שָׁתָה
to drink
‘to drink’ is one of 2 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: ‘of man’
- Niphal
- Usually the simple passive or reflexive of the Qal (“he was written”).
Form
- Infinitive Construct
- A bound verbal noun, frequently with prepositions (“to write / in writing”).
- Imperfect
- An incomplete, ongoing, or future action (“he will / would write”).
- Sequential Imperfect
- An imperfect with prefixed waw — the standard past-narrative form (waw-consecutive imperfect).
- Participle Active
- A verbal adjective expressing ongoing or characteristic action (“writing / one who writes”).
- Infinitive Absolute
- An unbound verbal noun, often intensifying or standing in for a finite verb.
- Imperative
- A direct command (“write!”).
- Sequential Perfect
- A perfect with prefixed waw continuing a preceding imperfect or command (waw-consecutive perfect).
- Perfect
- A completed action or state — Hebrew marks aspect (completeness) more than strict tense (“he wrote”).
- Jussive
- A third- or second-person volitional form expressing wish or command (“let him write”).
- Cohortative
- A first-person volitional form expressing wish or resolve (“let me / let us write”).
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.
- Common
- Either gender — not distinguished for this form.
- Feminine
- Grammatically feminine.
Number
- Plural
- More than one (in Hebrew, generally three or more).
- Singular
- One.
Every verse where H8354 appears in the Book of Proverbs — 8 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.
Proverbs
- Proverbs 4:17 יִשְׁתּֽוּ Qal impf 3mp For they eat the bread of wickedness, And drink the wine of violence.
- Proverbs 5:15 שְׁתֵה Qal impv 2ms Drink water out of your own cistern, Running water out of your own well.
- Proverbs 9:5 וּ֝/שְׁת֗וּ conj + Qal impv 2mp "Come, eat some of my bread, Drink some of the wine which I have mixed!
- Proverbs 23:7 וּ֭/שְׁתֵה conj + Qal impv 2ms For as he thinks about the cost, so he is. "Eat and drink!" he says to you, But his heart is not with you.
- Proverbs 26:6 שֹׁתֶ֑ה Qal ptcp.act ms One who sends a message by the hand of a fool Is cutting off feet and drinking violence.
- Proverbs 31:4 שְׁתוֹ Qal inf.cs It is not for kings, Lemuel; It is not for kings to drink wine; Nor for princes to say, 'Where is strong drink?'
- Proverbs 31:5 יִ֭שְׁתֶּה Qal impf 3ms Lest they drink, and forget the law, And pervert the justice due to anyone who is afflicted.
- Proverbs 31:7 יִ֭שְׁתֶּה Qal impf 3ms Let him drink, and forget his poverty, And remember his misery no more.
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.
שתה — transliterated shâthâh — is a Hebrew verb carrying the sense “to drink.” Debuting at Genesis 9:21, it then recurs through the corpus. Spanning 193 verses in 34 books, it ranks among the common words of the Hebrew Bible. Different stems carry different senses — BDB groups them under 2 stems, among them Qal and Niphal. From the same root come משתה, שתה and שתי. 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 H8354 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 →
- 193
- distinct verses
- The word appears in 193 distinct verses.
- 34 / 39
- OT books
- The word appears in 34 of 39 Old Testament books.
- #219
- by frequency
- Top 250 most frequent Hebrew words (rank 219 of 8,640 Hebrew words by occurrence).
View all 193 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 193 distinct verses.
- Prophets (Nevi'im) 107 verses · 55%
- Torah (Pentateuch) 45 verses · 23%
- Writings (Ketuvim) 41 verses · 21%
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: Drink 102×, Drinking 10×, Drunk 6×
- American Standard Version: Drink 88×, Drinking 8×, Drunk 5×
- Berean Standard Bible: Drink 91×, Drank 19×, Drinking 16×
- unfoldingWord Literal Text: Drink 88×, Drinking 17×, Drank 15×
King James Version Public Domain
Renders H8354 across 217 tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus other, less common renderings. Plus 62 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 H8354 across 219 tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus other, less common renderings. Plus 73 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 H8354 across 212 tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus other, less common renderings. Plus 40 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 5 further occurrences.
unfoldingWord Literal Text CC BY-SA 4.0
Renders H8354 across 233 tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus other, less common renderings. Plus 37 renderings that appear only once — usually multi-word phrases or single function words the recovered tagging swept in, not distinct renderings.
