Hebrew word · H4867

מִשְׁבָּר

mishbareikha

wave

A breaker: a wave seen as it crashes. From shabar 'to break, shatter'. Used in Ps 93:4 ('the breakers of the sea', over which YHWH is mightier), Ps 88:7, Jonah 2:3, and in 'the breakers of death' (2 Sam 22:5).

Appears 5 times in 5 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

breaker, breaking (of sea)

Abridged from Brown, Driver and Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament (1906), via STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0).

In depth

From the study of Psalm 42:7

Range of meaning

A breaker: a wave seen as it crashes. From shabar 'to break, shatter'. Used in Ps 93:4 ('the breakers of the sea', over which YHWH is mightier), Ps 88:7, Jonah 2:3, and in 'the breakers of death' (2 Sam 22:5).

Against the English

'Breakers' (BSB, YLT) keeps the crashing; 'waves' (KJV) and 'billows' blur it. Some versions reverse the order of the pair.

Used elsewhere in the period

Jonah 2:3 has exactly the same clause, כָּל־מִשְׁבָּרֶיךָ וְגַלֶּיךָ עָלַי עָבָרוּ, 'all your breakers and your waves passed over me', inside a psalm of a man drowning. The pairing 'breakers of death / torrents of Belial' in 2 Sam 22:5 // Ps 18:4 ties breaking waves to the pull of death and the underworld.

From the study of Jonah 2:3

Range of meaning

A breaker: a wave at the point of breaking and crashing. From shavar, 'to break, shatter'. It appears only in poetry.

Against the English

KJV and WEB say 'billows', BSB and YLT 'breakers'. 'Billows' sounds old-fashioned and soft today. 'Breakers' keeps the root idea of crushing force.

Used elsewhere in the period

Psalm 42:7 (identical line), Psalm 88:7 ('you have afflicted me with all your breakers'), Psalm 93:4 ('mightier than the breakers of the sea'), 2 Samuel 22:5 ('the breakers of death encircled me').

Where it appears

2 Samuel · 1

  1. 2 Samuel 22:5 מִשְׁבְּרֵי־ [the] breakers of

    For the waves of death engulfed me; the torrents of chaos overwhelmed me.

Psalms · 3

  1. Psalm 42:7 מִשְׁבָּרֶ֥יךָ breakers your

    Deep calls to deep in the roar of Your waterfalls; all Your breakers and waves have rolled over me.

    Here: From shabar, 'to break': the wave at the moment it smashes down. Elsewhere it appears in 'the breakers of death' (2 Sam 22:5) and Jonah's drowning (Jonah 2:3). Again they are 'Your' breakers.

  2. Psalm 88:7 מִ֝שְׁבָּרֶ֗יךָ breakers your

    Your wrath weighs heavily upon me; all Your waves have submerged me. Selah

  3. Psalm 93:4 מִשְׁבְּרֵי־ [the] breakers of

    Above the roar of many waters—the mighty breakers of the sea—the LORD on high is majestic.

Jonah · 1

  1. Jonah 2:3 מִשְׁבָּרֶ֥יךָ breakers your

    For You cast me into the deep, into the heart of the seas, and the current swirled about me; all Your breakers and waves swept over me.

    Here: 'Your breakers.' The word comes from the root 'to break': waves that crash down. 'Your' makes them God's waves, not just weather.

Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.