רָעַע.
רַע III
- ch. = אֲרַע, v. לרַע
רֵעַ
- , v. רֵיעַ
שָׂרַע
- Saf. of רע, v. רֵעַ, רָעַע) to join, add.—Part. pass. שָׂרוּעַ abnormally long, esp. one that has one hip larger than the other. Bekh. 40ᵃ, v. שִׁרְבֵּב; [Sifra Emor, ch. II, Par. 3 ש׳ שנשמטה יריכו, v. שְׁרַע; cmp. Targ. Y. Lev. XXI, 18].
- [
- 1. (b. h.) to be stretched, to stretch one’s self. Is. XXVIII, 20.] e.g. Isaiah 28:20
- 2. (homil.) to be joined, combined, lie together. Yalk. Is. 302; Yalk. Kings 246 (ref. to Is. l. c.) קצר מצע זה מהִשְׂתָּרֵעַ עליו שני רעים כאחת this couch is too narrow for two lovers to be joined on it together (Israel cannot serve God and idols combined); Lev. R. s. 17 אין המטה יכולה וכ׳ the bed cannot receive a woman and her husband and her lover together; Lam. R. introd. (R. Josh. 1) מהו מהשתרע שתריע לקבל וכ׳ (some ed. שתריעו) what is mehistareʿa? That thou (you) make a partnership to receive a woman &c.; [Yoma 9ᵇ; Snh. 103ᵇ מהשתרר, v. שָׂרַר].
שְׂרַע
- Part. pass. שְׂרִיעַ (= h. שָׂרוּעַ, v. preced.). Targ. O. Lev. XXI, 18; [Targ. Y. אשתמיט, v. next w.]; [Targ. ib. XXII, 23 יתיר, יתיר כוליא].
שְׁרַע
- (cmp. שְׁרג, שְׁרִק) to slope, slip down, glide; to faint. Y. Bets. I, 60ᶜ bot. הוה מסתמיך … שַׁרְעִין וזקפון וכ׳ was leaning on two Goths (in going to bathe); they slipped (or broke down), and he helped them up &c. Y. Ber. III, 6ᵇ top; Y. Naz. VII, 56ᵃ bot. ר׳ ז׳ ש׳ בדיבוריה R. Z. sank down while speaking (in the presence of a corpse); Koh. R. to VII, 2, end, v. עֲנֵי II. Y. Ber. V, 9ᵃ bot. הות … שַׁרְעָה וכ׳ his cloak slipped off his shoulders; הא … שְׁרִיעָה thy cloak has dropped. Y. Shebi. VI, 37ᵃ top ש׳ מינה he slipped away from it, i.e. he gave it up. Y. Peah II, beg. 16ᵈ בעא … וש׳ מינה wanted to argue …, and gave it up; Y. B. Bath. III, beg. 13ᵈ. Ib. VI, end, 15ᶜ מעלל אנא ש׳ I may slip in going up; a. e.
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 3 distinct written forms H8311 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.
| Form | Parsing | Example | Uses |
|---|---|---|---|
| מֵֽ/הִשְׂתָּרֵ֑עַ | Verb, Hithpael, Infinitive Construct | Isaiah 28:20 | 1 |
| שָׂר֣וּעַ | Verb, Qal, Participle Passive, Masculine, Singular, Absolute | Leviticus 22:23 | 1 |
| שָׂרֽוּעַ | Verb, Qal, Participle Passive, Masculine, Singular, Absolute | Leviticus 21:18 | 1 |
Septuagint verse parallels
This word appears in 3 verses that also exist in the Greek Old Testament (Septuagint), out of the 3 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.
