שֵׁשׁ
fine linen
also: something bleached white, byssus, linen 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
- Adjective
- A word that describes or qualifies a noun.
- 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.
Gender
- Feminine
- Grammatically feminine.
- Masculine
- Grammatically masculine.
Number
- Singular
- One.
Every verse where H8336 appears in the Book of Exodus — 30 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.
Exodus
- Exodus 25:4 וְ/שֵׁ֥שׁ conj + Adjective Cardinal number fs blue, purple, scarlet, fine linen, goats' hair,
- Exodus 26:1 שֵׁ֣שׁ adj Cardinal number fs "Moreover you shall make the tent with ten curtains; of fine twined linen, and blue, and purple, and scarlet, with cherubim. The work of the skillful workman you shall make them.
- Exodus 26:31 וְ/שֵׁ֣שׁ conj + Adjective Cardinal number fs "You shall make a veil of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen, with cherubim. The work of the skillful workman shall it be made.
- Exodus 26:36 וְ/שֵׁ֣שׁ conj + Adjective Cardinal number fs "You shall make a screen for the door of the Tent, of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen, the work of the embroiderer.
- Exodus 27:9 שֵׁ֣שׁ adj Cardinal number fs "You shall make the court of the tent: for the south side southward there shall be hangings for the court of fine twined linen one hundred cubits long for one side:
- Exodus 27:16 וְ/שֵׁ֥שׁ conj + Adjective Cardinal number fs For the gate of the court shall be a screen of twenty cubits, of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen, the work of the embroiderer; their pillars four, and their sockets four.
- Exodus 27:18 שֵׁ֣שׁ adj Cardinal number fs The length of the court shall be one hundred cubits, and the breadth fifty every where, and the height five cubits, of fine twined linen, and their sockets of brass.
- Exodus 28:5 הַ/שֵּֽׁשׁ ptcl def.art + n c ms They shall take the gold, and the blue, and the purple, and the scarlet, and the fine linen.
- Exodus 28:6 וְ/שֵׁ֥שׁ conj + Adjective Cardinal number fs "They shall make the ephod of gold, of blue, and purple, scarlet, and fine twined linen, the work of the skillful workman.
- Exodus 28:8 וְ/שֵׁ֥שׁ conj + Adjective Cardinal number fs The skillfully woven band, which is on it, that is on him, shall be like its work and of the same piece; of gold, of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen.
- Exodus 28:15 וְ/שֵׁ֥שׁ conj + Adjective Cardinal number fs "You shall make a breastplate of judgment, the work of the skillful workman; like the work of the ephod you shall make it; of gold, of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen, shall you make it.
- Exodus 28:39 שֵׁ֔שׁ שֵׁ֑שׁ adj Cardinal number fs adj Cardinal number fs You shall weave the coat in checker work of fine linen, and you shall make a turban of fine linen, and you shall make a sash, the work of the embroiderer.
- Exodus 35:6 וְ/שֵׁ֥שׁ conj + Adjective Cardinal number fs blue, purple, scarlet, fine linen, goats' hair,
- Exodus 35:23 וְ/שֵׁ֣שׁ conj + Adjective Cardinal number fs Everyone, with whom was found blue, purple, scarlet, fine linen, goats' hair, rams' skins dyed red, and sea cow hides, brought them.
- Exodus 35:25 הַ/שֵּֽׁשׁ ptcl def.art + n c ms All the women who were wise-hearted spun with their hands, and brought that which they had spun, the blue, the purple, the scarlet, and the fine linen.
- Exodus 35:35 וּ/בַ/שֵּׁ֖שׁ conj + prep det + n c ms He has filled them with wisdom of heart, to work all manner of workmanship, of the engraver, of the skillful workman, and of the embroiderer, in blue, in purple, in scarlet, and in fine linen, and of the weaver, even of those who do any workmanship, and of those who make skillful works.
- Exodus 36:8 שֵׁ֣שׁ adj Cardinal number fs All the wise-hearted men among those who did the work made the tent with ten curtains; of fine twined linen, blue, purple, and scarlet, with cherubim, the work of the skillful workman, they made them.
- Exodus 36:35 וְ/שֵׁ֣שׁ conj + Adjective Cardinal number fs He made the veil of blue, purple, scarlet, and fine twined linen: with cherubim. He made it the work of a skillful workman.
- Exodus 36:37 וְ/שֵׁ֣שׁ conj + Adjective Cardinal number fs He made a screen for the door of the tent, of blue, purple, scarlet, and fine twined linen, the work of an embroiderer;
- Exodus 38:9 שֵׁ֣שׁ adj Cardinal number fs He made the court: for the south side southward the hangings of the court were of fine twined linen, one hundred cubits;
- Exodus 38:16 שֵׁ֥שׁ adj Cardinal number fs All the hangings around the court were of fine twined linen.