10 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 10 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׳ Ex 34:28 +, 1 s. שָׁתִ֫יתִי 1 S 15 +, etc.; Impf. 3 ms. יִשְׁתֶּה Gn 44:5 +, וַיִּשְׁתֶּה 1 K 19:8, usually וַיֵּשְׁתְּ Gn 9:21 +; juss. וְיֵשְׁתְּ 1 K 13:18; 3 fs. וַתֵּשְׁתְּ Nu 20:11; 2 ms. apoc. תֵּשְׁתְּ Ju 13:14 +, וַתֵּשְׁתְּ 1 K 13:22; 1 s. וָאֵשְׁתְּ Gn 24:46; 3 mpl. יִשְׁתָּי֑וּן ψ 78:44, etc.; Imv. ms. שְׁתֵה Gn 24:14 +, etc.; Inf. abs. שָׁתֹה Is 21:5; Je 49:12 (in 1 S 1:9 after prep., anom., Ges§ 113 e, om. 𝔊 Th We Dr and mod.), שָׁתוֹ Je 25:28 +, שָׁתוֹת Is 22:13 (Ges§ 75 n); cstr. שְׁתוֹ †Pr 31:4, שְׁתוֹת Je 35:8, 14, לִשְׁתֹּת Gn 24:19 +, sf. שְׁתוֹתוֹ 1 K 13:33, לִשְׁתּוֹתָהּ Is 51:22 etc.; Pt. act. שֹׁתֶה Is 29:8 +, f. שֹׁתָה Jb 6:4, etc.;— e.g. Exodus 34:28
- 1.
- a. of man: drink, water, wine, etc., Ex 34:28 (JE), cf. 15:24 (J), 1 S 30:12 Am 2:8; 4:8; 5:11; Is 5:22; 62:8, 9; Pr 31:4, Ju 13:4, 7, 14 + often (2 times JE; 6 times D); by measure (short allowance) Ez 4:11, 16; milk †Ez 25:4, cf. Ct 5:1; blood 1 Ch 11:19 (fig. of water gained by hazard); fig. חֲמָתָם שֹׁתָה רוּחִי Jb 6:4 whose venom [of arrows of י׳] my spirit drinks up; acc. + מִן of source †Ex 7:18 (J), v 21 (E), 15:23 (J), Pr 5:15 (fig.); acc. (of wine, water, etc.) om. Gn 24:14(×2); 27:25; 43:34 (all J) + 11 times J, Ex 7:24; 17:6 (E), Nu 20:5 (JE), v 11; 33:14 (P), Ju 15:19 + often; acc. שׁין †2 K 18:27 = Is 36:12; מַמְתַקִּים Ne 8:10; abs. Ec 2:24 +; + מִן of source 1 K 17:4, 6 ψ 110:7, מִכֹּסוֹ 2 S 12:3; שׁ׳ בְּמִזְרְקֵי יַיִן † Am 6:6, cf. Gn 44:5; שׁ׳ בְּיַיִן †Pr 9:5; c. מִן partit. Gn 9:21; Ex 7:24; Ru 2:9, also (fig.) Je 51:7 (and Jb 21:20 infra). e.g. Exodus 34:28
- b. pt. as subst. שֹׁתֵי מַיִם Ez 31:14, 16, שֹׁתֵי יַיִן Jo 1:5; שׁוֹתֵי שֵׁכָר ψ 69:13. e.g. Ezekiel 31:14
- c. drink wine in sacrificial feast Dt 32:38 (poem); blood of sacrificial victim ψ 50:13 (fig. of י׳). e.g. Deuteronomy 32:38
- d. subj. animals Nu 20:19; Jon 3:7 (both + men), also (fig.) Ez 34:18, 19; acc. (water) om. Gn 24:19, 22; 30:38(×2). e.g. Numbers 20:19
- e. fig. of drinking cup of י׳’s wrath, שׁ׳ אֶת־כּוֹס חֲמָתוֹ Is 51:17 (+ מִיַּד י׳), cf. v 17, v 22, v. also Ez 23:32, 34 and (acc. om.) Je 25:16, 26, 27 + 8 times Je, Hb 2:16; abs. Ob 16(×3); acc. שְׁמָרִים ψ 75:9; שׁ׳ מֵחֲמַת שַׁדַּי Jb 21:20. e.g. Isaiah 51:17
- f. drink blood, fig. of slaughter, Nu 23:24 (JE; of lion, metaph. of Isr.), Zc 9:15 (read דָּמָם for הָמוּ 𝔊 Codd. Sta Now Marti); so (blood of י׳’s sacrifice) Ez 39:17, 18, 19. e.g. Numbers 23:24
- g. fig. of wicked deeds: יֵין חֲמָסִים יִשְׁתּוּ Pr 4:17 (‖ לָֽחֲמוּ לֶחֶם רֶשַׁע; these are their food and drink), cf. Jb 15:16; 34:7, but Pr 26:6 appar. = suffers violence (cf. De Toy). e.g. Proverbs 4:17
- 2. late, = feast Est 3:15; 7:1 (cf. מִשְׁתֶּה). e.g. Esther 3:15
Niphal
- Impf. 3 ms. יִשָּׁתֶה Lv 11:34 (P) all which is (may be) drunk, c. ב of vessel.—נִשְׁתָּ֑וָה Pr 27:15 v. I. שׁוה ad fin. For cause, give, to drink v. שׁקה. e.g. Leviticus 11:34
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. drink (NH id.; Assyrian šatû, Ethiopic ሰትየ Old Aramaic שתה, Aramaic שְׁתָא, אִשְׁתִּי, [ܫܬܐ], ܐܶܫܬܻܝ]; Sab. שתי DHMZMG xxxvii (1883), 403 HomChr 124);—
— 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.