- Exodus 38:18 וְ/שֵׁ֣שׁ conj + Adjective Cardinal number fs The screen for the gate of the court was the work of the embroiderer, of blue, purple, scarlet, and fine twined linen. Twenty cubits was the length, and the height in the breadth was five cubits, like to the hangings of the court.
- Exodus 38:23 וּ/בַ/שֵּֽׁשׁ conj + prep det + n c ms With him was Oholiab, the son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan, an engraver, and a skillful workman, and an embroiderer in blue, in purple, in scarlet, and in fine linen.
- Exodus 39:2 וְ/שֵׁ֥שׁ conj + Adjective Cardinal number fs He made the ephod of gold, blue, purple, scarlet, and fine twined linen.
- Exodus 39:3 הַ/שֵּׁ֑שׁ ptcl def.art + n c ms They beat the gold into thin plates, and cut it into wires, to work it in the blue, in the purple, in the scarlet, and in the fine linen, the work of the skillful workman.
- Exodus 39:5 וְ/שֵׁ֣שׁ conj + Adjective Cardinal number fs The skillfully woven band that was on it, with which to fasten it on, was of the same piece, like its work; of gold, of blue, purple, scarlet, and fine twined linen; as Yahweh commanded Moses.
- Exodus 39:8 וְ/שֵׁ֥שׁ conj + Adjective Cardinal number fs He made the breastplate, the work of a skillful workman, like the work of the ephod; of gold, of blue, purple, scarlet, and fine twined linen.
- Exodus 39:27 שֵׁ֖שׁ adj Cardinal number fs They made the coats of fine linen of woven work for Aaron, and for his sons,
- Exodus 39:28 שֵׁ֔שׁ שֵׁ֑שׁ שֵׁ֥שׁ adj Cardinal number fs adj Cardinal number fs adj Cardinal number fs and the turban of fine linen, and the linen headbands of fine linen, and the linen breeches of fine twined linen,
- Exodus 39:29 שֵׁ֣שׁ adj Cardinal number fs and the sash of fine twined linen, and blue, and purple, and scarlet, the work of the embroiderer, as Yahweh commanded Moses.
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.
“fine linen” is the headline sense of the Hebrew noun שש (shêsh). More than three-quarters of its appearances fall in Exodus. It appears 37 verses across 6 books of the Hebrew Bible, among its moderately common vocabulary. Scripture first uses it in Genesis 41:42. Not a single-sense word: its full sense range also takes in “something bleached white”, “byssus”, and “linen”. See the sense tree, 37-verse concordance, and the renderings breakdown below.
Gloss history
Strong's 1890 vs modern scholarship
About this word
Strong's H8336 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 →
- 37
- distinct verses
- The word appears in 37 distinct verses.
- 6 / 39
- OT books
- The word appears in 6 of 39 Old Testament books.
- #864
- by frequency
- Top 1000 most frequent Hebrew words (rank 864 of 8,640 Hebrew words by occurrence).
View all 37 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 37 distinct verses.
- Torah (Pentateuch) 31 verses · 84%
- Prophets (Nevi'im) 3 verses · 8%
- Writings (Ketuvim) 3 verses · 8%
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).
BDB lists this Strong’s number as 4 distinct words (homographs). Each count above pools all of them and is not split by sense — see the Senses section below. A low-frequency rendering may belong to a different one of those words, not the primary meaning.
- King James Version†: Linen 20×, Fine linen 15×, Marble 3×
- American Standard Version†: Linen 21×, Fine linen 14×, Marble 3×
- Berean Standard Bible†: Linen 20×, Fine linen 13×, Marble 3×
- unfoldingWord Literal Text†: Fine linen 29×, Linen 8×, And 5×
King James Version Public Domain
Renders H8336 across 41† tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus 3 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.
American Standard Version Public Domain
Renders H8336 across 42† tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus 4 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 H8336 across 40† 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. Not rendered by a distinct English word in 1 further occurrence.
unfoldingWord Literal Text CC BY-SA 4.0
Renders H8336 across 57† tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus 4 renderings that appear only once — usually multi-word phrases or single function words the recovered tagging swept in, not distinct renderings.
7 senses and sub-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 7 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.
שש I f.six
- 1. no other num.:
- a. bef. n.pl. 75 times: e.g. שֵׁשׁ שָׁנִים Ex 21:2 (E) + 11 times, שֵׁשׁ אַמּוֹת 1 S 17:4 + 8 times; שֵׁשׁ בָּאַמָּה †1 K 6:6; שִׁשָּׁה בָּנִים Gn 30:20 (E) + 2 times; שֵׁשֶׁת יָמִים Ex 23:12 (E) + 14 times; after n. (late) †Ex 28:2 Jos 15:59, 62 (all P), 1 Ch 4:27; 26:17; Ne 5:18; rarely n. om. Lv 24:6 (P) + (distrib. 2 S 21:20 = 1 Ch 20:6). e.g. Exodus 21:2
- b. = ordin. שְׁנַת שֵׁשׁ לְחִזְק׳ 2 K 18:10 (Ges§ 134 o). e.g. 2 Kings 18:10
- 2. 16, c. n.f.: שֵׁשׁ עֶשְׂרֵה, bef. נָ֑פֶשׁ Gn 46:18 (P), שָׁנָה 2 K 13:10 + 9 times, בָּנוֹת 2 Ch 13:21; after עָרִים Jos 15:41; 19:22 (P); c. n.m. שִׁשָׁה עָשָׂר, bef. אֲדָנִים Ex 26:25; 36:30 (P), also אֶלֶף, 1000, Nu 31:40 + (P); after בָּנִים 1 Ch 4:27, etc.; = ordin. 16th 1 Ch 24:14; 25:23 +, יוֹם שׁ׳ ע׳ 2 Ch 29:17. e.g. Genesis 46:18
- 3. 600 = שֵׁשׁ מֵאוֹת, Gn 7:6 (P) + 63 times; 6000 = שֵׁשֶׁת אֲלָפִים Nu 3:34 (P) + 8 times; שׁ׳ אֶלֶף Ju 20:15 + 2 times e.g. Genesis 7:6
- 4. c. tens, שׁ׳ foll. Gn 46:26 + 13 times, precedes Nu 31:44 (P). e.g. Genesis 46:26
- 5. שׁ׳ as round no., חָמֵשׁ אוֹ־שׁ׳ 2 K 13:19, cf. Jb 5:19 Pr 6:16. e.g. 2 Kings 13:19
שש II six, v. שׁדשׁ.
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
I. n.m. et f.six;—m. שֵׁשׁ (c. n.f.) Gn 31:41 + 120 times; f. שִׁשָּׁה (c. n.m.) 30:20 + 39 times; cstr. שֵׁ֫שֶׁת Ex 23:12 + 30 times (6 + 10 = 16 are additional);—six (Hex chiefly P):
II. n.m. id.;—עַמּוּדֵי שׁ׳ Ct 5:15 (in fig.), Est 1:6 a, material of pavement v 6 b (v. בַּ֫הַט).—I. שֵׁשׁ, v. שׁדשׁ.
V. n.m. Ex 26:1 byssus (loan-wd. prob. from Egyptian šen-suten Reinischap. DHM VOJ viii (1894), 7 Copt. šens, cf. Copt. šent, weave; v. MʿLeanEncy. Bib. linen; on spinning, weaving, and wearing of linen in Egypt ErmanAegypten 594 ff.; Eng. Trans. 448 f.);—always abs. שׁ׳ (שׁשׁי Ez 16:13 is error):—byssus, fine Egyptian linen (בּוּץ, q.v., is later synon.), i.e. the linen thread (spun by women Ex 35:25), and the material woven from it: used for garments Gn 41:42 (E), Ez 16:10, 13 (שׁשׁי, read שׁשׁ), Pr 31:22; for sail (in fig. of Tyre as ship) Ez 27:7 (brought from Egypt); elsewhere P, of priestly vestments Ex 28:5, 39(×2); 39:3, 27, 28(×2); also שׁ׳ מָשְׁזָר twisted linen 28:6, 8, 15; 39:2, 5, 8, 28, 29 + v 24 (read וְשֵׁשׁ מ׳ Sam. 𝔊 Bae); שׁ׳ of hangings, etc., in tabern. 25:4; 35:6, 23, 25, 35; 38:23, and so שׁ׳ מָשְׁזָר 26:1, 31, 36; 27:9, 16, 18; 36:8, 35, 37; 38:9, 16, 18.
— Brown-Driver-Briggs (Oxford 1906, public domain), digitized via Sefaria, supplemented by the OpenScriptures HebrewLexicon (CC BY 4.0). See Sources.
Derived from שיש (shayish) (H7893) — alabaster.
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.
שֵׁשׁ I
- (b. h.) marble, v. שַׁיִשׁ.