שָׁתָה
- , v. שתי
שתי
- (b. h.) [to be settled, satisfied,] to drink. Pes. 86ᵇ השׁוֹתֶה כוסו וכ׳ he who drinks his cupful at one draught is called greedy (גַּרְגְּרָן). Ber. 51ᵃ מקבלו … ושׁוֹתֵהוּ בשמאל he must receive it (the medicine, v. אִסְפַּרְגּוֹס) with his right hand, and drink it (take it to his lips) with his left hand. Ib.ᵇ השותה כפלים he who drinks an even number of cups (v. זוּג). Tosef. Sot. XV, 11; B. Bath. 60ᵇ כשחרב … ושלא לִשְׁתּוֹת יין when the Temple was destroyed, … there were many scrupulous persons (פרושים, determined) not to eat meat nor drink wine. Ib. נִשְׁתֶּה יין וכ׳ should we drink wine, of which libations were offered on the altar? Ib. מים לא נשתה וכ׳ then let us drink no water, because water libation has ceased. Keth. 8ᵇ רבים שָׁתוּ רבים יִשְׁתּוּ many have drank (the cup of mourning), many shall drink, v. מִשְׁתֶּה. Nidd. 24ᵇ כמה … שָׁתַת אמו וכ׳ how much unmixed wine the mother of this embryo must have drunk!; a. fr.—Part. pass. שָׁתוּי being under the influence of drink. Erub. 64ᵃ שְׁתוּי יין אל וכ׳ Ms. M. (ed. only שָׁ׳) one feeling the wine must not pray, contrad. to שִׁכּוֹר, q. v. Lev. R. s. 12 שנכנסו שְׁתוּיֵי יין וכ׳ they (Nadab and Abihu) entered the Tabernacle while under the influence of wine; a. fr.—[Hif. from שָׁקָה q. v.]
שתי ²
- [to settle,]
- 1. to lay the foundation of; v. שָׁתַת II.
- 2. to fix the warp, start the loom, v. שְׁתִי.
- 1. to found, establish, v. שָׁתַת II.
- 2. to weave. Midr. Sam. ch. XIX (ref. to נסכתי, Ps. II, 6) הִשְׁתֵּיתִיו I have woven him (established him, ref. to מסכת, Jud. XVI, 14); Yalk. Is. 338; Yalk. Ps. 620 השיתיו (corr. acc.). e.g. Psalms 2:6
- to be established, started. Y. Yoma V, 42ᶜ, v. שְׁתִיָּה II; a. e.
- same. Tosef. Yoma III (II), 6 ed. Zuck. (Var. נשתת), v. שָׁתַת II
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 155 distinct written forms H8354 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.
The 60 most common forms are shown; 95 rarer forms follow in the full concordance.
Same root — word family
Other BDB entries built from the same root as H8354, 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
Compare all same-root words → They share a root, not necessarily a meaning.
Septuagint verse parallels
This word appears in 185 verses that also exist in the Greek Old Testament (Septuagint), out of the 193 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 9:21
- Exodus 7:18
- Leviticus 10:9
- Numbers 6:3
- Deuteronomy 2:6
- Judges 7:5
- Ruth 2:9
- 1 Samuel 1:9
- 2 Samuel 11:11
- 1 Kings 1:25
- 2 Kings 3:17
- 1 Chronicles 11:18
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.