שֵׁשׁ II
- (b. h.) white linen. Yoma 71ᵇ דברים שנאמר בהן שש … ששה וכ׳ those things concerning which shesh is used are woven of a sixfold thread, where moshzar is added, of an eightfold thread. Ib. מאי משמע דהאי שש כיתנא הוא what evidence is there that that shesh (Ex. XXXIX, 27) means flax? Y. Kil. IX, beg. 31ᵈ (ref. to Ex. XXXIX, 28; 29, a. Ez. XLIV, 18) את דרש שש משש שש מפארי ופארי מפארי you learn the meaning of shesh (in האבנט שש משזר) from shesh (in פארי מגבעות שש), and the meaning of this shesh from פארי (in ופארי פשתים Ez. l. c.), and the meaning of this paăré from paăré (in פארי מגבעות, Ex. l. c.). Midr. Prov. to ch. XXXI, 22 זו … שהיה מרוקם בשש וארגמן that is Bathsheba of whom came Solomon who was clad in embroidered garments of white linen and purple; Yalk. ib. 964. Cant. R. to IV, 12 (ref. to Ez. XVI, 10) תחת שש ועזים as a reward for the offering of white linen and goats’ hair (Ex. XXV, 4); a. e. e.g. Exodus 39:27
שֵׁשׁ
- six. Pes. V, 1 (58ᵃ) בששה ומחצה (Y. a. Bab. ed. בשש) at six hours and a half (from sunrise). Y. ib. IV, beg. 30ᶜ משש שעות ולמעלן after six hours (noon); משש שעות ולמען before noon. Yoma 21ᵇ שש אשות הן there are six kinds of fire. Pes. 49ᵇ ש׳ דברים נאמרו וכ׳ six things have been said concerning ignorant people; a. v. fr.—Constr. m. שֵׁשֶׁת. Snh. 97ᵃ; Ab. Zar. 9ᵃ; v. שָׁנָה II; a. fr.—Pl. שִׁשִּׁים sixty. B. Kam. 58ᵇ סאה בש׳ סאין the damage to a field of one S’ah is assessed by calculation from a field of sixty S’ahs (so as to arrive at a fair estimate). Ib. בש׳ taking as a basis for calculation sixty times the quantity under dispute; ib. 59ᵃ; a. e.—Ḥull. 97ᵇ בש׳ (sub. בטל) is neutralized in a quantity sixty times as large. Ex. R. s. 1 ש׳ בכרס אחד sixty at one birth. Y. Taan. IV, 68ᶜ top ש׳ רבוא sixty myriads. Succ. 51ᵇ; 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 16 distinct written forms H8336 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.
| Form | Parsing | Example | Uses |
|---|---|---|---|
| וְ/שֵׁ֥שׁ | Adjective, Cardinal number, Feminine, Singular, Absolute | Exodus 25:4 | 8 |
| וְ/שֵׁ֣שׁ | Adjective, Cardinal number, Feminine, Singular, Absolute | Exodus 26:31 | 7 |
| שֵׁ֣שׁ | Adjective, Cardinal number, Feminine, Singular, Absolute | Exodus 26:1 | 6 |
| שֵׁ֔שׁ | Adjective, Cardinal number, Feminine, Singular, Absolute | Exodus 28:39 | 4 |
| שֵׁ֑שׁ | Adjective, Cardinal number, Feminine, Singular, Absolute | Esther 1:6 | 3 |
| הַ/שֵּֽׁשׁ | Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Absolute | Exodus 28:5 | 2 |
| שֵׁ֖שׁ | Adjective, Cardinal number, Feminine, Singular, Absolute | Exodus 39:27 | 2 |
| שֵׁ֥שׁ | Adjective, Cardinal number, Feminine, Singular, Absolute | Exodus 38:16 | 2 |
| בַּ/שֵּׁ֔שׁ | Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Absolute | Ezekiel 16:10 | 1 |
| הַ/שֵּׁ֑שׁ | Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Absolute | Exodus 39:3 | 1 |
| וָ/שֵׁ֖שׁ | Adjective, Cardinal number, Feminine, Singular, Absolute | Esther 1:6 | 1 |
| וּ/בַ/שֵּׁ֖שׁ | Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Absolute | Exodus 35:35 | 1 |
| וּ/בַ/שֵּֽׁשׁ | Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Absolute | Exodus 38:23 | 1 |
| שֵׁ֤שׁ | Adjective, Cardinal number, Feminine, Singular, Absolute | Ezekiel 16:13 | 1 |
| שֵׁשׁ | Adjective, Cardinal number, Feminine, Singular, Absolute | Ezekiel 27:7 | 1 |
| ששי | Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Absolute | Ezekiel 16:13 | 1 |
Same root — word family
Other BDB entries built from the same root as H8336, 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
Proper names from this root
People and places named from this root — a name, not an additional meaning of the word.
Compare all same-root words → 2 of the same-root words are proper names (people or places). They share a root, not necessarily a meaning.
Septuagint verse parallels
This word appears in 34 verses that also exist in the Greek Old Testament (Septuagint), out of the 37 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.